1.

Analyze the ways in which specific intellectual and scientific developments of the 17th and 18th centuries contributed to the religious outlook known as "Deism." Specific scientific developments: -The work of Galileo, particularly on the question of whether the earth is in motion (according to the Bible, it isn't). -Nicholas Steno's work on fossils and where they are found in layers of rock (suggestions of evolution, in that creatures that had once been alive now were not). -Isaac Newton, who laid the groundwork for modern physics. His laws of motion and gravitation showed that physical objects always act the same. (Deism: God makes rules and sets the universe in motion. This is a direct connection.) -Antoine Lavoisier invented chemistry. Everything was composed of elements, so everything follows specific scientific principles. His work elevated chemistry to the same levels achieved in physics and mathematics in the 18th century. -Georges Cuvier established extinction of species as a fact. Intellectual developments: -The Enlightenment -The Protestant Reformation, which opened the world to the idea that Catholicism was not infallible -The printing press (technically 15th century, but it made the dissemination of ideas possible) and more widespread literacy. 2. In the eighteenth century, people turned to the new science for a better understanding of the social and economic problems of the day. Assess the validity of this settlement by using specific examples from the enlightenment era. 3. To what extent did the enlightenment express optimistic ideas in the eighteenth century? Well, look at Enlightenment ideas of the time (literally, human beings finding the light of knowledge and morality and transcending their base, ignorant selves) and compare it to the other prominent ideas at the time, which were mostly Christian. Lets take Calvinist philosophy, for example: Predestination says that God decided you were going to Heaven or Hell for you before you were born, and there is nothing you can do about it. The only text for Calvinists was the bible, and they were typically exposed to thousands of sermons and pamphlets over the course of their lives giving them a pretty restrictive view of their options in life and afterlife. Enlightenment offered to maximize human intellectual and moral potential through education and expression. 4. Analyze the ways in which enlightenment thought addressed religious beliefs and social issues in the eighteenth century

http://mybestessays.com/how-the-enlightenment-adresses-essay-researchpaper/ 5. Compare and contrast the cultural values of the enlightenment with those of the sixteenth century nortern renaissance First off, the Northern Renaissance was all about religion and art. The enlightenment was all about politics and literature. (I'll expand on this a little later) Secondly, the Northern Renaissance was centered in Germany while Paris was home to the Enlightenment. The Northern Renaissance was still in the Middle (not Dark) Ages.... this meant that scholarly work was done in Latin and modeled on the Classics of Greek and Rome... The Enlightenment was the 1700s which meant that thinkers wrote in the vernacular and developed their own models. This difference also reflects a different target audience for their thoughts... the NR was for the scholars and the E's target audience was everyone. The NR was funded by patrons of the arts (nobility), and the E was funded by the people. Now getting back to the first thing I mentioned... During the NR, EVERYONE was catholic (or being tortured to death as a heretic). The NR reformers did not overstep the lines and were able to enjoy government support for the whole NR (in retrospect (after Martin Luther), the Church would start condemning the NR but at the time it was fine with the proposals. The lead thinker of the NR was Desidarius Erasmus, a religious scholar who wrote about religion. The main artist was Durrer, a religious artist who did etchings about religion (Praying Hands is his most famous work and is a drawing, but most of his works were etchings). The E was intellectually led by Voltaire, an agnostic-type phylosophe who wrote political outcry that was started as an outcry against torture. Other names worth mentioning a Diderot who compiled the encyclopedia so that common people could easily access and research a large variety of knowledge, and Rousseau (whose name is misspelled here) who wrote novels like Emile about education and relationships (his books were pretty much the chick-flicks of the day). The Enlightenment did not really enjoy all that much approval by many governments (although a few enlightened despots like Catherine the Great in Russia were enthusiastic about it); however, the French crown wanted to make Paris the cultural capital of the world and therefore pretty much turned a blind eye to the E, but occasionally exiled a few of its leaders. An interesting tidbit that doesn't go along that well with the question is that both eras produced some works that were completely intolerable to the governments... so during the NR, scholars used the one main illegal circulation of literature to be

able to send out heretical ideas--they wrote pornos and inserted their philosophies and research into them. During the enlightenment, people just went to a neighboring country, published anonymously there, and smuggled their work back into their original country. Finally, the Enlightenment produced a culture of its own that was based on the ideas of individual freedoms, universal writes, and love of education... a comparative culture doesn't really exist for the NR. 6. In what ways did the Enlightenment thinkers build on or make the use of the ideas of Newton and Locke? The idea that all are created equal is revolutionary, as much today as it was then. In an age where monarchs rule by the happenstance of who their parents are, religions dictate class privileges, and the caste your born into is the one where you'll live forever, to accept that you are EQUAL to everyone else in basic human rights is an enormous step. The fight for this ideal equality continues to this day. For instance, the above three examples of inequality are currently the norm in the Middle East, India, and China. You and I directly benefit from John Locke and those who took his words to heart. Please read them yourself. Newton used the scientific method to crack mysteries formerly on God's turf. He advocated that man was capable of asking and finding the answers for his own questions without relying on religion's "because we said so" attitude. This is huge.