Studied by 3 people
According to Locke, what is the purpose of government?
To protect people’s rights
What did Locke say has ruined cities and depopulated countries?
The issue of who should have power
What inherent and sacred rights do all men have according to John Locke
Life, Liberty, and Property
According to Hobbes, what forces us to obey the laws of nature?
The laws themselves
According to Hobbes, what do men desire that is only ended in death?
Power
How did Hobbes describe man?
Solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, short, wicked.
What is the purpose of religion according to Voltaire?
To deceive men and to comfort them
“I detest what you write, but I would give my life to make it possible for you to continue to write“
Voltaire
“There are truths that are not for all men, nor for all occasions“
Voltaire
“For the laws of nature (as justice, equity, modesty, mercy, and in sum, doing to others as we would be done to) of themselves, without the terror of some power, to cause them to be observed, are contrary to our natural passions that carry us to partiality, pride, revenge, and the like.“
Thomas Hobbes
“Man is free the moment he wants to be“
Voltaire
What did Montesquieu devote himself to?
The study of political liberty
What three bodies did England split its power into?
Parliament (legislative/lawmaking)
English Court (Judicial/Carrying Laws Out)
King (Executive/Interpreting Laws)
Why did Montesquieu believe in the separation of powers?
It prevented one individual from gaining to much power
What idea did Rousseau believe in?
Individual Freedom
Abolishing the nobility so that everyone would be equal
What ideas did Voltaire believe in?
freedom of expression
religious freedom
What idea did Wollstonecraft believe in?
Women’s rights
What idea did Beccaria believe in?
Governments should seek greatest goods for the greatest number of people
How did most philosophes view women?
Traditional views
Different/unequal to men
Which 3 ideas did Wollstonecraft argue?
Women & men need the same education to be virtuous & useful
Women can be nurses & doctors
Women should be able to participate in politics
What was the title of Wollstonecraft’s book?
A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792)
Salon
A social gathering of wealthy women to discuss philosophy
Which 3 principles were examined by enlightenment thinkers?
Divine Right of Monarchs
Union of Church & State
Social Class Division
What was inspired by the theories of the Enlightenment?
The French & American revolutions
What did people begin to question during this time?
The Church’s teachings
Where did people turn for guidance in place of the Church?
Themselves
What took the center stage during the enlightenment?
Reason
Why did philosophers admire Newton?
He used reason to explain Natural Laws
What did people begin to look for during this time?
Laws governing human behavior
What did people want to apply the scientific method to?
All aspects of society:
government
religion
economics
education
What was the title of Hobbes’ book?
Leviathan (1651)
According to Hobbes, what would there be without absolute government?
“war of every man against every man“ life would be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, short“
What “social contract“ did Hobbes propose?
People gave up their rights to a strong, absolute ruler
How did Locke view men?
As reasonable beings who could govern themselves and were all born free and equal
What did Locke believe you should do to a government who fails to protect your rights?
Overthrow it
Who were the philosephes?
French social critics (philosophers in French)
According to the philosophes, what is reason?
the absence of intolerance, bigotry, or prejudice
How did philosophers believe you could achieve happiness?
By living nature’s laws
Who was the most influential philosophe?
Voltaire (a.k.a. François Marie Arouet)
Which three groups did Voltaire target for ridicule?
The Clergy, Aristocracy, and the Government
Natural Laws
Unchanging laws that exist within nature created by the Creator (God) to govern creation (e.g. gravity, inertia/momentum, natural rights)
The Watchmaker Analogy
William Paley/1802- The idea that, like a watch, the universe and everything in it is too complex to exist without a creator (a watchmaker)
Deism
The religious belief that a creator made the world and made natural laws to run the world, then left (Deists don’t believe in a God listening to their prayers)
Why was Hobbes opposed to a democracy?
It would give a wicked, nasty population control over each other
Tabula Rasa
Latin- “Scraped Tablet” (i.e. blank slate)
Locke believed that everyone was a blank slate and their character was determined by their environment
What impact did the Renaissance have on the scientific revolution?
people placed less importance on the church
What impact did the Reformation have on the scientific revolution?
Religious leaders influenced people to think about God in different ways.
What primary texts did Europeans use to understand the world?
Ancient Greek & Roman texts
The Bible
Scientific Method
Problem/Question → Hypothesis → Experiment → Interpret Data
Copernicus
heliocentric theory- he reasoned that the sun was the center of the universe
Wrote a book titled On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Bodies
Galileo
Built a telescope and observed the universe
Also studied motion, discovered the Law of Falling Bodies & that the trajectory of a projectile is a parabola
Published Starry Messenger (1610), describing Saturn’s moons, the Sun’s dark spots, and heliocentricity
Francis Bacon
Developed and pushed for scientific theory
Isaac Newton
Law of Universal Gravitation- Every object is attracted to every other object
Law of Attraction- The attraction is determined by Mass and Distance
He believed that all parts of the universe worked together like a giant clock with God at the center
Leeuwenhoek
Used a microscope to observe bacteria in tooth scrapings as well as red blood cells
Fahrenheit
Made a mercury thermometer that showed 32º as freezing
Also worked on an alcohol thermometer
Researched how atmospheric pressure affected a liquids boiling point
Andreas Vesalius
Proved Galen’s theory on anatomy wrong by dissecting human corpses
William Harvey
Performed vivisections to learn about the circulation of blood
Edward Jenner
Treating smallpox using inoculation
Robert Boyle
The founder of modern chemistry, also studied medicine, physics, alchemy, etc.
Studied the relationship of pressure & Volume with his and Robert Hooke’s air pump
Proposed that matter could be made up of smaller primary particles
Boyle’s Law
Regarding the relation concerning the compression and expansion of a gas at constant temperature.
Law of Falling Bodies
All falling objects fall at the same speed regardless of their size, shape, or mass (Galileo)
Science
The systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observations and experimentation, and the testing of theories against the evidence obtained
What were the key ideas of the Enlightenment?
All things must be questioned, old ways of doing things should be rethought
“Dare to know, Dare to use your reason, Dare to think for yourself“
Immanuel Kant
“Power corrupts (,) Absolutely“
Montesquieu
Parliament
The British government’s legislative (lawmaking) branch, which consists of the house of congress & the house of lords
America’s government- Executive Branch
The president enforces laws over a 4 year term
America’s government- Legislative Branch
Law making
The senate- 100 senators (2 per state), 6 year terms
The House of Representatives- 435 members (based on state population), 2 year terms
America’s government- Judicial Branch
The Supreme Court (9 justices) interprets laws until death, retirement or conviction by the senate
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Flashcard (71)