The Enlightenment

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  • A Scientific Start

    (Date wrong, year correct) Francis Bacon publishes his Novum Organum (New Instrument) in which he puts forth the idea of empiricism. Bacon puts forth the idea of actually experiencing what you're questioning rather than thinking about it. Bacon is the father of the scientific method, a system of collecting information. Empiricism, seeing is believing.

  • The Six Meditations

    (Date wrong, Year correct) Rene Descartes publishes "Meditations on First Philosophy". In this work he explains that all must be doubted, and his beliefs of the mind and body. "All things can be split into 2 categories, matter and mind" (Essentially Physical world and the spiritual world)

  • Newton's Principia Published

    The great physicist/mathematician Sir Issac Newton publushed his work, Principia Mathematica at this time. This was the publishing of Newton's laws of motion, along with the establishment of Classical Mechanics.
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    Light Fingers

    (Dates wrong, years correct) Johann Bach publishes his most famous work of all time, Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. (A toccata is played lightly, Toccata itself meaning "touch") Bach, being a master of Toccata and even moreso of the organ is one of the most influential people of the Enlightenment.
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    The Life of Rousseau

    Rousseau, one of the more controversial figures of the Enlightenment. Rousseau wrote "The Social Contract", a treatise on how government should be run. "Government is legitimized by the will of the people." One of the first believers of democracy. "Man is born free, but everywhere in chains." He would be one of the men who would lead the Enlightenment into the Romaticism, where his belief in corruptness of society would ring true.

  • Death of Louis XIV

    With Louis XIV dead, the government will get much, much weaker. Using this, and the decrease in power of the church, from a social point of view, writers such as Voltaire and Rousseau will be able to get their work around much easier. Philosophers in France will be on the rise from here on out.

  • Breaking it Down

    (Date wrong, Year Correct) Montesquieu publishes "The Spirit of Laws" which vouches for a separation of powers. These ideas were used by The United States' founding fathers to make a form of government. Today we know the separation of powers as the Judicial, Executive, and Legislative branches in government. "Power checks Power" as Montesquieu would say.
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    Geoffrin's Salons

    (Dates wrong, Years Correct) Madame Geoffin was a woman host to what is considered the most influential salon of The Enlightenment. She even hosted the great Mozart, child prodigy in all his greatness.

  • The First of Many

    (Dates wrong, Year Correct) Denis Diderot publishes the first of his Encyclopedias, designed to give people, "A new way of thinking". This will be the first of 35 volumes.
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    Ecyclopedia Publishing

    (Dates wrong, years correct) Over the years from 1751 to 1772, Denis Diderot, with the help of many other writers (Such as John Locke, Voltaire, and Benjamin Franklin), published his Encyclopedia.

  • The Master Begins

    Ludwig van Beethoven publishes his first piece, only known as WoO 63 (Work without Opus Number 63). Beethoven would later write some of the most famous works of the time. Such works include Moonlight Sonata, Tempest Sonata, Fur Elise, and his 5th Symphony, which is still played today, because it's that epic.

  • Meeting of the Minds

    Several great minds of the Enlightenment return from the dead to have a round-table discussion. A temporary revival of the Enlightenment, with spirited debate. Great minds such as Newton, Galilei, Descartes, Bacon, and Boyle attend. Several others as well.