AP Euro chapter 17

What was the republic of letters

A set of networks spanning across the world in which the ideas of the Enlightenment were spread through letters

Which powers participated in the partitioning of Poland in the late eighteenth century?

Prussia, Austria, and Russia

To what does the idea of the public sphere that emerged during the Enlightenment refer?

The public coming together to discuss important societal, political, and economic issues in institutions such as coffee houses or salons.

Why did Leopold II cancel his brother Joseph's radical edicts in the early 1790s?

To re-establish the order that Joseph's radical decrees had destroyed.

Rousseau's concept of the general will asserts what?

the general will reflected the common interests of the people who have overthrown the monarch as the holder of absolute power.

What was the core concept of the Enlightenment?

the methods used in science should be applied when examining all aspects of life.

How did Enlightenment thinkers differ from those of the Middle Ages and Renaissance

Enlightenment thinkers believed that human progress could still be achieved and that thinkers should look to the present for possibilities. Thinkers of the middle age and Renaissance believed looked to the past to help improve themselves and society.

What did John Locke claim in his Essay Concerning Human understanding?

Locke stated that all human ideas are derived from experience, with the human mind being a blank slate or tabula rasa at birth that is written on by the person's environment and beliefs.

In general, what was Voltaire's attitude toward government?

Voltaire held a pessimistic view of the government and that humans were only rarely worthy to govern themselves.

How did the idea of "race" transform Europeans' idea of their superiority over other peoples?

When creating the idea of race, Europeans made themselves racially and culturally superior in the new hierarchy; this would also create a reason to legitimize slavery.

What are the typical characteristics of Rococo art?

soft pastels, ornate interiors, sentimental portraits, and paintings of lovers protected by cupids above.

Why did Catherine the Great's goal of domestic reform never come to fruition?

Pugachev's rebellion needing to be thwarted.

What helped to justify the growth of slavery in the eighteenth century?

The emerging idea that white Europeans were biologically superior to the races that they enslaved.