PeopleJohannSebastian Bach (16851750)

An enormously influential German composer whorose to prominence in the early 1700s.Best known by his contemporaries as an organist, Bach also wrotean enormous body of both sacred and secular music that synthesizeda variety of styles and in turn influenced countless later composers.

An English philosopher and statesman who developed the inductive method or Baconianmethod of scientific investigation, which stresses observationand reasoning as a means for coming to general conclusions. Baconswork influenced his later contemporary Ren Descartes.

An Italian politician who ventured into philosophy toprotest the horrible injustices that he observed in various Europeanjudicial systems. Beccarias book On Crimes and Punishments (1764)exposed these practices and led to the abolition of many.

A Czech educational and social reformer who, in responseto the Thirty Years War, made the bold move of challengingthe necessity of war in the first place. Comenius stressed toleranceand education as alternatives for war, which were revolutionaryconcepts at the time.

A French philosopher and scientist who revolutionizedalgebra and geometry and made the famous philosophical statementI think, therefore I am. Descartes developed a deductive approachto philosophy using math and logic that still remains a standardfor problemsolving.

A French scholar who was the primary editor of the Encyclopdie,a massive thirty-five-volume compilation of human knowledge in the artsand sciences, along with commentary from a number of Enlightenmentthinkers. The Encyclopdie became a prominent symbolof the Enlightenment and helped spread the movement throughout Europe.

American thinker, diplomat, and inventor who traveledfrequently between the American colonies and Europe during the Enlightenmentand facilitated an exchange of ideas between them. Franklin exertedprofound influence on the formation of the new government of theUnited States, with a hand in both the Declarationof Independence and the U.S. Constitution.

A German author who wrote near the end of the Aufklrung,the German Enlightenment. Goethes morose The Sorrows ofYoung Werther (1774)helped fuel the Sturm und Drangmovement,and his two-part Faust (1808, 1832)is seen as one of the landmarks of Western literature.

A French feminist and reformer in the waning years ofthe Enlightenment who articulated the rights of women with her Declaration ofthe Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen (1791).

A Dutch scholar who, like Czech John Comenius,lived during the Thirty Years War and felt compelledto write in response to it. The result, a treatise on war and internationalrelations titled On the Law of War and Peace (1625),eventually became accepted as the basis for the rules of modernwarfare.

A German-English composer of the late Baroque period whose Messiah remainsone of the best-known pieces of music in the world. Handel was anactive court composer, receiving commissions from such notablesas King George I of England, for whom his Water Music suitewas written and performed.

A philosopher and political theorist whose 1651 treatise Leviathan effectivelykicked off the English Enlightenment. The controversial Leviathan detailedHobbess theory that all humans are inherently self-driven and eviland that the best form of government is thus a single, all-powerfulmonarch to keep everything in order.

A Scottish philosopher and one of the most prominent figuresin the field of skepticism during the Enlightenment.Hume took religion to task, asking why a perfect God would evercreate an imperfect world, and even suggested that our own sensesare fallible, bringing all observations and truths into question.Humes skepticism proved very influential to others, such as ImmanuelKant, and was instrumental in the shift away from rationalistthought that ended the Enlightenment.

American thinker and politician who penned the Declarationof Independence (1776),which was inspired directly by Enlightenment thought.

A German skeptic philosopher who built on DavidHumes theories and brought the school of thought to an evenhigher level. Kant theorized that all humans are born with innateexperiences that then reflect onto the world, giving them a perspective.Thus, since no one actually knows what other people see, the ideaof reasoning is not valid. Kants philosophies applied the brakesto the Enlightenment, effectively denouncing reason as an invalidapproach to thought.

Generally considered the founder of the Aufklrung,orGerman Enlightenment,who injected a bit of spiritualityinto the Enlightenment with writings regarding God andhis perfect, harmonious world. Also a scientist who shared creditfor the discovery of calculus, Leibniz hated the ideaof relying on empirical evidence in the world. Instead, hedeveloped a theory that the universe consists of metaphysical buildingblocks he called monads.

An English political theorist who focused on the structureof governments. Locke believed that men are all rational and capable peoplebutmust compromise some of their beliefs in the interest of forminga government for the people. In his famous Two Treatisesof Government (1690), he championedthe idea of a representative government that would best serve allconstituents.

The foremost French political thinker of the Enlightenment,whose most influential book, The Spirit of Laws, expanded JohnLockes political study and incorporated the ideas of a divisionof state and separation of powers. Montesquieus work also venturedinto sociology: he spent a considerable amount of time researchingvarious cultures and their climates, ultimately deducing that climateis a major factor in determining the type of government a givencountry should have.

A genius Austrian composer who began his career as a childprodigy and authored some of the most renowned operas and symphoniesin history. Mozarts music has never been surpassed in its blendof technique and emotional breadth, and his musical genius placeshim in a category with a select few other composers.

An English scholar and mathematician regarded as the fatherof physical science. Newtons discoveries anchored the ScientificRevolution and set the stage for everything that followed in mathematicsand physics. He shared credit for the creation of calculus,and his Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica introducedthe world to gravity and fundamental laws ofmotion.

English-American political writer whose pamphlet CommonSense (1776)argued that the British colonies in America should rebel againstthe Crown. Paines work had profound influence on public sentimentduring the American Revolution, which had begun just monthsearlier.

A French economist whose Tableau conomique (1758)argued against government intervention in the economy and inspiredScottish economist Adam Smiths seminal Wealthof Nations (1776).

An eclectic Swiss-French thinker who brought his own approachto the Enlightenment, believing that man was at his best when unshackledby the conventions of society. Rousseaus epic The SocialContract (1762) conceived of a systemof direct democracy in which all citizens contribute to an overarchinggeneral will that serves everyone at once. Later in his life,Rousseau released Confessions(1789),which brought a previously unheard-of degree of personal disclosureto the genre of autobiography. The frank personal revelations andemotional discussions were a major cause for the shift toward Romanticism.

An influential Scottish economist who objected to thestifling mercantilistsystems that were in place duringthe late eighteenth century. In response, Smith wrote the seminal Wealthof Nations (1776),a dissertation criticizing mercantilism and describing the manymerits of a free trade system.

A Dutch-Jewish lens grinder who questionedtenets of Judaism and Christianity, which helped undermine religiousauthority in Europe. Although Spinoza personally believedin God, he rejected the concept of miracles, the religious supernatural,and the idea that the Bible was divinely inspired. Rather, he believedthat ethics determined by rational thought were more important asa guide to conduct than was religion.

A French writer and the primary satirist of the Enlightenment,who criticized religion and leading philosophies of the time. Voltaires numerousplays and essays frequently advocated freedom from the ploys ofreligion, while Candide (1759),the most notable of his works, conveyed his criticisms of optimismand superstition into a neat package.

Another name for the German Enlightenment.

A system of faith to which many of the French philosophes andother Enlightenment thinkers subscribed. Deists believedin an all-powerful God but viewed him as a cosmic watchmaker whocreated the universe and set it in autonomous motion and then neveragain tampered with it. Deists also shunned organized religion,especially Church doctrines about eternal damnation and a naturalhierarchy of existence.

A trend in European governments during the later partof the Enlightenment, in which a number of absolute monarchs adopted Enlightenment-inspiredreforms yet retained a firm grip on power. Frederick the Great ofPrussia, Maria-Theresa and Joseph II ofAustria, Charles III of Spain, and Catherinethe Great of Russia are often counted among these enlighteneddespots.

A revolution in France that overthrew the monarchy andis often cited as the end of the Enlightenment. The French Revolutionbegan in 1789 whenKing Louis XVI convened the legislature in an attempt tosolve Frances monumental financial woes. Instead, the massive middleclass revolted and set up its own government. Although this newgovernment was effective for a few years, internal dissent grew andpower switched hands repeatedly, until France plunged into the brutallyviolent Reign of Terror of 17931794.Criticssaw this violence as a direct result of Enlightenment thought andas evidence that the masses were not fit to govern themselves.

The name given to the bloodless coup dtat in Englandin 1688, whichsaw the Catholic monarch, King James II, removed fromthe throne and replaced by the Protestants William and Mary.The new monarchs not only changed the religious course of Englandand the idea of divine right but also allowed the additional personalliberties necessary for the Enlightenment to truly flourish.

One of the cornerstones of the Enlightenment, a philosophystressing the recognition of every person as a valuable individualwith inalienable, inborn rights.

The economic belief that a favorable balance of tradethatis, more exports than importswould yield more gold and silver,and thus overall wealth and power, for a country. Governments tendedto monitor and meddle with their mercantilist systems closely, which Scottisheconomist Adam Smith denounced as bad economic practicein his Wealth of Nations.

The general term for those academics and intellectualswho became the leading voices of the French Enlightenment duringthe eighteenth century. Notable philosophes included Voltaire,the Baron de Montesquieu, and Denis Diderot.

Arguably the foundation of the Enlightenment, the beliefthat, by using the power of reason, humans could arrive at truthand improve human life.

Another fundamental philosophy of the Enlightenment, which declaredthat different ideas, cultures, and beliefs had equal merit. Relativismdeveloped in reaction to the age of exploration, which increasedEuropean exposure to a variety of peoples and cultures across theworld.

A movement that surfaced near the end of the Enlightenmentthat placed emphasis on innate emotions and instincts rather thanreason, as well as on the virtues of existing in a natural state.Writers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau and JohannWolfgang von Goethe both contributed greatly to the developmentof Romanticism.

Gathering places for wealthy, intellectually minded elitesduring the years during and prior to the Enlightenment. The salonstypically held weekly meetings where upper-class citizens gatheredto discuss the political and social theories of the day.

A gradual development of thought and approaches to thestudy of the universe that took place from approximately 1500 to 1700 and pavedthe way for the Enlightenment. Coming from humble beginnings withbasic observations, the Scientific Revolution grew to a fever pitchwhen scientists such as Galileo Galilei, RenDescartes, and Johannes Kepler entered the sceneand essentially rewrote history, disproving Church doctrines, explainingreligious miracles, and setting the world straight on all sortsof scientific principles. The result was not only new human knowledgebut also a new perspective on the acquisition of knowledge, suchas the scientific method.

A political idea, developed by John Locke andthe Baron de Montesquieu,that power in governmentshould be divided into separate branchestypically legislative,judicial, and executivein order to ensure that no one branch ofa governing body can gain too much authority.

A philosophical movement that emerged in response to rationalism andmaintained that human perception is too relative to be consideredcredible. David Hume brought skepticism into the spotlightby suggesting that human perceptions cannot be trusted, and then ImmanuelKant elevated the field when he proposed that humans are bornwith innate experiences that give shape to their own, individualworlds.

An idea in political philosophy, generally associatedwith John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau,stating that a government and its subjects enter into an implicitcontract when that government takes power. In exchange for cedingsome freedoms to the government and its established laws, the subjectsexpect and demand mutual protection. The governments authority,meanwhile, lies only in the consent of the governed.

Literally meaning storm and stress, the name given toan undercurrent of the German Enlightenment duringwhich German youths expressed their angst by rebelling against thepleasant optimism of the time. Influenced partly by JohannWolfgang von Goethes The Sorrows of Young Werther,participants in the Sturm und Drang movement harboreda depressed, more archaic idealism. Though it revealed a decidedone-sidedness of the German Enlightenment, the movement did notsustain itself for very long.

A brutal, destructive conflict in Germany between 1618 and 1648. TheThirty Years War began when Bohemian Protestants revolted out ofa refusal to be ruled by a Catholic king. The battle would eventuallyspread throughout Germany and involve many other countries on bothsides, resulting in the death of nearly a third of the German populationand unfathomable destruction. Enlightenment thinkers such as JohnComenius and Hugo Grotius reacted against the warwith treatises about education, international relations, and the natureof war itself.

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SparkNotes: The Enlightenment (16501800): Key People & Terms