Unit 4: Scientific Revolution 1648-1815

Geocentric Model

The is in the center of the universal will all the other planets orbiting around it, including the sun

Heliocentric Model

The sun was in the center and the Earth and other planets orbited around it

Copernicus

He used mathematics to try to prove the heliocentric model

He said that the reason the sun appears to be rising and setting was because the earth spins on its axis

His book ended up on the index of prohibited books

Kepler

Build on Copernicus’s theory by using math

He confirmed Copernicus’s ideas

He also discovered that the planets orbiting around the sun in ellipses, not perfect circles

His book ended up in the index of prohibited books

Galilei

He used a telescope to observe the moons of different planets and proved that the other planets were made up of the same stuff as Earth

the church charged him with heresy and he was put in house arrest for the rest of his life

Galen

Humoral theory - said that the body was made up of 4 different humors, blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm. When the humors were imbalanced the person was sick but when it was balanced the person was healthy

He thought there were two different systems of blood and they didn’t interact with each other

Paracelsus

Claimed that chemical imbalances caused diseases and chemical remedies would solve those problems

Harvey

Discovered that the circulatory system was one integrated whole, the blood would be pumped out of the heart through the body and return to the heart to start the process over again

Bacon

Inductive reasoning - you start with the smallest thing and move on to the biggest thing

Descartes

Deductive reasoning - you start with the big then go to the small

Scientific method

You use observation and experimentation to understand the world

Enlightened thinkers

They applied new methods of reasoning to politics, society, and human institutions

The enlightenment started in France because it was the strongest absolutist state; it was a reaction against absolutism

French philosophes

Voltaire - produced books that criticize the social and religious institutions of France, he spent time in England and saw that many competing versions of religion was allowed, and therefore they were able to access peacefully; he viewed the force Catholicism in France as oppression

• developed deism - said there was a god but he did not intervene with human affairs

Diderot - published the encyclopedia which contained information about science and arts and crafts

• defined atheism - one who knows about god but doesn’t believe in him

Hume

A Scottish thinker who developed skepticism - the only thing a person knows for sure is what they experienced through their senses

Actual enlightened thinkers

John Locke - believed in natural rights where humans are born with rights just for being human

• believed that god gave people life, liberty, and land

• Believed in separation between church and state

Rousseau - social contract —> the people willing give up some power to create a government, the government will then protect the people’s natural rights

• general will - the government will act in accordance to the people and if the government fails to do so, the people have the right to dissolve the contract and install a new government

• Believed that women and men were fundamentally different and rigid gender roles should be installed

• Believed that children were a separate kind of being and they should be able to play before working

Mary Wollenstonecraft - English writer and philosopher who wrote “the vindication of the rights of women” where she argued that women are only seemed as inferior to men because they don’t receive the same education and opportunities

Adam smith - wrote “wealth of nation” he attacked mercantilist policies of European nations, he argued that governments needed to give their hands off the economy and let the people make economic decisions based on supply and demand

• invisible hand of the free market would increase the wealth of the nation and abandon mercantilism

How enlightened ideas spread

Salon - private Meetings Held in houses where intelligent people openly discussed and debated the new ideas

• they were mostly hosted my women Ex. Madam Du Deffand

coffee houses

Enlightened absolutists

Acted in enlightened ways when it benefited them

Fredrick the Great of Prussia - he wanted to serve his people as a good king, he considered himself not their dictator but rather their benefactor

• he patronized the philosophers

• Increased freedom of speech in the press

• Reformed the judicial system to eliminate class differences under the law

Catherine the Great of Russia - reformed the penal system to out law torture and capital punishment, reformed education by allowing girls to go to school, and patronized the arts

• recognized the Jews as Russian subjects and gave them more civil liberties under the charter of towns in 1782

Joseph II of Austria - signed the edict of tolerance which gave religious freedom for Jews and other religious minorities, increased freedom of the press, and abolished serfdom

European population

Population increased

• birth rates increased and death rates decreased because of advancements made in medicine

• The Black Death disappeared

Jenner’s new vaccine against small pox reduced the death rates

Birth rates

Birth rates decreased because people were marrying later

• to marry you needed money and resources which took time

• Women were having fewer babies

Illegitimate births increased

• people were having more intimate relationships outside of marriage

Agricultural revolution

More land became available for farming

Selective breeding - Europeans combined the best specimens of animals to create better quality livestock

Canals were linked together and expanded, roads were improved, bridges were reinforced which made it cheaper to transport food to growing populations

Technological advancements required less workers in the farms so people moved to the city to get jobs

Effects of urbanization

Tenements - hastily constructed apartment buildings that workers rented for a low price

• they were not ventilated and no indoor plumbing

• Poor ventilation caused the spread of airborne diseases like tuberculosis

• No indoor plumbing caused people to throw their waste out the window into the streets

England’s contagious disease act of 1864

If a women was expected of prostitution she would be forced to go through bodily inspection to see if she was carrying a disease, if she was, she was locked in a high security hospital and treated like a prisoner

Reading revolution

People began reading more due to the printing press

In France religious books decreased and books on history, law, science, and art increased

Neoclassicalism (art)

Simplicity and symmetry