Chapter 17

Experimental method

A method of investigation used to demonstrate cause-and-effect relationships by purposely manipulating one factor thought to produce change in another factor.

Heliocentric

A model of the solar system in which Earth and the other planets revolve around the sun.

Copernican Hypothesis

The idea that the sun, not the earth, was the center of the universe; this had tremendous scientific and religious implications

Salonnieres

The hostesses who brought the various French elites together to discuss and debate politics and philosophy.

Tycho Brahe

(1546-1601)Danish astronomer who studied the night sky for 20 years gathering data, and discovered a new star, which challenged Aristotle's theory that the universe was perfect and unchanging

Sir Isaac Newton

1643-1727. English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian. Published work in 1687 describing universal gravitation, and the three laws of motion, laying the groundwork for classical mechanics.

Enlightenment

18th century movement led by French intellectuals who advocated reason as the universal source of knowledge and truth

Ptolemy

Alexandrian astronomer who proposed a geocentric system of astronomy that was undisputed until Copernicus (2nd century AD)

Law of universal gravitation

All objects in the universe attract each other through gravitational force. The size of the force depends on the masses of the objects and the distance between them.

Empiricism

The doctrine that knowledge derives from experience

Jean le Rond d'Alembert

Coeditor of the Encyclopedia.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

"Social Contract" he explained an ideal society where each community member would vote on issues and the majority would become one law. , A French man who believed that Human beings are naturally good & free & can rely on their instincts. Government should exist to protect common good, and be a democracy

Nicolaus Copernicus

(1473-1543) Polish clergyman. Sun was the center of the universe; the planets went around it. On the Revolution of Heavenly Spheres. Destroyed Aristotle's view of the universe - heliocentric theory.

Francis Bacon

(1561-1626) English politician, writer. Formalized the empirical method. Novum Organum. Inductive reasoning.

Galileo

(1564-1642) An Italian who provided more evidence for heliocentrism and questioned if the heavens really were perfect. He invented a new telescope, studied the sky, and published what he discovered. Because his work provided evidence that the Bible was wrong he was arrested and ended up on house arrest for the rest of his life.

Pierre Bayle

(1647-1706): French philosopher and writer of the 17th century. Influenced by skepticism and new knowledge of the world and other cultures. Held that belief systems were relative to time and place/culture. Influenced by the scientific discoveries of his time, the writings of Montaigne and the realization that many popular beliefs were unfounded. In his book Thoughts on the Comet (Halley's came around in his lifetime) he argued against superstitions about comets. In 1697 he published Historical and Critical Dictionary in which he reveals the fallacies of many previously accepted folklores. His views encouraged toleration. He stated that no opinion was worth burning one's neighbor for. In terms of his personal faith, he changed from Protestant to RC to Jansenist to Protestant.

Montesquieu

(1689-1755) wrote 'Spirit of the Laws', said that no single set of political laws was applicable to all - depended on relationship and variables, supported division of government

Voltaire

(1694-1778) French philosopher. He believed that freedom of speech was the best weapon against bad government. He also spoke out against the corruption of the French government, and the intolerance of the Catholic Church.

Seven Years' War

(1756-1763 CE) Known also as the French and Indian war. It was the war between the French and their Indian allies and the English that proved the English to be the more dominant force of what was to be the United States both commercially and in terms of controlled regions.

Aristotle

(384-322 BCE) Believed, unlike his teacher Plato, that philosophers could rely on their senses to provide accurate information about the world.

Thomas Aquinas

(Roman Catholic Church) Italian theologian and Doctor of the Church who is remembered for his attempt to reconcile faith and reason in a comprehensive theology

Maria Theresa of Austria

(r. 1740-80) Daughter of Charles XI of the Austrian Habsburgs, she was to succeed him after his death by way of the Pragmatic Sanction. When Frederick II seizes Silesia out of her grasp, she fails to return the province to the Austrians, but successfully manages to preserve Habsburg power. She won support from her subjects, as well as the Magyar nobility in supporting her in the war.

Joseph II

(r. 1780-1790) coregent with his mother (Maria Theresa) from 1765 until her death-controlled Catholic church closely; granted religious toleration and civic rights to Protestants and Jews; abolished serfdom; peasant labor to be converted into cash paymentscountry in turmoil at death

Recant

(v.) to withdraw a statement or belief to which one has previously been committed, renounce, retract

Rococo

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

Rene Descartes

17th century French philosopher; wrote Discourse on Method; 1st principle "I think therefore I am"; believed mind and matter were completely separate; known as father of modern rationalism

Carl von Linne

A Swedish botanist who laid down the basic rules for classification and established taxonomic categories. , Supported binomial nomenclature. Used to classify species. Named the order primates: Systema Naturae.

Rationalism

A belief or theory that opinions and actions should be based on reason and knowledge rather than on religious belief or emotional response

Encyclopedia

A collaboration of many Enlightenment writers that aimed to gather together knowledge about science, religion, industry, and society.

Dialogue of the Two Chief Systems of the World

A dialogue written in Italian, between Aristotelian and Copernican theories, perceived as a popular defense of the Copernican system. Galileo was dragged again before the Inquisition, and forced to recant. Placed under house arrest for the rest of his life.

Race

A group of human beings distinguished by physical traits, blood types, genetic code patterns or genetically inherited characteristics.

Law of inertia

A law formulated by Galileo that stated that motion, not rest, is the natural state of an object, that an object continues in motion forever unless stopped by some external force.

Geocentric

A model of the universe in which Earth is at the center of the revolving planets and stars.

Natural philosophy

A term that encompasses the fields we now call "philosophy" and "science"

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, economy, and politics.

Johannes Kepler

Assistant to Brahe; used Brahe's data to prove that the earth moved in an elliptical, not circular, orbit; Wrote 3 laws of planetary motion based on mechanical relationships and accurately predicted movements of planets in a sun-centered universe; Demolished old systems of Aristotle and Ptolemy

The Social Contract

Book by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Argued that the right kind of political order could allow people to be truly moral and free; an individual can achieve freedom by giving up their freedom for the good of the community.

On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres

Booklet written by Copernicus describing his heliocentric theory. It is said he published it very close to his death for fear of persecution from the inquisition.

Catherine the Great

Empress of Russia who greatly increased the territory of the empire (1729-1796), (1762-1796) An "enlightened despot" of Russia whose policies of reform were aborted under pressure of rebellion by serfs

William Harvey

English physician and scientist who described the circulation of the blood

Margret Cavendish

English woman from an aristocratic family that wrote a number of works on scientific matters. She did not agree that that humans, through science, were the masters of nature / duchess / wrote under her own name / expressed opinions / didn't like animal testing / not a scientist, a writer

Great Chain of Being

European idea that every species was a link on a chain extending from lowest forms to humans and on to spiritual beings. All links and been designed at the same time during creation and would never change. Once all the links were discovered and described, the meaning of life would be revealed.

Enlightened Absolutism

European rulers who embraced many of the philosophies reforms, monarchical government dedicated to rational strengthening of central absolutist administration at cost of lesser political power centers

Andreas Vesalius

Father of Modern Anatomy

Siderus Nuncius

Galileo's publication that presented his hypothesis that the moon is not a perfect sphere

Galen

Greek anatomist whose theories formed the basis of European medicine until the Renaissance (circa 130-200)

Principia Mathematica

In 1687, Sir Isaac Newton wrote this. It was filled with contributions to many areas of science, and included the three well-known laws of motion.

Johann Gottfried von Herder

Influential German Writer (1744-1803) he wrote Ideas on the Philosophy of the History of Mankind in which he said that each country should have its own national identity not one borrowed from another country, he called it Volksgeist., German philosopher who advocated intuition over reason (1744-1803); advocated intuition over reason

Salons

Informal social gatherings at which writers, artists, philosophes, and others exchanged ideas

Robert Boyle

Irish chemist who established that air has weight and whose definitions of chemical elements and chemical reactions helped to dissociate chemistry from alchemy (1627-1691), , (1627-1691) Physicist, nothing can be known beyond all doubt.

Frederick II

King of Prussia, aggressive in foreign affairs. Used military to increase power. Encouraged religious tolerance and legal reform.

Bruch Spinoza

Lived in the Netherlands, Jewish

Essay Concerning Human Understanding

Locke, 1690, human mind has no innate ideas, what people know is not the world but the result of the interactions of the mind with the world

Marquise du Chatelet

Mistress of Voltaire. Voltaire retired to her estate in semi-seclusion; an early philosophe, she was one of the 1st intellectuals to adopt the ideas of Isaac Newton. Published her own translation of Newton's Principia.

Moses Mendelssohn

Most famous Salon Jew, learns German, remains observant, never feels adequate with German language, wins essay contest... Everyone in Germany who is somebody knows Moses Mendelssohn

Denis Diderot

Philosopher who edited a book called the Encyclopedia which was banned by the French king and pope.

Immanuel Kant

Professor in East Prussia, argued that if serious thinkers were granted freedom to exercise their reason in print, enlightenment would surely follow. He said that Frederick the Great was an enlightened monarch because he allowed this.

Comte de Buffon

Recognized the dynamic relationship between the external environment and living forms. Also recognized that certain regions have unique plants and animals, and stressed that animals came from a center of origin.

James Beattie

Scottish philosopher who responded to the claims of white superiority by pointing out that Europeans had started out as savage as non-whites and that many non-euro people had achieved high levels of civilization

David Hume

Scottish philosopher whose sceptical philosophy restricted human knowledge to that which can be perceived by the senses (1711-1776)

Cartesian dualism

Separation of mind and matter, allowed something to be investigated independently by reason

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

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.

Philosophes

Thinkers of the Enlightenment; Wanted to educate the socially elite, but not the masses; were not allowed to openly criticize church or state, so used satire and double-meaning in their writings to avoid being banned; Salons held by wealthy women also kept philosophes safe; They considered themselves part of an intellectual community, and wrote back and forth to each other to share ideas.

The Spirit of Laws

This work by Montesquieu called for a separation of powers and heavily influenced the formation of American government

The System of Nature

Work by Carl von Linne; proposed that nature is organized into a God-given hierarchy