History 4403
Study
Questions 2
Jacob, The Enlightenment, 27-43.
1. Who were the moderns and why did they disagree with Thomas Acquinas
(1225-1274) whose model of thought they dubbed Scholasticism?
2. What was René Descartes' major contribution to popular
discussions of religious ideas and customs in the 17th century and why
did some in authority fear his ideas?
3. What was the Index of Forbidden
Books and in which edition of it did Descartes's works find
themselves listed?
4. Be able to name and date two of Descartes's works: The Discourse on Method (1637), The Passion of the Soul (1649).
5. How did the Calvinist minister Balthasar Bekker apply Descartes's
ideas in his De betoverde wereld
or World Bewitched and what
was the result of this?
6. What was the controversy in the second half of the 17th century in
the Dutch Republic between supporters of Descartes (often called
Cocceians), on the one hand, and adherents to the ideas of Thomas
Aquinas (often described as Voetians), on the other?
7. Why did people come to admire the work of Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
in the 18th century?
8. How did Locke believe all knowledge ultimately had to be acquired?
9. What were the five core ideas of Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) in
his Tractatus Theologico-Politicus
(1670) and his posthumously published Ethics
(1677) and the key assertion of Thomas Hobbes in his Leviathan (1651) and why were they
controversial for their contemporaries?
10. For what two things is Jean Rouisset de Missy (1686-1762) famous?
11. What was the status of the French language in the
Enlightenment and in 18th-century Europe?
12. Who was Pierre Marteau and what was his significance to the
Enlightenment? How can we tie him and his ilk to emerging public
opinion?