UNIT 4: SCIENTIFIC, PHILOSOPHICAL AND POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS 1648-1815
4.1 CONTEXTUALIZING THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION AND THE ENLIGHTENMENT
UNIT 4 KEY CONCEPTS Unit 4: Learning Objective A
Explain the context in which the Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment developed in Europe.
KC-1.1 The rediscovery of works from ancient Greece and Rome and observation of the natural world changed many Europeans’ view of their world.
KC-1.1.IV New ideas in science based on observation, experimentation, and mathematics challenged classical views of the cosmos, nature, and the human body, although existing traditions of knowledge and the universe continued.
KC-2.3 The spread of Scientific Revolution concepts and practices and the Enlightenment’s application of these concepts and practices to political, social, and ethical issues led to an increased but not unchallenged emphasis on reason in European culture.
KC-2.3.I Enlightenment thought, which focused on concepts such as empiricism, skepticism, human reason, rationalism, and classical sources of knowledge, challenged the prevailing patterns of thought with respect to social order, institutions of government, and the role of faith.
KC-2.3.II New public venues and print media popularized Enlightenment ideas. KC-2.3.III New political and economic theories challenged absolutism and mercantilism.
KC-2.3.IV During the Enlightenment, the rational analysis of religious practices led to natural religion and the demand for religious toleration.
KC-2.4 The experiences of everyday life were shaped by demographic, environmental, medical, and technological changes.
KC-2.4.III By the 18th century, family and private life reflected new demographic patterns and the effects of the commercial revolution.
4.2 THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION
THEMATIC FOCUS Technological and Scientific Innovation TSI
Scientific and technological innovations have increased efficiency, improved daily life, and shaped human development and interactions, having both intended and unintended consequences.
Unit 4: Learning Objective B
Explain how understanding of the natural world developed and changed during the Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment.
KC-1.1.IV.A New ideas and methods in astronomy led individuals, including Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton, to question the authority of the ancients and traditional knowledge, and to develop a heliocentric view of the cosmos.
KC-1.1.IV.B Anatomical and medical discoveries by physicians, including William Harvey, presented the body as an integrated system, challenging the traditional humoral theory of the body and of disease espoused by Galen.
KC-1.1.IV.C Francis Bacon and René Descartes defined inductive and deductive reasoning and promoted experimentation and the use of mathematics, which would ultimately shape the scientific method.
KC-1.1.IV.D Alchemy and astrology continued to appeal to elites and some natural philosophers, in part because they shared with the new science the notion of a predictable and knowable universe. At the same time, many people continued to believe that the cosmos was governed by spiritual forces.
ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES Additional physicians who challenged Galen: § Paracelsus § Andreas Vesalius Natural philosophers who continued to hold traditional views of alchemy and astrology: § Paracelsus § Johannes Kepler § Sir Isaac Newton
4.3 THE ENLIGHTENMENT
THEMATIC FOCUS I Social Organization and Development SCD
Economic, political, and cultural factors have influenced the form and status of family, class, and social groups in European history, which has, in turn, affected both the individual and society.
Unit 4: Learning Objective C
Explain the causes and consequences of Enlightenment thought on European society from 1648 – 1815.
KC-2.3.I.A Intellectuals, including Voltaire and Diderot, began to apply the principles of the Scientific Revolution to society and human institutions.
KC-2.3.I.B Locke and Rousseau developed new political models based on the concept of natural rights and the social contract.
KC-2.3.I.C Despite the principles of equality espoused by the Enlightenment and the French Revolution, intellectuals such as Rousseau offered controversial arguments for the exclusion of women from political life.
ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES Works applying scientific principles to society: § Montesquieu’s The Spirit of the Laws § Cesare Beccaria’s On Crimes and Punishments Individuals who challenged Rousseau’s position on women: § Mary Wollstonecraft § Marquis de Condorcet Institutions that broadened the audience for new ideas: § Coffeehouses § Academies § Lending libraries § Masonic lodges Proponents of new economic ideas: § Physiocrats § Francois Quesnay § Anne Robert Jacques Turgot Intellectuals: § David Hume § Baron d’Holbach Religious developments: § Revival of German Pietism
4.3 THEMATIC FOCUS II Cultural and Intellectual Developments CID
The creation and transmission of knowledge, including the relationship between traditional sources of authority and the development of differing world views, had significant political, intellectual, economic, cultural, and social effects on European and world societies.
Unit 4: Learning Objective D
Explain the influence of Enlightenment thought on European intellectual development from 1648 to 1815.
KC-2.3.II.A A variety of institutions, including salons, explored and disseminated Enlightenment culture.
KC-2.3.III.A Political theories, including John Locke’s, conceived of society as composed of individuals driven by self-interest and argued that the state originated in the consent of the governed (i.e., a social contract) rather than in divine right or tradition.
KC-2.3.III.B Mercantilist theory and practice were challenged by new economic ideas, including Adam Smith’s, which espoused free trade and a free market.
KC-2.3.I Enlightenment thought, which focused on concepts such as empiricism, skepticism, human reason, rationalism, and classical sources of knowledge, challenged the prevailing patterns of thought with respect to social order, institutions of government, and the role of faith.
KC-2.3.IV.A Intellectuals, including Voltaire and Diderot, developed new philosophies of deism, skepticism, and atheism.
KC-2.3.IV.B Religion was viewed increasingly as a matter of private rather than public concern.
4.4 18TH CENTURY SOCIETY AND DEMOGRAPHICS
THEMATIC FOCUS Social Organization and Development SCD
Economic, political, and cultural factors have influenced the form and status of family, class, and social groups in European history, which has, in turn, affected both the individual and society.
Unit 4: Learning Objective E
Explain the factors contributing to and the consequences of demographic changes from 1648 to 1815.
KC-2.4.I In the 17th century, small landholdings, low-productivity agricultural practices, poor transportation, and adverse weather limited and disrupted the food supply, causing periodic famines. By the 18th century, the balance between population and the food supply stabilized, resulting in steady population growth.
KC-2.4.I.A By the middle of the 18th century, higher agricultural productivity and improved transportation increased the food supply, allowing populations to grow and reducing the number of demographic crises (a process known as the Agricultural Revolution).
KC-2.4.I.B In the 18th century, plague disappeared as a major epidemic disease, and inoculation reduced smallpox mortality.
KC-2.4.III.A Although the rate of illegitimate births increased in the 18th century, population growth was limited by the European marriage pattern, and in some areas by various birth control methods.
KC-2.4.III.B As infant and child mortality decreased, and commercial wealth increased, families dedicated more space and resources to children and child-rearing, as well as private life and comfort. KC-2.4.IV Cities offered economic opportunities, which attracted increasing migration from rural areas, transforming urban life and creating challenges for the new urbanites and their families.
KC-2.4.IV.A The Agricultural Revolution produced more food using fewer workers; as a result, people migrated from rural areas to the cities in search of work.
KC-2.4.IV.B The growth of cities eroded traditional communal values, and city governments strained to provide protection and a healthy environment.
KC-2.4.IV.C The concentration of the poor in cities led to a greater awareness of poverty, crime, and prostitution as social problems, and prompted increased efforts to police marginal groups.
ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES Inoculation and disease control: § Lady Mary Wortley Montagu Increased emphasis on childhood: § Jean-Jacques Rousseau § Education in Napoleonic France and Austria § Painting and portraiture
4.5 18TH CENTURY ART AND CULTURE
THEMATIC FOCUS Cultural and Intellectual Developments CID
The creation and transmission of knowledge, including the relationship between traditional sources of authority and the development of differing world views, had significant political, intellectual, economic, cultural, and social effects on European and world societies.
Unit 4: Learning Objective F
Explain how European cultural and intellectual life was maintained and changed throughout the period from 1648 to 1815.
KC-2.3.II.B Despite censorship, increasingly numerous and varied printed materials served a growing literate public and led to the development of public opinion.
KC-2.3.II.C Natural sciences, literature, and popular culture increasingly exposed Europeans to representations of peoples outside Europe and, on occasion, challenges to accepted social norms.
KC-2.3.V The arts moved from the celebration of religious themes and royal power to an emphasis on private life and the public good.
KC-2.3.V.A Until about 1750, Baroque art and music promoted religious feeling and was employed by monarchs to illustrate state power.
KC-2.3.V.B 18th-century art and literature increasingly reflected the outlook and values of commercial and bourgeois society. Neoclassicism expressed new Enlightenment ideals of citizenship and political participation.
KC-2.4.II The consumer revolution of the 18th century was shaped by a new concern for privacy, encouraged the purchase of new goods for homes, and created new venues for leisure activities.
ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES Printed materials: § Newspapers § Periodicals § Books § Pamphlets § The Encyclopédie Baroque artists and musicians who promoted religion or glorified monarchy: § Diego Velásquez § Gian Bernini § George Frideric Handel § J. S. Bach Artistic movements that reflected commercial society or Enlightenment ideals: § Dutch painting § Rembrandt § Jan Vermeer § Jacques-Louis David § Pantheon in Paris Literature that reflected commercial society or Enlightenment ideals: § Daniel Defoe § Samuel Richardson § Henry Fielding § Johann Wolfgang von Goethe § Jane Austen
A new concern for privacy: § Homes built to include private retreats, such as the boudoir § Novels that encouraged a reflection on private emotion
New consumer goods for homes: § Porcelain dishes § Cotton and linens for home décor § Mirrors § Prints New leisure venues: § Coffeehouses § Taverns § Theaters and opera houses
4.6 ENLIGHTENED AND OTHER APPROACHES TO POWER
THEMATIC FOCUS States and Other Institutions of Power SOP
European states and nations developed governmental and civil institutions from 1450 to the present to organize society and consolidate political power, with a variety of social, cultural, and economic effects.
Unit 4: Learning Objective G
Explain how different forms of political power were influenced by Enlightenment thought from 1648 to 1815.
KC-2.1.I.C In the 18th century, a number of states in eastern and central Europe experimented with enlightened absolutism.
KC-2.3.IV.C By 1800, most governments in western and central Europe had extended toleration to Christian minorities and, in some states, civil equality to Jews.
THEMATIC FOCUS II National and European Identity NEI
Definitions and perceptions of regional, cultural, national, and European identity have developed and been challenged over time, with varied and often profound effects on the political, social, and cultural order in Europe.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS Unit 4: Learning Objective H
Explain how and why political and religious developments challenged or reinforced the idea of a unified Europe from 1648 to 1815.
KC-2.1.III.A As a result of the Holy Roman Empire’s limitation of sovereignty in the Peace of Westphalia, Prussia rose to power, and the Habsburgs, centered in Austria, shifted their empire eastward
ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES Enlightened monarchs: § Frederick II of Prussia § Joseph II of Austria Prussian and Habsburg rulers: § Maria Theresa of Austria § Frederick William I of Prussia § Frederick II of Prussia
4.7 CAUSATION IN THE AGE OF THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION AND THE ENLIGHTENMENT
The final topic in this unit focuses on the skill of argumentation and so provides an opportunity for your students to draw upon the key concepts and historical developments they have studied in this unit. Using evidence relevant to this unit’s key concepts, students should practice the suggested skill for this topic. Required Course Content
Unit 4: Learning Objective I
Explain how and why the Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment challenged the existing European order and understanding of the world.
KC-1.1 The rediscovery of works from ancient Greece and Rome and observation of the natural world changed many Europeans’ view of their world.
KC-1.1.IV New ideas in science based on observation, experimentation, and mathematics challenged classical views of the cosmos, nature, and the human body, although existing traditions of knowledge and the universe continued.
KC-2.3 The spread of Scientific Revolution concepts and practices and the Enlightenment’s application of these concepts and practices to political, social, and ethical issues led to an increased but not unchallenged emphasis on reason in European culture.
KC-2.3.I Enlightenment thought, which focused on concepts such as empiricism, skepticism, human reason, rationalism, and classical sources of knowledge, challenged the prevailing patterns of thought with respect to social order, institutions of government, and the role of faith.
KC-2.3.II New public venues and print media popularized Enlightenment ideas.
KC-2.3.III New political and economic theories challenged absolutism and mercantilism.
KC-2.3.IV During the Enlightenment, the rational analysis of religious practices led to natural religion and the demand for religious toleration.
KC-2.4 The experiences of everyday life were shaped by demographic, environmental, medical, and technological changes.
KC-2.4.III By the 18th century, family and private life reflected new demographic patterns and the effects of the commercial revolution.