Contrary to popular belief, the revival of and renewed appreciation for classical ideology was not a phenomenon that occurred only during the Renaissance. In fact, many eras throughout Western European history were witness to this craze for classicalism, including the preceding days of the ninth, twelfth, and fourteenth centuries, from Paris to Chartres and beyond. However, the renewed pursuit of classical sources and the revival of interest in the study of antiquity during the Renaissance was indeed quite unique, for a variety of interdependent reasons. From the beginning, Renaissance scholars decided to abandon the medieval method of study, which relied upon the collation, comparison, and summarizing of sources, in favor of much in-depth explorations. In keeping with this new approach, humanist students also focused less on religious matters, shunning the teachings of past theologians in favor of classical interpretations (such as those of Plato and Ptolemy) and choosing to study a wide variety of subjects. In order to facilitate such an aggressive educational campaign, humanists began in earnest to seek out undiscovered or under-utilized caches of classical manuscripts; their recovery efforts were much more successful than those of past generations. Renaissance scholarship was also notably dominated by secular individuals, rather than religious figures, which in turn helped to cultivate a more open, expansive, and even questioning educational culture. These humanistic learners often quite openly challenged traditional teachings, especially those of the Church and medieval theologians, subjecting such writings to strict standards of scholarship.

The Divine Right of Kings was used a justification of Monarchy for centuries in Europe after the widespread acceptance of Christianity.

Deism is associated with the Scientific Revolution because it attempted to explain how God could co-exist with the newly-discovered laws of science. The idea of a watchmaker fits most closely with those requirements, because it embraces the idea that world was created by a higher power but rejects the idea of divine intervention after creation.

The French philosopher and political thinker Baron de Montesquieu is most famous for his development of the idea of “separation of powers” in government. According to Montesquieu and his seminal text Spirit of the Laws, the best way to ensure against tyranny government is to maintain separate branches of government, each with their own particular area of authority and each able to check the power of the others. This theory is enshrined in the constitutions of many modern democracies, including the United States.

The term “Westphalian Sovereignty” refers to the terms of the Peace of Westphalia which brought to an end the hostilities of the Thirty Years’ War. The Thirty Years’ War was one of the bloodiest and most brutal wars in European history. It was a complicated war with many phases and shifting alliances. It was primarily fought as a rivalry between Catholicism and Protestantism, and as a conflict between secular and religious authority. The term “Westphalian Sovereignty” is used to describe the principle of international law which states that each nation has exclusive sovereignty over its own territory and its own domestic affairs. This is a key concept in European international relations that, due to the spread of European nation-state construction, prevails around the world to this day.

Blaise Pascal was a seventeenth century French scientist, mathematician, and philosopher whose commitment to the rigors and principles of the Scientific Revolution was unwavering. A wealthy man, Pascal voluntarily rid himself of all his luxurious possessions and properties in order to pursue an unencumbered life pursuing scientific research and rational thought. Inspired by the current climate of clashes between religious thinkers and proponents of science, Pascal decided to embark on an ambitious project: he would attempt to reconcile faith and science and prove that their coexistence was possible. While Pascal never fully achieved this goal, his work Pensees (French for “Thoughts”) is truly a marvel of logical reasoning. Pascal singled out both religious zealots and avowed atheists, whom he assailed as being equally mentally closed off to the possibility that either side was correct. Instead, Pascal urged, any truly rational individual, should fall somewhere in the middle of the spectrum, embracing the possibility of a deity while also acknowledging the unknowability of the existence of a divine being. He was especially critical of scientists, whom he believed were far too optimistic and even deluded by their new knowledge. His final verdict was that religion seems to be a mentally positive influence on humanity and so should therefore be respected and protected.

The humanist artists and scholars of the Renaissance era put a great deal of emphasis and importance upon education. Perhaps the best-known and most influential of these groundbreaking scholars were Francisco Petrarch (aka “the father of humanism”), Dante Alighieri (the author of “The Divine Comedy”), and Giovanni Boccaccio (the author of the “Decameron”). Together with the other humanist scholars of their age, these men saw education as the proper means through which young men became well-rounded, nobly accomplished, and civically responsible members of society. The educational traditions of the medieval era were seen as far too focused on religious dogma, often at the expense of rational objectivity. Out of these shared values evolved the “studia humantiatis,” or the educational blueprint used by most humanist scholars to teach their students. This “studia” has often been described as the first liberal arts program, because it emphasized the disciplined and in-depth study of such subjects as history and politics, rhetoric, grammar, poetry, ethics, philosophy, and poetry. It was believed that through the study of such topics, students would gain both wisdom and the eloquence to properly express such wisdom, so that they might, in the future, pass these teachings down to the next generation. Many of the lessons on these topics derived from re-discovered classical – especially ancient Greek and Roman – manuscripts.

The concept of Divine Right of Kings is most closely associated with the Sun King, Louis XIV. Louis XIV is famous for his declaration “I am the state!” The Divine Right of Kings was a prevailing political philosophy in Europe during much of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries. It essentially states that the king is not answerable to parliament, the people, or the aristocracy. Instead the king draws his legitimacy from God.

Hobbes was primarily interested in political philosophy and he wrote The Leviathan, so he is the correct choice. Voltaire was a French political philosopher concerned with politics, however he did not write the work in question, so he would not be a good choice. Rene Descartes and Jean-Paul Sartre are also French thinkers, but they did not write The Leviathan either, so neither of them would be good choices.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was famous for his theory that society must obey the general will of the people, an idea which would later become highly influential on the French Revolution; however, many other Enlightenment philosophers presented ideas about how society should be run: Montesquieu and Voltaire argued for separation of powers and religious toleration, respectively, while Thomas Hobbes believed that men are innately bad and must be ruled by a powerful leader called a Leviathan. John Locke took a different stance, arguing that the mind was a blank slate, or tabula rasa, at birth, and men are innately good.