| deductive reasoning | The process of reasoning from the general to the particular-that is, beginning with an accepted premise or first statement and, by steps of logical reasoning or inference, reaching a conclusion that necessarily follows from the premise.
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| empiricism | The process of collecting data, making observations, carrying out experiments based on the collected data and observations, and reaching a conclusion.
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| geocentrism | The belief that the earth is the center of the universe and that the sun, planets, and stars revolve around it.
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| heliocentrism | The belief that the sun is the center of the universe and that the earth and the other planets revolve around it.
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| inductive reasoning | The process of reasoning from particulars to the general or from single parts to the whole and/or final conclusion.
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| liberalism | In political thought, a set of beliefs advocating certain personal, economic, and natural rights based on assumptions about the perfectibility and autonomy of human beings and the notion of progress, as first expressed in the writings of John Locke.
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| Scientific Revolution | The seventeenth-century intellectual movement, based originally on discoveries in astronomy and physics, that challenged and overturned medieval views about the order of the universe and the theories used to explain motion.
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| social contract | In political thought, an agreement or contract between the people and their rulers defining the rights and duties of each so that a civil society might be created.
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| tabula rasa | [TAB-yuh-luh RAH-zuh] "Erased tablet," the Latin term John Locke used to describe the mind at birth, empty of inborn ideas and ready to receive sense impressions, which Locke believed were the sole source of knowledge.
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| virtuoso | [vehr-choo-O-so] An aristocratic person who experimented in science, usually as an amateur, in the seventeenth century, giving science respectability and a wider audience; later, in music, a person with great technical skill.
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