Questions & Answers: World History – Enlightenment and Revolution

Discuss and describe the Scientific Revolution.
The rapid advance in learning known as the Scientific Revolution was a product of the systematic form of inquiry known as the scientific method. With the scientific method, learning is incremental: a question is posed, a hypothetical solution is offered, observations are made, and the hypothesis is either supported or refuted. The consistency of the method made it easy for scientific discoveries to be transferred from one country to another. Along with a standardized form of measurement, the development of the scientific method gave scientists a common language. Scientists also benefited from the development of powerful telescopes and microscopes.

What was the period known as the Enlightenment?
Between the years 1600 and 1770, political and social philosophy in Europe underwent a tremendous change, known collectively as the Enlightenment. Just as Northern Italy had been the center of the Renaissance, so now Paris was the hub of progressive thought. The collection of philosophes, who sought to bring every subject under the authority of reason, included both deists (those who believed in God) and atheists (those who did not). The study known as political science first emerged during this period. Intellectuals began to question the divine right that had been claimed by absolute monarchs in the past; they sought to determine which was the best form of government for all the citizens of the country.

Identify the major figures of the Scientific Revolution.
After Copernicus startled the world by challenging the geocentric (that is, earth-centered) model for the universe, the Italian Galileo Galilei supplied scientific experiments that proved the accuracy of Copernicus’ theory. One of the philosophical heroes of the Scientific Revolution was the Frenchman Rene Descartes, who attempted to base his beliefs about the world upon empirical and provable facts: most famously, “I think, therefore I am.” Francis Bacon was an English intellectual who wrote copiously on the possibilities for science to improve the human condition. Sir Isaac Newton excelled in many fields, but is best known for his theories of motion and gravitation. Newton helped create the general idea that objects in the world behave in regular and predictable ways.

Compare and contrast the American Revolution and the French Revolution.
Both the American and French Revolution came about as a protest against the excesses and overly controlling nature of their respective monarchs. In America, the British colonies had been left mostly self-governing until the British monarchs began to increase control, leading the colonies to revolt. In France, the nobility’s excesses had led to increasingly difficult economic conditions, with inflation, heavy taxation and food shortages creating horrible burdens on the people. Both revolutions led to the development of republics to replace the monarchies that were displaced. However, the French Revolution eventually led to the rise of the dictator Napoleon Bonaparte, while the American Revolution produced a working republic from the beginning.

Discuss the philosophers who developed the ideas of the Enlightenment.
Major philosophers of the Enlightenment included:
· Rene Descartes—“I think, therefore I am.” He believed strongly in logic and rules of observation.
· David Hume—pioneered empiricism and skepticism, believing that truth could only be found through direct experience, and that what others said to be true was always suspect.
· Immanuel Kant—believed in self-examination and observation, and that the root of morality lay within human beings.
· Jean-Jacques Rousseau—developed the idea of the social contract, that government existed by the agreement of the people, and that the government was obligated to protect the people and their basic rights. His ideas influenced John Locke and Thomas Jefferson.

Outline the major events and figures of the French Revolution.
In 1789, King Louis XVI, faced with a huge national debt, convened parliament. The Third Estate, or Commons, a division of the French parliament, then claimed power, and the king’s resistance led to the storming of the Bastille, the royal prison. The people established a constitutional monarchy. When King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette attempted to leave the country, they were executed on the guillotine.
From 1793 to 1794, Robespierre and extreme radicals, the Jacobins, instituted a Reign of Terror, executing thousands of nobles as well as anyone considered an enemy of the Revolution. Robespierre was then executed, as well, and the Directory came into power. This governing body proved incompetent and corrupt, allowing Napoleon Bonaparte to come to power in 1799, first as a dictator, then as emperor. While the French Revolution threw off the power of a corrupt monarchy, its immediate results were likely not what the original perpetrators of the revolt had intended.