G11 SS Module 18 Enlightenment

In the Middle Ages, view which held that the earth was an immovable object located at the center of the universe

• geocentric theory

• Scientific Revolution

• heliocentric theory

new way of thinking about the natural world based on careful observation and the questioning of accepted beliefs

• Scientific Revolution

• deism

• heliocentric theory

idea that the earth and the other planets revolve around the sun

• heliocentric theory

• geocentric theory

• Galileo Galilei

• scientific method

Bacon and Descartes

Like Bacon, Descartes believed that scientists needed to reject old assumptions and teachings. As a mathematician, however, he approached gaining knowledge differently from Bacon. Rather than using experimentation, Descartes relied on mathematics and logic. He believed that everything should be doubted until proved by reason. The only thing he knew for certain was that he existed—because, as he wrote, “I think, therefore I am.” From this starting point, he followed a train of strict reasoning to arrive at other basic truths.

René Descartes believed that because nothing can be known for sure, only through logical reasoning and the application of ____________ can anything be proven.

• experimentation

• mathematics

• faith

• assumptions

Italian scientist who invented the first working telescope; his discoveries put him into conflict with the Roman Catholic Church

• Galileo Galilei

• Isaac Newton

• Bacon

Newton Explains the Law of Gravity

In 1687, Newton published his ideas in a work entitled The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (sometimes known by its Latin title, Principia Mathematica). It was one of the most important scientific books ever written. The universe he described was like a giant clock. Its parts all worked together perfectly in ways that could be expressed mathematically. Newton believed that God was the creator of this orderly universe, the clockmaker who had set everything in motion. Many other scientists and philosophers during the Scientific Revolution, including Descartes, agreed with Newton’s view of the role of God in the universe. This type of thinking was called deism, from the Latin word for God.

Newton’s belief in an orderly universe, or_______________, blended scientific reasoning with his faith in God.

• deism

• materialism

• skepticism

• theism

Medicine and the Human Body

During the Middle Ages, European doctors had accepted as fact the writings of an ancient Greek physician named Galen. However, Galen had never dissected the body of a human being. Instead, he had studied the anatomy of pigs and other animals. Galen assumed that human anatomy was much the same. In the 1500s, a Flemish physician named Andreas Vesalius proved Galen’s assumptions wrong. Vesalius dissected human corpses and published his observations. His book, On the Structure of the Human Body (1543), was filled with detailed drawings of human organs, bones, and muscles.

Andreas Vesalius disproved many of the medical theories of the ancient Greek doctor named ____________.

• Franklin

• Galen

• Jenner

• Montague

18th-century European movement in which thinkers attempted to

apply the principles of reason and the scientific method to all aspects of society

• enlightenment

• scientific revolution

• Montesquieu

agreement by which people define and limit their individual rights,

thus creating an organized society or government

• social contract

• philosophe

• rationalism

• Voltaire

belief that truth could be found through reason or logical thinking

• rationalism

• philosophe

• social contract