AP Euro Chapter 16

Empiricism

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

Tabula Rasa (blank slate)

John Locke's idea that people are shaped by the environment around them.

Copernicus

Polish cleric who studied in Italy. Decided that he did not agree with Ptolomy and instead believed the planets revolved around the sun. Created a controversial hypothesis

Moses Mendelssohn

Prussian philosopher who lead enlightened movement haskalah. Advocated for freedom and civil rights for European Jews. Wrote On the Immortality of the Soul

Salon/Salonnieres

Regular social gathering held by talented and Rich Parisians in their homes where Philosophes and their followers met to discuss literature, science, and philosophy

Madame Geoffrin

Salon owner who often hosted philosophe gatherings

Copernican Hypothesis

The idea that stars are at rest, the universe is extremely large, and that the planets, including earth, revolve around the sun.

laissez-faire economics

free market economics influenced by Adam Smith.

despotism

horrible all powerful leader

balance of power

the idea that no country can have too much power because the other countries will try to limit it

Heliocentrism

the idea that the planets revolve around the sun

Philosophes

A group of French intellectuals who proclaim that they were bringing the light of knowledge to their fellow humans in the Age of Enlightenment.

Rationalism

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

Republic of Letters

An Imaginary trans-national realm of the well educated

Public Sphere: Jurgen Habermas

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

Aristotle

Great Greek philosopher of the 4th century B.C.E.

Sapere Aude/Dare to Know

Kant's explanation for what the Enlightenment was. Having the courage to use your own understanding. Wrote What is Enlightenment

Baron de Montesquieu

One of the Greatest Philosophers who wrote the Persian Letters. First major work of the French Enlightenment. Inspired by physical sciences. Wrote The Spirit of Laws. Comparative study of republics, despotism, and monarchies. Theory of Separation of Powers.

Catherine the Great

Ruler of Russia. Wife of Peter III who murders him after he decided to pull back in the 7 Years War. This is because he was not liked and also because she desired power. Absolute monarchy in an enlightened manner. 3 goals: westernization of Russia, domestic reform, expansion. Established the pale.

Aristotelian

The philosophy of Aristotle. Spheres and stars surround a fixed earth (center of the universe)

Experimental Method

The proper way to explore the workings of the universe through repeatable experiments rather than speculation.

enlightened absolutism

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

Adam Smith

Wrote Theory of Moral Sentiments and The Wealth of Nations. Argued thriving commercial life produced civic virtue in society because of competition, fair play, and individual autonomy. Believed in deregulation of commerce

Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert

complied/edited the Encyclopedia; the Rational Dictionary of the Sciences, the Arts, and the Crafts which was written by many different philosophers. Believed that more knowledge lead to more happiness.

Scottish Enlightenment

marked by an emphasis on common sense and scientific reasoning. Had first public education system in Europe.

Reason

methods of natural science could and should be used to examine and understand all aspects of life

deism

the belief in God's creation of the universe, but does not influence its everyday happenings

reading revolution

the transition in Europe from communal reading of religious texts to common literacy and the reading of literature of broad and diverse subjects

Rococo

A popular style of art in Europe in the 18th century known for its soft pastels ornate interiors sentimental portraits and starry eyed lovers protected by hovering Cupids

Johannes Kepler

Assistant of Brahe who suffered from smallpox as a child. Thought the universe was built on mathematical relationships and musical harmony. Developed 3 new laws of planetary motion: planet's orbits are elliptical rather than circular, planets don't all move at the same speed and planets closer to the sun move faster, and the time it takes a planet to make an orbit is directly related to its distance from the sun. First to put together mathematics and natural philosophy. Completed Rudolphine Tables. Wrote The New Astronomy

Skepticism

Bayle's idea that nothing can ever be known beyond doubt.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Broke with the Philosophes after he thought they were plotting against him. Committed to individual freedom. Influences early romantic movement which rebelled against the culture of the Enlightenment. Division of gender roles. Wrote The Social Contract & Emile. Rejected rationalism and social discourse.

Galileo Galilei

Challenged old ideas of motion. Created the experimental method. Formulated the Law of Inertia. Built a telescope. Put on because he believes in Heliocentrism. Wrote The Sidereal Messenger & Dialogue on the Two Chief Systems of the World

Cartesian dualism

Descartes' philosophy that all reality could ultimately be reduced to mind and matter

Maria Theresa

Empress of Austria who inherited Habsburg dominions. Invaded by Frederick II. Gives up Silesia to Prussia. Wanted to regain her land so she forms an alliance with France and Russia. Enters the 7 Years War to try to conquer Prussia and divided territory. Fails.

Francis Bacon

English politician writer who believed in experimentation rather than speculation. Argued that new knowledge must be found by empirical research known as Empiricism.

Isaac Newton

English scientist who studied at cambridge. Privately rejected the idea of the trinity. Very interested in Alchemy. Interested in optics. Did not realize the importance of his findings about gravity at first. 3 laws of motion. Law of Universal Gravitation. Wrote Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy

the pale of settlement (the Pale)

Established by Catherine the great. A territory including parts of Eastern Europe in which most Jews were required to live.

Ptolemy

Hellenized Egyptian scholar of the 2nd century who had a solution for dilemma of why the stars didn't move around the earth properly. Planets move in small circles called epicycles. More complicated views than Aristotle.

checks and balances

Montesquieu argued for this in government. A system where different branches of the government keep other branches from gaining too much individual power and influence.

Separation of Powers

Montesquieu's philosophy of political power divided and shared by a variety of classes and legal estates

Voltaire

Most famous philosophe who mixed science and reason for better institutions. Reformer. Said that a good monarch was needed because people did not govern themselves. Did not believe in equality, except making laws to protect the poor. Diest who challenged Christian theology. Wrote Candide

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

Cesare Beccaria

Nobleman who wrote On Crimes and Punishments. Denounced penal system. Advocated the prevention of crime rather than punishment.

Joseph II

Son of Maria Theresa. Revolutionary emperor. Abolished serfdom. Allows peasants to pay in cash rather than labor. Dies prematurely

Andreas Vesalius

Studies anatomy by dissecting human bodies. Wrote On the Structure of the Human Body. Helped understand human anatomy

Frederick II

The Great of Prussia. Embraced culture and literature. Invades Maria Theresa of Silesia in Austria. Seeded the land. Peter III saves him when he is being attacked on all sides during the 7 Years War. Becomes enlightened due to his experiences, and tries to enlighten his people as well. Cameralism

the haskalah

The Jewish enlightenment of the second half of the eighteenth century led by the Prussian philosopher Moses Mendelssohn. Advocated for freedom and civil rights for European Jews. Argued that restrictions on religious ground could not stand.

Ancien Regime

The Pre-revolution political system in France

Masonic Lodge

a place where Freemasons gather to discuss Enlightenment ideas

Freemasons

a secret society that accepted middle class men and nobles who gather in Masonic lodges to talk about philosophy

Natural Philosophy

an early modern term for the study of the nature of the universe, its purpose, and how it functioned.

Enlightenment

an intellectual movement in Europe focusing on reason and individualism instead of tradition (religion). influenced greatly by philosophers.

Rene Descartes

believed in mathematical reasoning. Saw in a dream the relationship between geometry and algebra (analytic geometry). Said that the world was made up of identical corpuscles that collide together. Matter in motion is constant. Depended on the idea that a vacuum was impossible, and that the world was an eternal chain reaction (mechanistic universe).

David Hume

emphasis on civic morally and religious skepticism. Argued that the human mind is nothing but impressions influenced by experiences.

Scientific Revolution

the emergence of modern science during the early modern period, where in math, physics, astronomy, biology and chemistry changed people's views of society and nature