1. A Scientific & Intellectual Revolution
“THE AGE OF REASON”

2. Foundation in the Renaissance
Search for truth in science; scientific progress
Renaissance artists contributed by close attention to detail; focus on perspective and proportions
Printing press helped spread ideas
Built upon writings of Greeks & Romans (Aristotle, Archimedes, Plato, Ptolemy)

3. Foundation cont.
Developed the scientific method of observation and experimentation
Challenged medieval superstition
Uncovered much knowledge of the physical world (new technology – telescope, microscope)

4. Achievements Ptolemy – Greek scientist Geocentric Theory
Earth is center of universe, planets revolve around earth
Copernicus - Polish astronomer
Heliocentric Theory
The sun is the center of the solar system (heliocentric)
The earth revolves around the sun on its axis
Disproved Ptolemy’s theory

5. Achievements cont. Kepler – German astronomer & mathematician
Laws of planetary motion
However, planets follow an elliptical (oval) not circular orbit in revolving around the sun

6. Achievements cont. Galileo – Italian astronomer and physicist
Greatly improved the telescope
Further confirmed Copernican theory
Also found mountains, several moons around Jupiter, sunspots, etc.
Found himself increasingly under suspicion by the Catholic Church; house arrest
First thermometer

7. Achievements Newton – English mathematician, astronomer, physicist
Calculated the law of motion and gravity
Invented mathematical analysis called calculus
Discovered laws of light and color

8. Achievements cont Boyle – English chemist
Discovered the law of gases that is fundamental to modern chemistry
Leeuwenhoek – Dutch naturalist
Perfected the microscope
Microorganisms
Studied the previously invisible world of bacteria, protozoa, animal and plant cells

9. Achievements cont. Vesalius – Flemish physician
Dissections of the human body
Founded the science of anatomy
Harvey – English physician
Demonstrated that blood circulates through the body
Heart pumps blood
Furthered the study of medicine

10. Achievements, cont. Sir Francis Bacon Louis Pasteur Edward Jenner
Developed scientific method
Use of reason in research
Louis Pasteur
Use of heat to kill organisms
Pasteurization of milk
Edward Jenner
Smallpox vaccine
Smallpox has been eradicated

11. Achievements Achievements
Gregor Mendel
Founder of science of genetics
Recognized inheritance of certain traits
Carl Linnaeus
System of classifying living things into groups
Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species

12. Achievements (women) cont.
Margaret Cavendish – German scientist; proposed “other worlds,” proposed education for women
Maria Winkelmann – discovered a comet, weather observations
No women invited to the academies (Royal Society of England, French Academy of Science)
Little changed about roles of women

13. The Enlightenment
Intellectual movement based in the scientific revolution
Focus on reason
Could apply the scientific method to understanding of all life
Began to apply reason to governments
Following natural law would lead to progress

14. The Philosophes
Intellectuals known by this name but not all were French
Literary people, professors, journalists, economists, political scientists, social reformers
Came from all classes
An international movement
Rational criticism could be applied to everything

15. Contributions cont.
Blaise Pascal – sought to keep science and religion together; not mutually exclusive
But trend to secularization (seeing the world as material not spiritual)
Scientific Method – a reasonable way to understand nature & solve problems; step by step procedures
Francis Bacon – father of the scientific method; inductive principles – from specifics to general conclusions

16. Contributions Rene Descartes – Discourse on Method Idea of “doubt”
Supported only those things that reason said were true; rejects assumptions
“I think, therefore I am”
Rationalism – use the mind or reason to understand the world
Scientific method also
Developed analytical geometry

17. The Philosophes
John Locke – every person is born a tabula rasa (blank slate); knowledge from environment, not heredity
Two Treatises of Government
1. People possess natural rights of life, liberty & property
2. Governments exist by the consent of the governed (i.e. the PEOPLE put them there)
3. Governments are to protect these rights
4. The people may replace a government that fails to protect these rights
*Basis for the Declaration of Independence & Bill of Rights

18. The Philosophes Montesquieu – The Spirit of the Laws
Separation of Powers into 3 Branches – WHY?
1. Legislative – makes laws
2. Executive – enforces (executes) laws
3. Judicial – interprets laws
Checks and balances – each branch limited and controlled the others (examples?)
Basis for the U.S. Constitution

19. The Philosophes Voltaire - writer, Candide
Rationalist; Criticized Church but favored religious tolerance (deist); free speech; hated prejudice and superstition
Deism – god was the creator but the universe then ran according to natural laws and forces (combines secular and non-secular)
Denis Diderot – strongly criticized Christianity (“fanatical and unreasonable”); wrote a vast Encyclopedia of science, arts, etc.

20. The Philosophes Rousseau - The Social Contract
Society agreed to be governed;
Individuals must abide by the majority (popular sovereignty)
Emile – focused on importance of education – should foster, rather than restrict children’s natural instincts

21. The Philosophes Cesar Beccaria, On Crimes and Punishments
Focused on justice system:
Criticized torture, cruelty, capital punishment
Criticized irregular and slow trials
Where do we see these things addressed in our country today?

22. The Philosophes Thomas Hobbes – Leviathan
Man is inherently greedy, cruel, selfish
Strong government needed to control man’s natural impulses
Social Contract – People would give up freedoms for the safety of organized society
Supported idea of absolutism***
***unlike other philosophes

23. Other contributions Adam Smith – The Wealth of Nations
1. Natural law should apply to the economy
2. People should pursue their own economic self-interests
3. Government should protect society, defend its citizens, keep up public works but **leave the economy alone - laissez faire (hands off)
*Foundation of capitalism

24. Women in the Enlightenment
Mary Wollstonecraft - A Vindication of the Rights of Women
Feminism (women’s rights) - Criticized men who said governments have too much power over people – same as men having too much power over women
Enlightenment is based on reason; if women have reason, they should have the same rights as men
Salons – elegant rooms where philosophers men, discussed, socialized