AP Review #3: Scientific Rev. (Ch. 16) & Enlightenment (Ch.

17)
“The Age of Reason”
Scientific Revolution
Origins
 Renaissance- scholars encouraged to think for themselves; printing press helps spread published works
 Reformation- beginning to challenge traditional knowledge and authority
 Exploration- explorers gaining better knowledge of the earth (creating a demand for new technology)

Key Advances
 Copernicus: On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres; first to propose the heliocentric theory;
ignored by the RCCC
 Brahe: gathered detailed astronomical records for 20+ years; couldn’t be convinced of the
Copernican model
 Kepler: worked for Brahe; published the three laws of planetary motion; proved Copernican model
using math and suggested that the planets move in an ellipse around the sun
 Galileo: Starry Messenger and Dialogue on the Two Chief World Systems; proved the heliocentric
theory using the telescope; put under house arrest by the Inquisition (which discouraged further IT
scientists)
 Newton: Principa Mathematica; developed three laws of gravity and the Newtonian worldview (God
moves the heavenly bodies according to the laws of gravity)
o Significant impact on the Enlightenment b/c he promoted the idea that if human reason could
discover natural laws that governed the universe than we could also discover natural laws
that govern society/politics.
 Harvey: challenged medieval medicine (based on the beliefs of Galen – animal dissection);
discovered the heart as the center of the circulatory system

Deductive vs. Inductive

 Bacon: EMPIRICISM (inductive)
o Rejected any notion that could not be proven through observation and experimentation
o Relies on the senses (believe it if you can see/hear/smell/touch/taste it!)
 Descartes: RATIONALISM (deductive)
o The basis of knowledge is human reason (not experimentation)
o Developed this process by doubting everything…even his own existence & concluded that it
was the only he could trust (“I think, therefore I am”)
o Promoted Cartesian Dualism- the separation of mind (spiritual) and body (physical) which
led to the development of a mechanistic model of the universe

Science & Religion

 Conflict arose b/t practicing a life of science and religion as a result of the scientific revolution as the
Church clung to traditional explanation of the universe
 Spinoza: believed that God and the universe were inseparable – that God is the universe
 Pascal: Christianity did not contradict reason; safest not to abandon Christianity because if God
doesn’t exist, then what does one lose (vs.) if God DOES exist, than you wouldn’t go to heaven
Women in Science
 Perpetuated belief that women were weak, inferior and emotional, therefore prevented from access
into scientific academies and societies b/c it would diminish their status if women were allowed (and
take away from positions available to men)
 Some women broke through, usually in connection to a male family member – all aristocratic!
o Cavendish – wrote 6 books on science and criticized the scientific method
 o Merian- elaborate illustrations on insect life
o Winklemann – married famous GR astronomer whom she served as assistant to; denied her
position when her husband died
Enlightenment
What Was the Enlightenment?
 18th c. movement of intellectuals who “dared to know”
 Took intellectual gains from the Sci. Rev. and applied them to all human nature
 Aim to use own intelligence w/o another’s guidance and use REASON to improve society (inspired by
the problems surrounding absolutism)
 Overall, associated with the rise of democratic (liberal) thought

Influence of Science & Print Culture

 Skepticism: 18th c. thinkers rejected religion/downplayed its role (because of contradictions with
traditional knowledge); creation of the new “science of man”
o As more knowledge spread, more Europeans questioned religious “truths” and values
o Newton and Locke called the “great minds” by the philosophes
 Print Culture: an era when publications achieved a status of their own (books, pamphlets,
newspaper, journals…anything mass distributed!)
o Led to the emergence of public opinion, which grew to a force that governments tried hard to
suppress (eventually they won’t be able to)
o Forced gov’t be to accountable to the wishes of their people (elite)

Philosophe Ideas
Champions of societal reform that advocated TOLERATION! All have same goal (societal reform/improve life)
but disagreed on HOW; focused on the application of the scientific method and REASON to the human world.
 Hobbes: The Leviathan; people are naturally evil and they need a strong central power to control
them/maintain order
 Locke: Second Treatise on Government; people are born with natural rights (life/liberty/property);
tabula rasa (born with a ‘blank slate’ & environment shapes us); father of modern democracy
 Rousseau: The Social Contract, Emile; the governed enter into a social contract with their rulers, in
which they submit to the “general will”; have right to overthrow the gov’t if they fail in their
purpose; also promoted the idea of “separate spheres” for men and women
 Voltaire: Philosophic Letters on the English; fought against religious intolerance; one’s religion
should be a voluntary choice; states should not subject entire population to conform to one religion
 Montesquieu: The Spirit of the Laws; believed that people lost equality under oppressive
governments; key to stop was the separation of powers (checks and balances and shared power)
 Deism: “the religion the of the philosophes” – describes God as a watchmaker who created the
universe and then left it to its own self-determination

Women in the Enlightenment

 Roles: hosted philosophic debate in salons (France); noblemen could sway opinions
 Views on Women: philosophes upheld traditional views that women were subordinate to men
(women should be silent, subservient, modest, chaste); vast majority of women accept their roles in
society (family, household, child bear/rear)
 Mary Wollstonecraft: Vindication of the Rights of Woman; direct response to Rousseau (Emile) that
stated God made women equal to men in abilities/rights; women have the right to independence and
stressed the importance of education; created the “woman’s question” as a significant topic