Course Content
Lesson Plans
The Western Heritage ©2000
by Kagan, Ozment, and Turner
Focus Lesson 6
Chapter 14: "New Directions in Thought and Culture in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries"
AP* Course Description
- Intellectual and Cultural History
- Changes in religious thought and institutions
- Secularization of learning and culture
- Scientific and technological developments and their consequences
- Major trends in literature and the arts
- Intellectual and cultural developments and their relationship to social values and political events
- Developments in social, economic, and political thought
- The diffusion of new intellectual concepts among different social groups
- Changes in elite and popular culture, such as the development of new attitudes toward religion, the family, work, and ritual
- Political and Diplomatic History
- The rise and functioning of the modern state in its various forms
- The evolution of political elites and the development of political parties and ideologies
- The extension and limitation of rights and liberties (personal, civic, economic, and political); majority and minority; political persecutions
- Social and Economic History
- Gender roles and their influence on work, social structure, family structure, and interest group formation
Key Components
- Instructor's Manual: pp. 29–30
- Study Guide and Workbook, Vol. II: pp. 11–19
- Test Item File: pp. 72–78
Key Web Sites
Given the changing nature of the Internet, you may wish to preview these sites. Always check for updated links.
Key Words and Terms
- cosmology
- Ptolemaic system
- geocentricism
- concentric
- heliocentric
- Copernican system
- rhetoric
- mechanism
- Divine Watchmaker
- empirical method
- Scholastic logic
- rational deduction
- Leviathan
- Second Treatise of Government
- Dogmatism
- Skepticism
- physico-theology
- misogyny
Suggested Pacing
Allow nine class periods on a traditional bell schedule of 45-minute periods or five classes on a block schedule of 90-minute sessions. To help students make connections among themes and events, consider combining this chapter in a unit with Chapter 16 (societal and economic conditions) and Chapter 17 (trade). This unit could be completed in three-and-a-half weeks.
Test Strategy
Point out to students that multiple-choice answers that include words such as always, only, and all are usually incorrect. Such absolutes are rarely true of any person, event, or issue in history.
Key Concepts
- Intertwining of rationalism and belief
As the so-called "scientific revolution" was changing scientific and mathematical ways of thinking, people began to use the same foundational logic, or scientific method, in dealing with other facets of life. At this time, some people even began to question the existence of God. - The Development of antithetical political theories
The development of Hobbes's and Locke's theories on the social contract are reflective of the times in which the men lived. Both theories posit a contract between the ruler and the ruled, yet the two are quite different in terms of source of power. According to Hobbes's theory, only the ruler has the authority to alter in any way the terms of the contract. In Locke's view, the people are equal signatories with the ruler, able to alter the contract or to abrogate it. It was Locke's view that Thomas Jefferson used in the Declaration of Independence.
Summing Up Student Understanding
Isaac Newton said that he "stood on the shoulders of giants." Have students create a concept map (mind map) showing how the ideas of previous scientists led Newton to his discoveries. Students should write in each circle notes about the basic ideas/actions of each of the six scientists that would have inspired Newton.
For example, they could write that:
- Copernicus created a heliocentric model of the universe.
- Brahe studied the movement of planets.
- Kepler discovered the planets' elliptical orbits.
- Galileo used a telescope to study the heavens.
- Bacon was the founder of empiricism and scientific experimentation.
- Descartes developed the scientific method.
Students should expand on these ideas in a class discussion, directly connecting them to Newton's accomplishments.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
You might also find these additional readings useful to develop students' background knowledge or for DBQ activities:
- Aspects of Western Civilization, Vol. II, edited by Rogers—Chapter 2, Section 1
- Sources of the West, Vol. II, edited by Kishlausky—Part IV, "Science and Commerce"