AP Euro Chapter 16 Towards A New Worldview Review

Newton, Issac

(1643-1727) English scientist; author of Principia; drew together astronomical and physical observations and wider theories into a neat framework of natural laws; established principles of motion; defined forces of gravity.

The Social Contract

A voluntary agreement among individuals to secure their rights and welfare by creating a government and abiding by its rules.

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.

Philosophe

Writers/Social Thinkers during the Enlightenment and who popularized the new ideas of the time.

Montesquieu

(1689-1755) French political philosopher whom 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 (Executive/Legislative).

Principia

Newton's book which established the law of universal gravitation and banished Ptolemy's laws and universe for good.

Voltaire (1694-1778)

1. French philosophe and voluminous author of essays and letters 2. Championed the enlightened principles of reason, progress, toleration, and individual liberty 3. Opposed superstition, intolerance, and ignorance 4. Criticized organized religion for perpetuating superstition and intolerance

Scientific Method

A method of procedure that has characterized natural science since the 17th century, consisting in systematic observation, measurement, and experiment, and the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses.

Heliocentric

Based on the belief that the sun is the center of the universe.

Alchemy/Astrology

Continued to appeal to elites and some natural philosophers, in part because they shared with the new science the notion of a predictable and knowable universe. In the oral culture of peasants, a belief that the cosmos was governed by divine and demonic forces persisted. Interest in astronomy was inspired by the belief that the stars influenced life on earth. Many astronomers were also astrologers.

Harvey, William (1578-1657)

English physician whose work, On the Movement of the Heart and Blood, explained the heart and circulatory system.

Copernican Hypothesis

Copernicus theorized that the stars and planets, including the earth revolved around a fixed sun. He worked on his hypothesis from 1506 to 1530. He had the idea that Earth was just another planet. This angered many church and religious officials who firmly believed in Aristotle's view of the universe, which was very much different than Copernicus's. (p.596-597)

Locke, John (1632-1704)

English philosopher and author of Two Treatises of Government, which established the natural rights of man and the proper role of government in protecting those rights. Argued that humans were born as tabula rasa and were shaped by practical experiences through proper education.

Bacon, Sir Francis (1561-1626)

English philosopher and scientist. Known for the inductive method of scientific study. His school was called empiricism (Theory of inductive reasoning that calls for acquiring evidence through observation and experimentation instead of deductive reason and speculation). English politician, writer, and propagandist for empiricism. His followers established the Royal Society in 1660.

Diderot, Denis (1713-1784)

French author of The Encyclopedia, which contained all of the various writings of Enlightenment thinkers. Ended up on the Catholic Church's Index of Forbidden Books. Editors of a 17-volume encyclopedia with 72,000 articles that exalted science and the industrial arts, questioned religion, and criticized intolerance, legal injustice, and anachronistic social institutions.

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques (1712-1778)

French philosopher known as the father of romanticism, who believed man is born good and corrupted by society and that the best society is one in which individuals surrender their private wills to the supreme direction of the general will.

Descartes, Rene (1596-1650)

French rationalist who believed in the deductive method of scientific and philosophical study. Created analytical geometry and Cartesian dualism whereby algebraic equations can be expressed geometrically. French philosophical and mathematical genius who helped create a mechanistic view of the universe and developed a new principle of reasoning where it was necessary to doubt the senses and use deductive reasoning from self-evident principles to ascertain scientific laws.

Salons

Gatherings in which intellectual and political ideas were exchanged during the Enlightenment.

Kepler, Johannes (1571-1630)

German assistant to Brahe. Proved Copernicus's theories with mathematics. Kepler's Laws established the three laws of planetary motion. A German mathematician and astronomer. A key figure in the 17th century scientific revolution, he is best known for his laws of planetary motion. The Kepler space observatory, launched in 2009 by NASA to discover Earth-like planets orbiting other stars, was named for him.

Vesalius (1514-1564)

He was an anatomist. Published the book on the Fabric of the Human Body(1543) which changed anatomy from an old fashioned viewpoint to start 'modern anatomy'

Ptolemy

His ideas on science influenced Muslim and European scholars from Roman times until the Scientific Revolution. He was a Greco-Roman writer famous as a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet. He lived in the city of Alexandria in the Roman province of Egypt, wrote in Greek, and held Roman citizenship.

Enlightened Monarchs

Monarchs, like Joseph II of Austria and Frederick II of Prussia, who ruled absolutely but tried to tolerate diversity and grant people their natural rights. Monarchs who introduced reforms to better society (freedom of speech, the press, religious toleration, education, laws)

Joseph II of Austria

The most radical royal reformer; son and successor of Maria Theresa; introduced legal reforms & freedom of press; supported freedom of worship; abolished serfdom and ordered that peasants be paid for their labor with cash.

Law of Universal Gravitation

The scientific law that states that every object in the universe attracts every other object.

Frederick II (the Great)

This man was the ruler of Prussia in the War of Austrian Succession and Seven Years' War. He was very militaristic and a genius in battle, but did reform laws and grant religious toleration.

Maria Theresa

This was the queen of Austria as a result of the Pragmatic Sanction. She limited the papacy's political influence in Austria, strengthened her central bureaucracy and cautiously reduced the power that nobles had over their serfs