The Enlightenment Questions and
Answers Already Passed
What was the Enlightenment? ✔✔a period beginning in the 1600s in which educated Europeans
changed their outlook on life by seeing reason as the key to human progress
Who were Enlightenment thinkers inspired by? ✔✔The example of scientists such as Galileo
and Newton
-Scientists used observation and logic to understand the physical world.
-Their methods were rapidly overturning old beliefs.
The Enlightenment helped to shape modern views of... ✔✔human nature, society, and
government.
Enlightenment thinkers wanted to examine human life in light of ________. ✔✔reason
What did Enlightenment thinkers feel would lead to great progress in government and society?
✔✔Rational understanding
,The Roots of the Enlightenment ✔✔Enlightenment thinkers wanted to examine human life in the
light of reason. Rational understanding, they felt, would lead to great progress in government and
society. These thinkers believed they were making a major break with the past. Like all people,
however, they were influenced by what had come before them.
Roots of the Enlightenment:
1.) The Scientific Revolution
2.) The Renaissance and Reformation
3.) Classical and Christian Influences
Roots of the Enlightenment: The Scientific Revolution ✔✔In science, observation and reason
were revealing laws that applied throughout the physical world. The thinkers of the
Enlightenment wanted to apply this approach to human life.
Philosophers did not always agree about the answers to these questions. What they all shared was
a way of thinking about such questions. Like scientists, they placed their trust in reason and
observation as the best sources of understanding and progress.
, Roots of the Enlightenment: The Renaissance and Reformation ✔✔The humanists of the
Renaissance questioned accepted beliefs. During the Reformation, Protestants rebelled against
the Catholic Church.
Enlightenment thinkers went even farther in rejecting authority and upholding the freedom of
individuals to think for themselves.
Roots of the Enlightenment: Classical and Christian Influences ✔✔Many Enlightenment thinkers
were inspired by classical culture.
-Trust in reason comes from
Ancient Greeks
-The idea that people should
have a say in their
government comes from Ancient Greeks
Christian ideas also colored Enlightenment thinking.
-Most Enlightenment
philosophers continued to
believe in God
Answers Already Passed
What was the Enlightenment? ✔✔a period beginning in the 1600s in which educated Europeans
changed their outlook on life by seeing reason as the key to human progress
Who were Enlightenment thinkers inspired by? ✔✔The example of scientists such as Galileo
and Newton
-Scientists used observation and logic to understand the physical world.
-Their methods were rapidly overturning old beliefs.
The Enlightenment helped to shape modern views of... ✔✔human nature, society, and
government.
Enlightenment thinkers wanted to examine human life in light of ________. ✔✔reason
What did Enlightenment thinkers feel would lead to great progress in government and society?
✔✔Rational understanding
,The Roots of the Enlightenment ✔✔Enlightenment thinkers wanted to examine human life in the
light of reason. Rational understanding, they felt, would lead to great progress in government and
society. These thinkers believed they were making a major break with the past. Like all people,
however, they were influenced by what had come before them.
Roots of the Enlightenment:
1.) The Scientific Revolution
2.) The Renaissance and Reformation
3.) Classical and Christian Influences
Roots of the Enlightenment: The Scientific Revolution ✔✔In science, observation and reason
were revealing laws that applied throughout the physical world. The thinkers of the
Enlightenment wanted to apply this approach to human life.
Philosophers did not always agree about the answers to these questions. What they all shared was
a way of thinking about such questions. Like scientists, they placed their trust in reason and
observation as the best sources of understanding and progress.
, Roots of the Enlightenment: The Renaissance and Reformation ✔✔The humanists of the
Renaissance questioned accepted beliefs. During the Reformation, Protestants rebelled against
the Catholic Church.
Enlightenment thinkers went even farther in rejecting authority and upholding the freedom of
individuals to think for themselves.
Roots of the Enlightenment: Classical and Christian Influences ✔✔Many Enlightenment thinkers
were inspired by classical culture.
-Trust in reason comes from
Ancient Greeks
-The idea that people should
have a say in their
government comes from Ancient Greeks
Christian ideas also colored Enlightenment thinking.
-Most Enlightenment
philosophers continued to
believe in God
