Browse Items (202 total)

In Thomas Hobbes’s “Leviathan,” he draws out a widespread system of politics and governance based around the idea of a social contract between the public of a state and their sovereign or ruler. Hobbes argues for an absolute monarchy backed…

Francis Bacon was a natural philosopher from England who introduced the scientific method through two publications, The Advancement of Learning and Novum Organum. To him, the basis of natural philosophy could be found in observation (Wiesner-Hanks,…

The development of the earliest telescopes is the source of some debate among historians, as numerous individuals claimed to be the inventors of the telescope. The Low Countries and Italy both emerge as potential locations for its invention, and…

Throughout human history, great discoveries have commonly been made by accident. Despite popular mythology, this principle applies to Christopher Columbus’ initial voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. Although the notion that the Earth was round was not…

The painting above depicts the event that influenced Plato's conception of democracy, the execution of his master Socrates.
As Socrates did not write anything down (or if he did, we no longer have it), most of our knowledge of him comes from his…

The bust (above) depicts Aristotle.
The student of Plato, Aristotle was another prominent philosopher of Ancient Greece. His works were also studied in the Renaissance, and many of his theories thus made their way into European intellectual…

Authored by Plato’s student Aristotle, Politics is a collection of writings on different political constitutions (though we have a conception of a constitution as a written document, “political constitution” as used by Aristotle is synonymous with…

“On the day when King Abí Abdilehi shall surrender the fortresses and tower, Their Highnesses shall order that his son shall be returned to him, along with all the hostages, and their wives and children, with the exception of those who have converted…

The Scientific Revolution, often described as lasting from the mid 16th century to the end of the 17th century, brought tremendous changes to Europe and redefined the way that they interacted with and understood the natural world. But, though this…

The Ratification of the Treaty of Munster was a pivotal event in the Peace of Westphalia, which brought an end to the Thirty Years’ War in Europe. The treaty was signed in 1648, alongside the Treaty of Osnabruck, and they established two major…

Hernán Cortes was a prominent Spanish Conquistador who went on an expedition against the Aztec empire. The attached image is of the armor he used during the trip. It was placed in a Spanish museum to honor his legacy and represents some of the mythos…

16th century Europe saw the rise of the nation-state in many kingdoms. Monarchs across Europe sought to consolidate their power and develop large centralized institutions (Wiesner-Hanks 88). Additionally, New military technology led to an increase…