1. Topic: Roots of the Enlightenment
UNIT: ENLIGHTENMENT AND EXPLORATION

2. Essential question: what did enlightenment thinkers want to shed light on?

3. What is the Enlightenment?
I know… Right?!?
Enlightenment: The period in time in which the use reason guided people’s thoughts about philosophy, society, and politics.
Reason was the key to human progress with knowledge, freedom and happiness
Salons: Informal gatherings of educated Europeans in which they exchanged and debated ideas.
OMG… The Catholic Church is SO Savage!

4. The Scientific Revolution
The Scientific Revolution changed the way people thought as well as their beliefs.
Scientist revealed that laws governed the natural world.
Many believed that if the world operated on natural laws, this must be true about human nature as well.
Enlightenment thinkers began to wonder…
Does natural law govern the way people live?
Does natural law give all people certain rights?
Draw me in your notes!

5. Classical & Christian influences
Like the humanist of the Renaissance, many Enlightenment thinkers were inspired the ancient Greeks and Romans.
Logic and reason could be used to discover new truths.
Enlightenment thinkers also admired the democratic governments of Athens and Rome.
After the Reformation and Scientific Revolution the Catholic Church had lost much of it’s authority, however, most Europeans remained religious.
Enlightenment thinkers began to see the laws of nature as the work of an intelligent Creator and human progress as a sign of God’s goodness.

6. Renaissance & Reformation
Humanists believed that people could improve their world by studying and changing it.
Humanists contributed to the Enlightenment idea of progress. People were capable of progress.
As Protestants rebelled against the Church, reformers put their individual conscience ahead of the authority of the Church.
Enlightenment thinkers rejected authority and upheld the freedom of individuals to think for themselves.

7. New ideas
Enlightenment thinkers questioned religion, morality, and government. They believed that everything must be reexamined under the light of reason.
Reason is what make humans unique.
Reason can be used to solve problems & improve people’s lives.
Reason can free people from ignorance, superstition, and unfair government.
The natural world is governed by laws that can be discovered through reason.
Like the natural world, human behavior is governed by natural laws.
Government should reflect natural laws and encourage education and debate.