Thomas Hobbes is a materialist philosopher who lived in the Xacentury in England and is famous for his political philosophy where he confirms that there is no authority of one person under the other, there is only authority of mother under her child. Only strong people can govern, and any person may appear in a situation where he/she can show strong will and power.
Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen is a document that consists of 17 articles that were approved on the 26th of August in 1789 by the National Assembly of France. It was the first step of France from the absolute monarchy to the constitutional. This document is fundamental for present France and has a value of law; it states the rights and freedoms of the people in France.
Declaration of Independence is a document that was accepted on the 4th of July in 1776 in America and proclaims America’s independence from Great Britain and the formation of a new unity. It is a symbol of people’s independence from foreign expansion. The ideas in the Declaration of Independence were not new, Thomas Jefferson just summarizes everything and created one written document which reflected the thoughts and ideas of the society.
Baroque is a style of art in western culture that appeared at the beginning of the XVII century in Italy. This art form may be characterized as a style with complicated forms, a huge number of details with not realistic and sometimes even frightening faces. Rococo is often viewed as the last stage of the Baroque. The main features of Rococo are dynamical asymmetric forms, the various curls, naturalistically executed runaways of colors, and wavy vegetative ornaments.
Thomas Jefferson lived in 1743 – 1826 and was the third President of the USA in 1801 – 1809. He came through a hard life to become a president and did not disappoint the hopes of electors. He was one of the authors of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom. He belonged to the Democratic-Republican Party. Jefferson pled for national unity, during his government the country prospered and the taxes were lowered.
Johann Chrysostom Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is an Austrian composer of the Classical era. The main stretches of his works are clarity, balance, and transparency. ABA form of music is a form that consists of three sections: the second section is contrasting the first one and in the third, the music returns to the initial sound. A Sonata-Allegro form is a form that was usually used in the first movement in the XVIII and XIX century symphonies. The parts of the music were the whole but it was possible to distinguish between its different parts.
Old Regime (or Ancient Regime) was a political system in France from the XIV century to the XVIII century, when the power belonged to the Valois and Bourbon dynasties. The power belonged to the monarchy, the clergy, and the aristocracy. There were three estates, classes in the society. Clergy and church belonged to the first estate; they pay miserable taxes and were very rich people. The second estate, rich nobles belonged to the second estate. Their people owned noble ranks and their profits were from their lands. This estate almost did not pay taxes. And the last, third estate, consisted of common people who were not rich and had to pay the biggest taxes.
Napoleon Bonaparte, also known as The Little Corporal and The Corsican, was an Emperor of France, a great military and political leader, at the very beginning of the XIX century. He provided lots of military companies which shaped Europe and managed to gain much new territory which allowed him to control Europe. People in France supported the ideas of Napoleon Bonaparte and he also did much to gain their glory.
Isaac Newton is an outstanding mathematician and physicist who lived in 1643 – 1727 England. He devoted all his life to science in many spheres and wrote many works in optics, mathematics, mechanics and gravitation, chemistry. He also was very religious and people know his religious works and historical and chronological studies. Newton had a huge effect on the history of science for mankind. He made lots of inventions which were important then and do not lose their scientific importance in present days.
Nicolaus Copernicus is a world-famous scientist who lived and worked in 1473 – 1543 Poland. He studied mathematics, physics, economy, and many others but it was astronomy that made him famous. He turned all people’s imaginations about the Universe. He proved that the Earth is not a center of the Universe (that the center is near the sun), that the Earth is rotating around the sun (not vise versa).
Francis Bacon is a famous politician who lived in 1561 – 1626 England. When his political career was ruined he remained an influential person through his works. Bacon was also a philosopher, lawyer, and statesman, and he created the inductive method which is called the Baconian method. He tried to overcome the stereotypes of his age. He wanted to prove that it is important to know nature and its components as only in this way mankind can become its master.
Rene Descartes is a philosopher and scientist who was born in France in 1596 and died at the age of 54. For most of his life, he lived in the Dutch republic. Descartes was a great scientist but he became famous thanks to his philosophical works: “Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting the Reason and Seeking Truth in the Sciences”, “Meditations on First Philosophy”, and “Principles of Philosophy”.
Heliocentric and geocentric universe models are two absolutely opposite theories. Geocentric theory appeared in ancient Greece and existed till the XVII century, when Copernicus denied it. The main sense of this theory is that that the Earth is the center of the universe and other planets go around it. People also believed, according to this theory that the planets rotated circularly. Heliocentric theory says that the Sun is the centre of the Universe and that planets rotate elliptically.
Sadler Report is a document written by Michael Sadler in 1832 in Great Britain. Michael Sadler was a leader of movement which demanded the 10 hour working day for adults and less for children under 18. Sadler Report protected children who worked in factories.
Industrial Revolution symbolizes changes in agriculture, manufacturing, production, and transportation at the end of XVIII – the beginning of XIX centuries which began in Great Britain and later occupied the whole world. This revolution touched almost every aspect of human’s life.
Neoclassicism is a style of visual art which dominated at the middle of XVIII till the end of the XIX centuries in Europe. Neoclassicism aroused as a reaction to the Rococo style and was a combination of conscious Greco-Roman references; it was a returning to the calmer, balanced, and more-rational forms of antiquity.
Absolutism is a political model which means the absolute power of one person, his/her governing the state and people’s lives. Constitutionalism is a political the model according to which the power of government should be limited. These two political models could be observed in the XVII century in Europe.
Louis XIV usually called the Sun King, reigned France in the XVII century. France became a powerful state during his governing as he never doubted his right to be the monarch.
Versailles is a suburb of Paris now, and during the reigning of Louis XIV, it was the capital of the French kingdom. The city is situated on 140 miters high plateau above sea level. The Palace of Versailles was the official residence of all Kings of France from 1682 until 1790.
Glorious Revolution is a revolution that occurred in England in 1688. The result of this revolution was the signing of the Bill of Rights in 1689. It was a fundamental document of English constitutional law, which William III and his wife Mary II promised to obey.
Natural Law is a theory which states the existence of a law set by nature and has validity everywhere. The law of nature had a great impact on many philosophers, like Thomas Aquinas, Thomas Hobbes, and others. The use of the theory of natural law starts with Aristotel. Natural law is often observed as an opposition to the positive law, created by people.
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels are German politicians and philosophers who we know as the founders of communism in the XIX century. Their communistic theory made a great impact on many countries in the world. The most readable and discussed document is the “Communist Manifesto”, which was written in 1848.
Mary Shelley is an England writer, the author of “Frankenstein” which was published anonymously in London in 1818. The story appeared as a result of a dispute: who would be able to write a story in one year only. Mary Shelley was the only one who finished the story, she was 19. The story is about a scientist who created a human being, huge and with great power. The creature is not accepted in society and he wants to revenge on his creator.
The Enlightenment is a period in western philosophy in the XVIII century according to which reason is a primary source. This direction spread the ideas to give more freedom to society. This direction was mostly spread among the tiny elite. One of the representatives of this stream is Voltaire. His real name is François-Marie Arouet, he lived in France in the XVIII century. He spread his Enlightenment ideas through his essays about speech and religious freedoms.
Romanticism is a movement in society that appeared in Germany and England in the 1770s and spread to Europe by the 1820th. This movement put in the forefront the emotions, emphasized them. The imagination took a leading part in this stream. According to Romanticism, the main hero of the work lives his own life, independently from the creator.