New
New
Year 8

Enlightenment ideas: science and politics

I can describe Enlightenment ideas concerning science and politics.

New
New
Year 8

Enlightenment ideas: science and politics

I can describe Enlightenment ideas concerning science and politics.

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Enlightenment ideas around observation, experience and experiment helped pave the way for greater scientific thought.
  2. The Enlightened thinkers believed that governments should work for the benefit of the people.
  3. More people believed in the idea that people should be able to hold their governments to account.
  4. Some Enlightened thinkers began to question ideas of monopolies and trade, arguing they should benefit all, not a few.
  5. Some Enlightened thinkers developed racist ideas of European superiority and African inferiority.

Common misconception

All Enlightenment thinkers were racist.

Some Enlightenment thinkers promoted racist theories while others advocated for equality.

Keywords

  • Enlightenment - the Enlightenment was a movement in the 1600s and 1700s that promoted the use of reason and questioned authority

  • Social contract - a social contract is an agreement that rulers should govern in a way that benefits the people in exchange for having power over them

  • Monopoly - when one group has total control over an area of business or trade, this is known as a monopoly

  • Paradox - a paradox is when a statement or idea appears to contradict itself

  • Colonialism - colonialism involves taking control of another country and taking advantage of its resources and people

Encourage students to think deeply about why Enlightenment ideas about equality did not extend to non-white Europeans in many cases.
Teacher tip

Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of discriminatory behaviour

Supervision

Adult supervision recommended

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

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6 Questions

Q1.
The Scientific Revolution began in the century.
Correct Answer: sixteenth, 16th
Q2.
'What is Enlightenment?' was written by ...
Correct answer: Kant
Locke
Voltaire
Hume
Q3.
The banned many books written by Enlightenment philosophers.
Correct Answer: Church, church
Q4.
Philosophers such as John Locke in England, Voltaire in France and David Hume in Scotland demanded the separation of Church and ...
Correct Answer: government, Government, state
Q5.
Which monarch did Kant praise?
Correct answer: Frederick II of Prussia
Louis XVI of France
Charles II of England
Q6.
Some Enlightenment thinkers believed all races were , but many did not.
Correct Answer: equal, Equal

6 Questions

Q1.
Which monarch formed the Royal Society in 1662?
Frederick II of Prussia
Correct answer: Charles II of England
Louis XVI of France
Q2.
The Enlightenment brought the inoculation of which disease to Britain?
cholera
polio
Correct answer: smallpox
bubonic plague
Q3.
Which Enlightenment philosopher criticised the amount of scientific experimentation that was taking place?
Correct answer: Rousseau
Voltaire
Hume
Locke
Q4.
John Locke came up with the idea that there was an agreement in which people followed the laws of a government in return for protection and freedom, known as a ...
Correct Answer: social contract, Social contract
Q5.
Adam Smith criticised the British East India Company's on trade between Britain and India.
Correct Answer: monopoly, Monopoly
Q6.
Which Enlightenment philosopher tried to separate humans into different classes of race?
Hume
Locke
Voltaire
Correct answer: Diderot

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