chapter 16; scientific rev/enlightenment

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

Enlightenment

The influential intellectual and cultural movement of the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that introduced a new worldview based on the use of reason, the scientific method, and progress.

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.

sensationalism

The idea that all human ideas and thoughts are produced as a result of sensory impressions.

Copernican hypothesis

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

philosophes

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

law of inertia

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

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 deductive reason and speculation.

Cartesian dualism

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

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 objects' quantity of matter and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.

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.

What revolutionary discoveries were made in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries?

The understanding of motion and matter. The rise of the university along with the intellectual vitality of the Renaissance and technological advancements. As well as a better understanding if the universe.

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.

What impact did new ways of thinking have on political development and monarchical absolutism?

enlightened absolutism became more prominent as well as changes in social structure and education became more widespread

What intellectual and social changes occurred as a result of the Scientific Revolution?

1. New empirical method of inductive reasoning based on observations and experiments and analysis rather than speculation (Bacon) 2.Analytic Geometry-Geometric spatial figures could be expressed as algebraic equations. (Descartes) 3. Renewed study of the human body and anatomy, chemistry 4. Rise of a new social group-the international scientific community 5. Governments and scientific community begin to form alliance 6. Scientist question authority and tradition

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.

deism

Belief in a distant, noninterventionist deity; common among Enlightenment thinkers.

salon

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

what is enlightenment?

The idea that faith is the opposite of reason. The church was viewed as the greatest enemy of progress because it controlled all forms of education. Enlightenment thinkers solved this problem by encouraging secular education through books, especially reference books. Ideas were spread through conversation, especially in salons and coffee houses. Enlightenment supporters were known as Philosophes. Became the culture of the elite as well as a major movement among the common people.

How did the Enlightenment emerge, and what were major currents of Enlightenment thought?

a. during the renaissance, people began to question medieval ideas, emphasize individual potential (humanism), and encourage education b.during the age of exploration the discovery of new lands and trade routes led Europeans to search for other new things c.during the protestant reformation people began to question the church teachings, freely explore new ideas, and tolerate other religions d.during the scientific revolution scholars applied logic perfected the scientific method, and made new discoveries that shattered old ideas... this gave enlightenment philosophers a model to follow to make new theories about society. e. the most important enlightenment ideas were those that challenged rule by absolute monarchs and presented new theories about the government