Exercise 3

Contemporary World

I. The Scientific Revolution

a. The Enlightenment
b. Enlightened Despotism
c. The French Revolution
d. The US Independence
II. Describe four contributions of the period's scientists.

Scientist Contribution

 Johannes  Discovered the laws governing the movement of the

Keppler planets around the sun
III. Co
 Antoine de  Discovery of the Law of Conservation of Matter mp
Lavoisier let
e
the
 Carolus  Creation of the taxonomy for classifying living things
Linnaeus

 David Hume  Development of philosophical empiricism

 Rousseau and  Dissemination of new political ideas based on the

Montesquieu separation of powers in a republic

 Robert Boyle  Succeeded in defending chemistry as a scientific

discipline in its own right, separating it from medicine
and distancing it from alchemy

following.
 1. Describe biographical details of some proponents of the Enlightenment,
such as Voltaire and Diderot. What do you find most interesting? (half
page)

What I find most interesting about the people I researched about in general
is that most of them are contributing to the enlightenment movement in
their own unique ways, the majority of them evolved the movement to what
we see today, even though most of them were paintors, authors, etc… They
were able to bring together a movement and fight with abstract concepts
such as ignorance, intolerance and fanatism.
Critical thinking. The use of reason was necessary to interpret the world and
a new way of thinking was used that left aside the magical justifications that
could not be understood from logic while knowledge was used as a tool.

2. Why were some European kings called enlightened despots?

They were calles enlightened despots because they didn’t allow their
populace to intervene and give an opinion of their current government.

3. Identify three kings that are representative of enlightened despotism,

supporting your choice through images and a short biography.

King Charles III: Known as an enlightened despot, Charles III (1716-1788) was
king of Spain from 1759 to 1788. His reign was marked by economic progress
and political stability and is usually considered one of the greatest in Spanish
history.

Emperor Joseph II: Future Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II became co-regent
with his mother, Maria Theresa, in 1765, and sole ruler in 1780. During his
time in power, Joseph issued decrees that promoted equality and education,
but the speed and scope of his reforms led to problems for him and his
empire. Joseph died in Vienna on February 20, 1790, at the age of 48.

Czar Catherine II: Catherine II, called Catherine the Great, reigned over
Russia for 34 years—longer than any other female in Russian history. As
empress, Catherine westernized Russia. She led her country into full
participation in the political and cultural life of Europe.

4. Consider the historical context at the time and indicate the triumphs and
failures of the kings who were sympathetic to the Enlightenment. They
highly contributed to the rise of new societies, academies and
universities, they also contributed to the creation of the
newspaper
 5. Describe the conditions in which the French people lived before
revolution broke out. (half page)

France was a monarchy ruled by the king. The king had total
power over the government and the people. The people of
France were divided into three social classes called "estates."
The First Estate was the clergy, the Second Estate was the
nobles, and the Third Estate was the commoners.

Hunger and poverty were abundant before and after the french
revolution, they lived in a society were feudalism was the main
attraction, Besides being based on feudalism, French society was
also centered on the political structure of absolute monarchy.
An Absolute Monarchy is a form of government that was
popular during medieval Europe and up until the end of the 18th
century. It involved society being ruled over by an all-powerful
king or queen.

6. Identify and briefly explain the heritage of the French Revolution which
has lasted to our days. (at least three lasting aspects)
- It ended the monarchy in France
- Catholic church lost power
- Rise of modern nationalism

7. Reflect on and write the significance of each contribution.

- The House of Bourbon is a French Dynasty that had ruled France for
over 400 years. Its reign was disrupted by the French Revolution.
Monarchy was abolished in France in 1792 and replaced with the
Republican form of Government.
 - Prior to the French Revolution, Catholicism had been the official
religion in France and the French Catholic Church was very powerful. It
owned around 10% of the land. It also received tithes, which was one-
tenth of the annual earnings of the common people taken as tax to
support of the clergy.

- Nationalism is an ideology that emphasizes loyalty, devotion or

allegiance to a nation and places these obligations above other
individual or group interests. The French Revolution initiated the
movement toward the modern nation-state and played a key role in
the birth of nationalism across Europe.

8. Indicate at least three conditions that permitted the thirteen

colonies of North America to win their independence.
- Alliance with France.
- British Debt
- Familiarity with the Territory

9. On what continent (Europe or America) did the ideas of the

Enlightenment first triumph? And what factors of that
environment are credited with this triumph?
The first triumph of the enlightenment was first in Europe. It was thought
during the Enlightenment that human reasoning could discover truths about
the world, religion, and politics and could be used to improve the lives of
humankind. People saw this as an oportunity to express theirselves in many
creative ways.