Browse Items (202 total)

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…

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…

“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…

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…

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…

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…

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 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…

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,…

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…

The Anatomy Theater in Padua was the first permanent anatomical theater in the world, and it remains preserved today. The room is cylindrical, built on two overlapping floors, with the entrance on the first floor. Surrounding the central table on the…

Considered by many to be the masterpiece of Girolamo Fracastoro, an Italian poet, physician, astrologist and geologist, this manuscript was the first text to suggest the idea of germ theory. In it Fracastoro suggests the idea of disease-causing…