AP European History Chapter 16, 17, 18
empiricism
A theory of inductive reasoning that calls for acquiring evidence through observation an experimentation rather than deductive reason and speculation
wet-nursing
A widespread and flourishing business in the eighteenth century in which women were paid to breast-feed other women's babies
Copernican hypothesis
The idea that the sun, not the earth, was the center of the universe
guild system
The organization of artisansal production into trade-based associations, or guilds, each of which received a monopoly over its trade and the right to train apprentices and hire workers
illegitimacy explosion
The sharp increase in out-of-wedlock births that occurred in Europe between 1750 and 1850, caused by low wages and the breakout of community controls
putting-out system
The eighteenth century system of rural industry in which a merchant loaned raw materials to cottage workers, who processed them and returned the finished products to the merchant
public sphere
An idealized intellectual space that emerged in Europe during the Enlightenment, where the public came together to discuss important issues relating to society, economics, and politics
community controls
A pattern of cooperation and common action in a traditional village that sought to uphold the economic, social, and moral stability of the close knit community
just price
The idea that price should be fair, protecting both consumers and producers, and that they should be imposed by government decree if necessary
Enlightenment
The influential intellectual and cultural movement of late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that introduced a new worldview based on the use of reason, the scientific method, and progress
Law of universal gravitation
Newton's law that all objects are attracted to one another and that the force of attraction is proportional to the object's quantity of matter and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them
blood sports
Events such as bullbaiting and cockfighting that involved inflicting violence and bloodshed on animals and were popular with the eighteenth -century European masses
Methodists
Members of a Protestant revival movement started by John Wesley, so called because they were so methodical in their devotion
Law of intertia
A law formed by Galileo that states that motion, not rest, is the natural state of an object continues in motion forever unless stopped by some external force
Pietism
A Protestant revival movement in early-eighteenth-century Germany and Scandinavia that emphasized a warm and emotional religion the priesthood of all believers, and the power of Christian rebirth in every day affairs
economic liberalism
A belief in free trade and competition based on Adam Smith's argument that the invisible hand of free competition would benefit all individuals, rich and poor
debt peonage
A form of serfdom that allowed a planter or rancher to keep his workers or slaves in perpetual debt bondage by periodically advancing food, shelter, and litter money
philosophes
A group of French intellectuals who proclaimed that they were bringing the light of knowledge to their fellow humans in the Age of the Enlightenment
rococo
A regular style in Europe in the eighteenth century, known for its soft pastels, ornate interiors, sentimental portraits, and starry-eyed lovers protected by hovering cupids
Jansenism
A sect of Catholicism originating with Cornelius Jansen that emphasized the heavy weight of original sin and accepted the doctrine of predestination; it was outlawed as heresy by the pope
rationalism
A secular, critical way of thinking in which nothing was to be accepted on faith, and everything was to be submitted to reason
Navigation Acts
A series of English laws that controlled the import of goods to Britain and British colonies
cottage industry
A stage of industrial development in which rural workers used hand tools in their homes and manufacture goods on a large scale for sale in a market
natural philosophy
An early modern term for the study of nature of the universe, its purpose, and how it functioned; it encompassed what we would call "science" today
charivari
Degrading public rituals used by village communities to police personal behavior and maintain moral standards
Cartesian dualism
Descarte's view that all of reality could ultimately be reduced to mind and matter
salon
Regular social gathering held by talented and rich Parisians in their homes, where philosophes and followers met to discuss literature, science, and philosophy
Enlightened absolutism
Term coined by historians to describe the rule of eighteenth-century monarchs who, without renouncing their own absolute authority, adopted Enlightenment ideals of rationalism, progress, and tolerance
Haskalah
The Jewish Enlightenment of the second half of the eighteenth-century, led by the Prussian philosopher Moses Mendelssohn
Experimental method
The approach , pioneered by, Galileo, that the proper way to explore the working of the universe was through repeatable experiments rather than speculation
carnival
The few days of revelry in Catholic countries that preceded Lent and that included drinking, masquerading, dancing, and rowdy spectacles that upset the established order
Atlantic slave trade
The forced migrations of Africans across the Atlantic for slave labor in plantations and in other industries; the trade reached its peak in the eighteenth century and ultimately involved more than 12 million Africans
enclosure
The movement to fence in fields in order to farm more effectively, at the expense of poor peasants who relied on common fields for farming and pasture
industrious revolution
The shift that occurred as families in northwestern Europe focused on earning wages instead of producing goods for household consumption; this reduced their ability to purchase consumer goods
proletarianization
The transformation of large numbers of small peasant farmers into landless rural wage earners
reading revolution
The transition in Europe from a society where literacy consisted of patriarchal and communal reading of religious texts to a society where literacy was commonplace and reading material was broad and diverse
Treaty of Paris
The treaty that ended the Seven Years' War in Europe and the colonies in 1763, and ratified British victory on all colonial fronts
consumer revolution
The wide-ranging growth in consumption and new attitudes toward consumer good that emerged in the cities of northwestern Europe in the second half of the eighteenth century
Cameralism
View that monarchy was the best form of government, that all elements of society should serve the monarch, and that, in turn, the state should use its recourses and authority to increase the public good