Ch. 17: Toward a New Worldview

the difference between Enlightenment thinkers compared to those of the Middle Ages and Renaissance

Enlightenment thinkers believed that their era had surpassed antiquity, which demonstrated the possibility of human progress

core concept of the Enlightenement

the methods of natural science should be used to examine all aspects of life

striking feature of the salons

philosophes, nobles, and members of the upper middle class intermingled`

Emilie du Chatelet

published the first translation of Newton's Principia into French

salons

regular social gatherings held by talented and rich Parisian women in their homes, where philosophes and their followers met to discuss literature, science, and philosophy

the concept of the reading revolution

shift from reading religious texts aloud as a family to reading diverse texts individually

the reason why Leopold II canceled his brother Joseph's radical edicts in the early 1790's

Leopold was attempting to restore order in Austria

the focus of the discipline of natural philososphy

fundamental questions about the nature, purpose, and function of the universe

the change within the Jewish community that accompanied the Haskalah Enlightenment movement

interactions between Jews and Christians increased, and rabbinic controls diminished

emergence of scientific racism

justified the growth of slavery in the 18th century

enlightened absolutism

term coined by historians to describe the rule of 18th century monarchs who, without renouncing their absolute authority, adopted Enlightenment ideals of rationalism, progress, and tolerance

Haskalah

the Jewish Enlightenment of the second half of the 18th century, led by the Prussian philosopher Moses Mesndelssohn

experimental method

the approach, pioneered by Galileo, that the proper way to explore the workings of the universe was through repeatable experiment rather than speculation

Copernican hypothesis

the idea that the sun, not the earth, was the center of the universe

Enlightenment

the influential, intellectual, and cultural movement of the late 17th and 18th centuries that introduced a new worldview based on the use of reason, the scientific method, and progress

Immanuel Kant

>1724-1804 >wrote What Is Enlightenment? (1784) >>>argued that if serious thinkers were granted the freedom to exercise their reason publicly in print, enlightenment would almost surely follow >wrote On the Different Races of Man (1775)

Denis Diderot (1713-1784) and Jean le Rond d'Alembert (1717-1783)

>Editors of Encyclopedia

Nicolaus Copernicus

>1473-1543 >major contributor to the Scientific Revolution >wrote On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres (1543) >theorized that the sun. rather than the earth, was the center of the galaxy

Francis Bacon

>1561-1626 >major contributor to the Scientific Revolution >formalized the research of methods of Tycho Brahe and Galileo into a theory of reasoning known as empiricism

Joseph II

conversion of peasant labor obligations to cash payments; nobles and peasant opposed

1700-1789

growth of book publishing

William Harvey

>1578-1657 >major contributor to the Scientific Revolution >discovery of circulation of blood (1628)

Jean le Rond d'Alembert

Denis Diterot's co-editor of the Encyclopedia

the idea of "race" transformed European's idea of their superiority over the peoples

European superiority was increasingly defined as biologically superior as well as culturally superior

1740-1789

French salons led by elite women

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

1740-1748

War of Austrian Succession >involved most of the powers of Europe >over the question of Maria Theresa's succession to the realms of the House of Habsburg

Voltaire's attitude toward government

a good monarch was the best one could hope for in a government

philosophes

a group of French intellectuals who proclaimed that they were bringing the light of knowledge to their fellow creatures in the Age of Enlightenment

law of intertia

a law formulated by Galileo that states that motion, not rest, is the natural state of an object, that an object continues in motion forever unless stopped by external force

rococo

a popular style in Europe in the 18th century, known for its soft pastels, ornate interiors, sentimental portraits, and starry-eyed lovers protected by hovering cupids

rationalism

a secular, critical way of thinking in which nothing was to be accepted on faith, and everything was to be submitted to reason

empiricism

a theory of inductive reasoning that calls for acquiring evidence through observation and experimentation rather than reason and speculation

Voltaire's view of God

believed that God was a clock maker who set the universe in motion and then ceased to intervene in human affairs >deist

Catherine the Great of Russia

came to power in 1762 through Frederick II of Prussia's invasion of Russia

the cause of Catherine the Great's goal of domestic reform never coming into function

the rebellion led by Emelian Pugachev in 1773

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

the most influential aspect of Rene Descartes' theories of nature

the universe functioned in a mechanistic fashion

Copernicus

theory of the universe that postulated a sun-centered view of the universe

the primary goal of Galileo Galilei's experimental method

to discover what actually occurred in nature rather to speculate on what should occur

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 resources and authority to increase the public good

Cartesian dualism

Descartes's view that all of reality could ultimately be reduced to mind and matter

Andreas Vesalius

>1514-1564 >major contributor to the Scientific Revolution >wrote On the Structure of the Human Body (1543) >>>200 precise drawing revolutionized the understanding of human anatomy

Tycho Brahe

>1546-1601 >built observatory >compiled data for the Rudolfine Tables, a new table of planetary data

Johannes Kepler

>1571-1630 >major contributor to the Scientific Revolution >believed the the elliptical orbit of planets produced a musical harmony of heavenly bodies >used Brahe's data to mathematically prove the Copernican hypothesis >his new laws of planetary motion united for the first time natural philosophy and mathematics >completed the Rudolfine Tables in 1627

Rene Descartes

>1596-1650 >major contributor to the Scientific Revolution >used deductive reasoning to formulate the theory of Cartesian dualism

Robert Boyle

>1627-1691 >major contributor to the Scientific Revolution >Boyle's law (1662) governing the pressure of gases

Baruch Spinoza

>1632-1677 >major figure of the Enlightenment >early Enlightenment thinker excommunicated from the Jewish religion for hid concept of a deterministic universe

John Locke

>1632-1704 >major figure of the Enlightenment >wrote Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690) >>>concerning the foundation of human knowledge and understanding

Isaac Newton

>1642-1727 >major contributor to the Scientific Revolution >wrote Principia Mathematica (1687) >set forth the law of universal gravitation, synthesizing previous findings of motion and matter

Pierre Bayle

>164701706 >major figure of the Enlightenment >wrote Historical and Critical Dictionary (1697) >>>critical examination of religious beliefs and persecutions of the past >>>demonstrating that human beliefs had been extremely varied and often mistaken

powers that participated in the partitioning of Poland in the late eighteenth century

Prussia, Russia, Austria

1740-1780

Reign of the empress Maria Theresa

1756-1763

Seven Years' War

1791

establishment of the Pale of Settlement >a territory including parts of modern-day Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, and Belorussia >Jews were required to live

Rousseau's concept of the general will

general will is not necessarily the will of the majority

David Hume

>1711-1776 >central figure of the Scottish Enlightenment >wrote Of Natural Characteristics

Montesquieu

>1689-1778 >major figure of the Enlightenment >wrote The Persian Letter (1721) >>>consisted of letters supposedly written by two Persian travelers >>>>>outsiders see European customs in unique ways and thereby allow Montesquieu a vantage point for criticizing existing practices and beliefs >wrote The Spirit of Laws (1748) >>>apply the critical method to problem solving to the problem of government

Voltaire

>1694-1778 >major figure of the Enlightenment >renowned French philosophe and author of more than 70 works

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

>1712-1778 >major figure of the Enlightenment >wrote The Social Contract (1762) >>>two fundamental concepts >>>>>the general will and popular sovereignty >believed that women were best suited to a passive role in social relations

characteristics of rococo

>soft pastels >ornate interiors >sentimental portraits

Galileo Galilei

>used telescopic observation to provide evidence for Copernican hypothesis >experimented to formulate laws of physics, such as inertia

natural philosophy

an early modern term for the study of the nature of the universe, its purpose, and how it functioned; it encompassed what we would call "science" today

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

public sphere that emerged during the Enlightenment

an idealized space where individual gathered to discuss social and political issues

1765

philosophes publish Encyclopedia: The Rational Dictionary of the Sciences, the Arts, and the Crafts

Empress Maria Theresa of Austria

reduced nobles; power over their serfs in order to improve the rural economy and the lived of peasant

1762-1796

reign of Catherine the Great of Russia

1740-1786

reign of Frederick the Great of Prussia

1780-1790

reign of Joseph II of Austria

1720-1780

rococo style in art and decoration

1540-1690

scientific revolution >early modern period >developments in mathematics, physics, astronomy, biology (including human anatomy), and chemistry >transformed views of society and nature

enlightened policies of Frederick the Great

simplifying Prussia's laws