Scientific Revolution & The Enlightenment

As the power of reason charts its course across history, it begins to surpass the legacy of faith during the Middle Ages. The Renaissance, a time when reason was reborn, combined with the growing power in the hands of monarchs, led to the Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution, the triumph of reason. No longer would the world be satisfied with previous assumptions about everything from art, to government to the new horizon, science, an art itself that uses truth as it's foundation. With Copernicus, Galileo and Newton taking up the journey first initiated by Socrates, the battle between truth and assumption regarding the universe will take center stage. Like the artists and protestant monks before them, these scientists further define the features of a modern world, one that demands evidence for many of its beliefs.


Like Socrates and Luther before him, Galileo challenged the foundations of his day. Though monarchs had both used and weakened the Church, it still held great fear over the people. Using the power of observation of both the world above and the works of previous astronomers, Galileo wrote down his belief that the earth revolved around the sun - a contradiction to strict interpretation of the Bible.	Forced to defend his views and then read a humiliating confession, Galileo chose admission over death. But the damage to the church was already done, and the war between science and religion is one that continues to rage today. In fact, in 1993, some 300 years after Galileo confessed then whispered under his breath "And yet it moves," the Church finally apologized.	This revolution of the sciences was characterized by two tools of observation: the microscope and the telescope. Whether it was "wee beasties" or lunar phases, what scientists saw and shared shook their world. Proof, now possible to observe, began to challenge Faith, the power that explained everything in the middle ages.

The other giant of his day was Sir Isaac Newton. Most famous for his gravitational theories, Newton defined the era by exercising his power to reason, to think, to observe and to conclude. Newton once said, If it seems I see farther than other, it is because I stand on the shoulders of Giants."	Politically, the enlightenment fostered further individualism, leading the modern era and rise of democracy. John Locke promoted the idea that man, if left to his own abilities, needed only a small government to keep order.

Chapter 20
Section One - New Scientific Ideas	Section Two - Impact of Science
Ptolomey, Copernicus, Kepler...but why Galileo?	The philosophers examine Government, Law and Religion
Bacon and Newton - Power of observation	Hobbes and the Leviathan
Know those who looked at anatomy and chemistry	Locke and Natural Rights
Section Three - Triumph of Reason
Montesquieu - Separation of Powers - and Voltaire
Enlightened despots - who were they and what set them apart?
Define classicism using examples - who defined and it and what did they produce...or write...or design...or compose!