Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment FULL REVIEW

UNIT 4: SCIENTIFIC, PHILOSOPHICAL, AND POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS (c. 1640–1790)

4.1 CONTEXTUALIZING: SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION AND ENLIGHTENMENT

Before the Scientific Revolution, European intellectual life relied heavily on ancient and medieval authorities, especially Aristotle. Aristotle’s worldview, later harmonized with Christianity by medieval scholars such as Thomas Aquinas, taught that the Earth was motionless at the center of the universe (geocentrism) and that heavenly bodies were perfect and unchanging.

The most important discipline was natural philosophy, which sought to explain the laws governing nature and the universe. Knowledge was derived primarily from tradition and religious authority rather than experimentation.

The Enlightenment emerged when thinkers began applying the methods and assumptions of the Scientific Revolution—reason, observation, and natural laws—to human society, politics, economics, and religion.

Key political foundations:

  • Thomas Hobbes believed human nature was selfish and violent; without strong authority, society would descend into chaos. In Leviathan, he argued for absolute monarchy.

  • John Locke rejected Hobbes’ pessimism. He argued that humans are rational and born as a tabula rasa (blank slate). Government exists to protect natural rights—life, liberty, and property—and derives legitimacy from the consent of the governed.

4.2 THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

The Scientific Revolution

OLD ASSUMPTIONS

  • Medieval Europeans accepted a geocentric model of the universe, which placed Earth at the center.

  • Philosophers believed Earth and the heavens were governed by different laws: Earth allowed change and imperfection, while the heavens were perfect and unchanging.

  • This worldview left room for chance and mystery, which supported belief in astrology, alchemy, and witchcraft.

TRADITIONAL AUTHORITIES

  • Aristotle and Ptolemy supported the geocentric theory and heavily influenced medieval science.

  • The Catholic Church endorsed geocentrism, arguing it was supported by Scripture and consistent with Christian theology.

THE REVOLUTION IN ASTRONOMY

  • Nicolaus Copernicus, a Polish clergyman and astronomer, challenged geocentrism by proposing heliocentrism, the theory that the Sun—not Earth—was at the center of the universe.

  • In On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres (1543), Copernicus presented the first fundamentally new model of the universe in over 2,000 years.

  • His theory contradicted both Aristotelian physics and biblical interpretations, deeply unsettling religious authorities.

  • Johannes Kepler built on Copernicus’s ideas using the observational data collected by Tycho Brahe.

  • After Brahe’s death in 1601, Kepler formulated the three laws of planetary motion, proving mathematically that planets move in elliptical orbits and supporting heliocentrism.

  • Galileo Galilei, an Italian scientist, advanced astronomy through observation and experimentation.

  • He formulated laws of inertia and motion and improved the telescope.

  • In Starry Messenger, Galileo reported observations such as sunspots, the uneven surface of the Moon, the rings of Saturn, and the moons of Jupiter.

  • These findings disproved Aristotle’s claim that heavenly bodies were perfect and supported heliocentrism.

CONTROVERSY WITH THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

  • Church authorities declared Copernican astronomy incompatible with Scripture.

  • Cardinal Robert Bellarmine led opposition to heliocentrism, warning that it endangered biblical authority.

  • The Inquisition investigated individuals whose ideas conflicted with Church doctrine.

  • In 1616, Galileo was summoned to Rome and forced to recant heliocentric views to avoid execution, unlike Giordano Bruno, who was burned at the stake.

TRIAL OF GALILEO

  • In 1632, Galileo published Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, reigniting controversy.

  • He was charged with heresy and disobedience, placed under house arrest, and silenced.

  • Despite this, the printing press spread his ideas across Europe.

THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD

  • Francis Bacon promoted inductive reasoning based on observation and experimentation.

  • He argued that repeated experimentation would lead to universal scientific laws.

  • René Descartes advocated deductive reasoning, beginning with doubt and using logic to arrive at truth.

  • He rejected reliance on authority and tradition.

  • Bacon’s inductive method and Descartes’s deductive method together formed the foundation of the modern scientific method.

SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES

  • Scientific academies and societies promoted collaboration, experimentation, and the sharing of discoveries.

NEWTON AND THE LAWS OF GRAVITATION

  • Isaac Newton published Principia Mathematica in 1687.

  • He synthesized Kepler’s planetary motion, Galileo’s laws of motion, and his own law of universal gravitation.

THE NEWTONIAN UNIVERSE

  • Newton demonstrated that the universe operates according to universal, mathematical laws.

  • His mechanistic view held that God created the universe but allowed it to function independently according to natural laws.

  • This worldview dominated Western thought.

THEME

  • Copernicus, Galileo, Bacon, Descartes, and Newton developed a new understanding of nature that fundamentally altered humanity’s relationship with the universe.

JOHN LOCKE AND EMPIRICISM

  • In An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Locke argued that the human mind is a tabula rasa (blank slate) at birth.

  • Knowledge is derived from experience, not innate ideas.

IMPLICATIONS OF THE BLANK SLATE THEORY

  • Challenged the belief that humans were inherently sinful.

  • Emphasized the importance of education.

  • Suggested humans possess unlimited potential.

  • Locke’s optimism strongly influenced Enlightenment thinkers and educational reformers.

The Enlightenment arose from the intellectual tools provided by Newton and Locke. Thinkers believed that reason and scientific methods could improve society.

Core Enlightenment values:

  • Reason and empiricism

  • Progress and education

  • Individual liberty

  • Religious tolerance

  • Opposition to absolutism and divine-right monarchy

The movement radiated outward from Paris to London, Northern Italy, Berlin, and the American colonies.

The Philosophes

The philosophes were not abstract thinkers but reformers who sought to expose injustice and apply natural laws to society. They believed happiness in this world was a natural right and rejected medieval acceptance of suffering.

Key figures:

  • Voltaire: Advocated religious tolerance, freedom of speech, and criticized superstition and the Catholic Church. Famous for “écrasez l’infâme” (“crush the infamous thing”).

  • Montesquieu: Advocated separation of powers among executive, legislative, and judicial branches in The Spirit of the Laws.

  • Jean-Jacques Rousseau: In The Social Contract, argued sovereignty lies in the general will of the people. Distrusted reason and emphasized emotion, foreshadowing Romanticism.

  • Denis Diderot: Editor of the Encyclopedia, which spread Enlightenment ideas and undermined traditional authority.

Religion and Enlightenment

Many Enlightenment thinkers embraced deism, the belief in a rational creator who does not intervene in human affairs. Others supported full religious toleration and secularism.

Women and the Enlightenment

Enlightenment ideas inspired early feminism:

  • Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)

  • Olympe de Gouges, Declaration of the Rights of Woman (1791)

  • Catherine Macaulay, Letters on Education (1790)

Slavery

Some Enlightenment thinkers such as Thomas Paine, Rousseau, and Montesquieu criticized slavery. Although abolition was slow, Enlightenment principles influenced later anti-slavery movements.

4.4 18TH-CENTURY SOCIETY AND DEMOGRAPHICS

  • Population growth due to the Agricultural Revolution

  • Declining mortality rates and longer life expectancy

  • Urbanization increased with early industrialization

  • Growth of a large urban working class

  • Aristocracy remained dominant landowners

The Industrious (Consumer) Revolution shifted families toward wage labor and market consumption, laying foundations for industrialization.

4.5 18TH-CENTURY CULTURE AND ARTS

  • Rococo: Ornate, playful, aristocratic (Antoine Watteau’s Return from Cythera)

  • Neoclassicism: Simplicity, Greco-Roman ideals, moral seriousness (Jacques-Louis David’s Oath of the Horatii)

  • Music flourished during the Age of Mozart

Art increasingly emphasized secular themes and rational order.

4.6 ENLIGHTENED DESPOTISM

Enlightened despots were absolute rulers who applied Enlightenment ideas to strengthen the state—not to create democracy.

Frederick the Great (Prussia)

  • Expanded religious toleration

  • Abolished torture (except treason)

  • Reformed legal codes

  • Strengthened Junker control over serfs

Joseph II (Austria)

  • Abolished serfdom and feudal dues

  • Granted religious toleration

  • Reduced Church influence

  • Faced intense noble resistance; reforms largely reversed

Catherine the Great (Russia)

  • Corresponded with Voltaire and Diderot

  • Restricted torture and promoted education

  • Expanded Russian territory

  • After Pugachev’s Rebellion, strengthened noble control over serfs and abandoned reform

4.7 WARFARE AND CAUSATION

War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748)

Frederick the Great seized Silesia from Austria, establishing Prussia as a great power.

Diplomatic Revolution

Austria allied with France and Russia against Prussia; Britain allied with Prussia.

Seven Years’ War (1756–1763)

  • Global conflict fought in Europe, North America, India, and the Caribbean

  • Britain defeated France and expanded its global empire

  • Prussia retained Silesia

Treaty of Paris (1763)

  • Britain gained Canada and territory east of the Mississippi

  • France retained Caribbean sugar colonies

ECONOMIC THOUGHT: ADAM SMITH

  • Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations (1776)

  • Advocated laissez-faire economics

  • Free markets regulated by supply and demand

  • Self-interest guided by the “invisible hand” benefits society

  • Government should protect borders, property, and contracts only

Compared to Jean-Baptiste Colbert’s mercantilism, Smith opposed tariffs, monopolies, and state regulation.

KEY EXAM TAKEAWAYS

  • The Scientific Revolution introduced natural laws → Enlightenment applied them to society

  • Enlightenment challenged absolutism, Church authority, and tradition

  • Enlightened despots reformed selectively while preserving hierarchy

  • Wars reshaped balance of power and global empires

  • Adam Smith transformed economic thought

You are expected to evaluate success vs. limits, continuity vs. change, and cause-and-effect relationships throughout Unit 4.