Unit 4: Scientific, Philosophical, and Political Developments

Humanism

A Renaissance-rooted mode of thought emphasizing human value and agency, reason, and critical reading; often encouraged natural (not purely supernatural) explanations.

Individualism

A focus on personal autonomy, self-reliance, achievement, and self-expression; pushed back against conformity and groupthink.

Intellectualism

A habit of mind that prizes education, rational inquiry, and critical thinking, while rejecting dogma and superstition.

Scientific Revolution

A long, uneven (16th–18th c.) transformation in explaining nature, emphasizing observation, measurement, experimentation, and mathematical description over inherited authority.

Enlightenment

A 17th–18th c. intellectual movement applying confidence in reason and critique to religion, politics, economics, and society, often challenging traditional authority and proposing reforms.

Scholasticism

Traditional university reasoning that used careful logic built on accepted authoritative texts; challenged by Scientific Revolution methods.

Empiricism

The view that knowledge begins with sense experience—observation and evidence collection.

Francis Bacon

Major advocate of empiricism who promoted organized, cooperative inquiry and building general conclusions from many observations (induction).

Rationalism

An approach emphasizing reason and logical (often mathematical) thinking as key sources of reliable knowledge.

René Descartes

Central rationalist who argued that starting from clear first principles and applying rigorous logic could produce reliable knowledge; encouraged mechanical, law-governed views of nature.

Scientific method

A blended approach using observation, hypotheses, experimentation, and conclusions that other investigators can replicate.

Natural laws

The idea that nature follows consistent, discoverable rules that human reason can uncover (a cornerstone of the new scientific worldview).

Geocentrism

The Earth-centered model of the universe long taught in Europe, associated with Aristotle and Ptolemy.

Heliocentrism

The Sun-centered model of the universe, proposed as a simpler explanation of planetary motion than geocentrism.

Nicolaus Copernicus

Proposed heliocentrism; his model challenged inherited cosmology but faced serious objections given the physics of the time.

Johannes Kepler

Strengthened heliocentrism by arguing planets move in elliptical orbits, improving the fit between theory and observation.

Elliptical orbits

Kepler’s claim that planets move in ellipses rather than perfect circles, challenging the older assumption of “perfect” circular heavenly motion.

Galileo Galilei

Used the telescope to observe evidence supporting heliocentrism; his conflict with Church authorities centered on authority and interpretation, not a simple “science vs. religion” story.

Isaac Newton

Synthesized the scientific revolution by showing the same mathematical laws explain both terrestrial and celestial motion.

Laws of motion

Newton’s principles describing how objects move; helped unify explanations of motion on Earth and in the heavens.

Universal gravitation

Newton’s law explaining attraction between masses; showed one set of laws could account for falling objects and orbiting planets.

Royal Society

English scientific institution (founded 1660) that promoted research, publication, communication, and credibility through networks and shared methods.

Print culture

The expanding production and circulation of texts that helped spread scientific and Enlightenment ideas by enabling debate, replication, and wider audiences.

Public sphere

A growing realm of discussion outside direct court/church control where people could read, argue, and judge ideas, supported by print and urban sociability.

Salons

Elite gatherings (often hosted by women) that brought together writers and educated society for conversation and debate, helping spread Enlightenment ideas.

Coffeehouses

Public venues (notably in England, France, and the Dutch Republic) where people read newspapers and debated ideas, sometimes challenging official policy.

Andreas Vesalius

Flemish anatomist who challenged inherited medical claims through human dissection and detailed anatomical publication.

William Harvey

Physiologist who argued blood circulates in a closed system driven by the heart.

Paracelsus

Swiss physician who rejected many traditional medical methods and emphasized using chemicals and minerals to treat disease, pushing medicine toward more experimental explanations.

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

Dutch microscope pioneer who observed and described microorganisms previously unknown to Europeans.

Inoculation

An early method to prevent smallpox that became more widely discussed in elite circles during the 18th century, linked to observation and experimentation.

Edward Jenner

Developed the smallpox vaccination in 1796 after observing that cowpox infection helped protect milkmaids from smallpox.

Vaccination

A preventive method developed by Jenner (1796) using cowpox exposure to protect against smallpox.

Émilie du Châtelet

A key example of women’s participation in science; translated and explained Newtonian ideas for a French audience despite exclusion from many formal institutions.

Deism

Belief that God created the universe but does not intervene through miracles; emphasizes understanding God through reason and nature (often compared to a watchmaker).

Toleration

An Enlightenment value arguing that coercion and persecution in religion and thought are irrational and socially harmful.

Voltaire

Enlightenment writer who attacked religious intolerance and arbitrary authority, championed free speech and toleration, and admired aspects of English constitutionalism.

Montesquieu

Political thinker who argued liberty is protected when government power is divided among separate branches.

Separation of powers

The idea (associated with Montesquieu) that dividing governmental authority helps prevent tyranny and protect liberty.

Denis Diderot

Editor of the Encyclopédie, a major project to collect and disseminate knowledge that spread critical ideas and provoked controversy.

Encyclopédie

Diderot’s reference work designed to compile and spread knowledge; controversial for challenging traditional authority in religion and politics.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Enlightenment thinker who argued civilization can corrupt natural human goodness and emphasized popular sovereignty through the general will.

General will

Rousseau’s concept that legitimate political authority should express the collective will aimed at the common good.

John Locke

Political philosopher who emphasized natural rights and argued legitimate government depends on consent and exists to protect rights.

Consent of the governed

The principle (associated with Locke and social contract thinking) that government is legitimate only with the people’s agreement, at least in principle.

Social contract

The idea that government’s legitimacy rests on an agreement tied to serving the public good and/or protecting rights rather than on tradition alone.

Mary Wollstonecraft

Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), arguing Enlightenment logic requires equal rights and education for women.

Mercantilism

Economic practices aiming to increase state wealth and power via exports, limited imports, bullion accumulation, tariffs/monopolies, and colonies as resources and markets.

Adam Smith

Author of The Wealth of Nations (1776) who argued wealth comes from productive labor, division of labor, and markets; criticized mercantilist restrictions and monopolies.

Enlightened absolutism

An 18th-century approach where monarchs adopted some Enlightenment-style reforms (toleration, legal/education reforms, rational administration) to strengthen the state from the top down, not to share sovereignty.