1500 - 1650 CE Flashcards
Erasmus
1466 - 1536
Dutch philosopher and Catholic theologian considered one of the greatest scholars of the northern renaissance.
“Prince of the humanists”.
Retranslated the bible using humanist techniques(?).
Niccolo Machiavelli
1469 - 1527
Lived during the Italian renaissance.
Wrote The Prince. A book about how politics has always been played with deception, treachery and crime - realpolitik.
Father of modern political philosophy.
Nicolaus Copernicus
1473 - 1543
Renaissance Prussian polymath who formulated a model of heliocentrism. (Although Aristarchus had come up with the same idea 18 centuries ago they likely came up with the idea independently).
A major event in the history of science - triggering the Copernican revolution and making a pioneering contribution to the scientific revolution.
Sir Thomas More
1478 - 1535
Lord High Chancellor of England under Henry VIII.
Wrote a book called Utopia which described the political system of an imaginary island state.
Opposed to the Protestant reformation he wrote polemics against Martin Luther, Huldrych Zwingli, John Calvin and William Tyndale.
Didn’t recognise Henry VIII’s separation from Catholic church and was executed.
Martin Luther
1483 - 1546
The seminal figure in the protestant reformation whose followers became known as Lutherans.
He disputed the policy of indulgences.
Wrote Ninety-Five Theses and was excommunicated by the pope and labelled an outlaw by the Holy Roman emperor Charles V. Died with the excommunication still in effect.
John Calvin
1509 - 1564
French theologian and reformer during the Protestant Reformation.
Calvinism - predestination and God’s absolute sovereignty in the salvation of the human soul. Built upon Augustinian and other traditions.
Tireless polemicist and apologetic writer who generated much controversy.
Institutes of the Christian Religion - book.
Many times faced violent opposition but eventually won.
Michel de Montaigne
1533 - 1592
One of the most significant philosophers of the French renaissance.
Popularised the essay as a literary genre. He massive volume Essais contains some of the most influential essays ever written.
Some people thought writing autobiographically and with anecdotes was self-indulgent but it would become more popular over time.
“What do I know?”
Pierre Charron
1541 - 1603
French catholic theologian.
Controversial form of skepticism.
Separation of ethics from religion as an independent philosophical discipline.
Giordano Bruno
1548 - 1600
Adopted the revolutionary Copernican model.
Proposed that the stars were distant suns surrounded by their own planets - and that they might even harbour life.
Insisted that the universe was infinite and could have no centre.
He was burned at the stake by the Catholic church for denying core catholic doctrines such as eternal damnation, the trinity, divinity of Christ, virginity of Mary and transubstantiation. As well as for teaching some revolutionary ideas such as reincarnation.
Johannes Kepler
1571 - 1630
A key figure in the 17th century scientific revolution.
Best known for his laws of planetary motion which combined astronomy with physics. He also incorporated religious meaning to it all.
Newton later built on his work.
Mulla Sadra
1571 - 1635
Led the Iranian cultural renaissance in the 17th century.
Arguably the most important muslim philosopher in the last 400 years.
Considered the master of Illuminationist school of philosophy.
Created a major transition from essentialism to existentialism in Islamic philosophy.
The Transcendent Philosophy of the Four Journeys of the Intellect - book.
Francis Bacon
1561 - 1626
Led the advancement of both natural philosophy and the scientific method.
His works remained influential even in the late stages of the scientific revolution.
The father of empiricism. Argued for the possibility of scientific knowledge based only upon inductive reasoning and careful observation of events in nature.
Galileo Galilei
1564 - 1642
Italian polymath.
The father of observational astronomy, modern-era classical physics, the scientific method and modern science.
Championed Copernican heliocentrism which was met with opposition by the Catholic church and from some astronomers. Investigations by the Roman Inquisition in 1615 found that heliocentrism was foolish, absurd and heretical since it contradicted Holy Scripture.
Hugo Grotius
1583 - 1645
Wrote two important books for international law: On the Law of War and Peace, and The Free Seas.
Marin Mersenne
1588 - 1648
French polymath who made valuable contributions to mathematics and physics such as on the vibration of strings.
“The centre of the world of science and mathematics during the first half of the 1600s”.
Robert Filmer
1588 - 1653
English political theorist who defended the divine right of kings.
He also wrote critiques of Thomas Hobbes, John Milton, Hugo Grotius and Aristotle.
Pierre Gassendi
1592 - 1655
French philosopher, astronomer, mathematician and catholic priest.
Leader of a group of free-thinking intellectuals.
Made some significant philosophical contributions; finding a way between skepticism and dogmatism.
Formulated the modern scientific outlook of moderated skepticism and empiricism.
Clashed with Descartes on the possibility of certain knowledge.
His best known intellectual project attempted to reconcile Epicurean atomism with Christianity.
Rene Descartes
1596 - 1650
French philosopher, scientist and mathematician.
Widely considered a seminal figure in the emergence of modern philosophy and science.
Mathematics was central to his approach.
Although he worked in the Dutch Republic during its golden age, he was catholic.
Draws from Aristotelianism, Stoicism and Augustinianism.
In his natural philosophy he differs from the schools on two major points: he rejected splitting of a corporeal substance into matter and form, and he rejected any appeal to final ends, divine or natural, in explaining natural phenomena.
“I think, therefore I am”.
“The father of modern philosophy”. Responsible for increased attention given to epistemology in the 17th century.
Laid the foundation for 17th century rationalism (Spinoza and Leibniz). Later opposed by empiricist school of thought (Hobbes, Locke, Berkeley and Hume).
