Revolution and enlightenment - Ch. 17
The movement toward modernity initiated by the Renaissance was greatly advanced by the Scientific Revolution of the seventeenth century. The Scientific Revolution destroyed the medieval view of the universe and established the scientific method--rigorous and systematic observation and experimentation--as the essential means of unlocking nature's secrets. Increasingly, Western thinkers maintained that nature was a mechanical system, governed by laws that could be expressed mathematically. the new discoveries electrified the imagination. Science displaced theology as the queen of knowledge, and reason, which had been subordinate to religion in the Middle Ages, asserted its autonomy. The great confidence in reason inspired by the Scientific Revolution helped give rise to the Enlightenment, which explicitly rejected the ideas and institutions of the medieval past and articulated the essential norms of modernity.
Reading Schedule:
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Ch. 17 Sec. 1 The Scientific Revolution (pgs. 538 - 545)
Ch. 17 Sec. 2 The Enlightenment (pgs. 546 - 553) Ch. 17 Sec. 3 The Impact of the Enlightenment (pgs. 554 - 563) Revolution and Enlightenment (pdf) |
Assignments
Enduring Understanding
1. Important accomplishments of Bacon, Descartes, Harvey, Newton, Galileo, Copernicus & Kepler forever changed mankind's conception of the universe and the world.
3. The inductive method changed the traditional scientific inquiry.
4. A wide variety of ideas and opinions developed about politics, human nature, economics and social issues.
5. Enlightened monarchs sometimes applied the ideas of the philosophes in their realm, but they often masqueraded as being much more enlightened than they really were.
3. The inductive method changed the traditional scientific inquiry.
4. A wide variety of ideas and opinions developed about politics, human nature, economics and social issues.
5. Enlightened monarchs sometimes applied the ideas of the philosophes in their realm, but they often masqueraded as being much more enlightened than they really were.
Essential Questions
1. How did the Scientific Revolution transform the medieval view of the universe?
2. How did the Scientific Revolution contribute to the shaping of the modern mentality?
3. What were the essential concerns of the philosophes of the Enlightenment?
4. How did the Enlightenment contribute to the shaping of the modern mentality?
5. How do we know anything with certainty?
2. How did the Scientific Revolution contribute to the shaping of the modern mentality?
3. What were the essential concerns of the philosophes of the Enlightenment?
4. How did the Enlightenment contribute to the shaping of the modern mentality?
5. How do we know anything with certainty?