AP European History Chapter 16, 17, 18

empiricism

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

wet-nursing

A widespread and flourishing business in the eighteenth century in which women were paid to breast-feed other women's babies

Copernican hypothesis

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

guild system

The organization of artisansal production into trade-based associations, or guilds, each of which received a monopoly over its trade and the right to train apprentices and hire workers

illegitimacy explosion

The sharp increase in out-of-wedlock births that occurred in Europe between 1750 and 1850, caused by low wages and the breakout of community controls

putting-out system

The eighteenth century system of rural industry in which a merchant loaned raw materials to cottage workers, who processed them and returned the finished products to the merchant

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

community controls

A pattern of cooperation and common action in a traditional village that sought to uphold the economic, social, and moral stability of the close knit community

just price

The idea that price should be fair, protecting both consumers and producers, and that they should be imposed by government decree if necessary

Enlightenment

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

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

blood sports

Events such as bullbaiting and cockfighting that involved inflicting violence and bloodshed on animals and were popular with the eighteenth -century European masses

Methodists

Members of a Protestant revival movement started by John Wesley, so called because they were so methodical in their devotion

Law of intertia

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

Pietism

A Protestant revival movement in early-eighteenth-century Germany and Scandinavia that emphasized a warm and emotional religion the priesthood of all believers, and the power of Christian rebirth in every day affairs

economic liberalism

A belief in free trade and competition based on Adam Smith's argument that the invisible hand of free competition would benefit all individuals, rich and poor

debt peonage

A form of serfdom that allowed a planter or rancher to keep his workers or slaves in perpetual debt bondage by periodically advancing food, shelter, and litter money

philosophes

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

rococo

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

Jansenism

A sect of Catholicism originating with Cornelius Jansen that emphasized the heavy weight of original sin and accepted the doctrine of predestination; it was outlawed as heresy by the pope

rationalism

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

Navigation Acts

A series of English laws that controlled the import of goods to Britain and British colonies

cottage industry

A stage of industrial development in which rural workers used hand tools in their homes and manufacture goods on a large scale for sale in a market

natural philosophy

An early modern term for the study of nature of the universe, its purpose, and how it functioned; it encompassed what we would call "science" today

charivari

Degrading public rituals used by village communities to police personal behavior and maintain moral standards

Cartesian dualism

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

salon

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

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

Experimental method

The approach , pioneered by, Galileo, that the proper way to explore the working of the universe was through repeatable experiments rather than speculation

carnival

The few days of revelry in Catholic countries that preceded Lent and that included drinking, masquerading, dancing, and rowdy spectacles that upset the established order

Atlantic slave trade

The forced migrations of Africans across the Atlantic for slave labor in plantations and in other industries; the trade reached its peak in the eighteenth century and ultimately involved more than 12 million Africans

enclosure

The movement to fence in fields in order to farm more effectively, at the expense of poor peasants who relied on common fields for farming and pasture

industrious revolution

The shift that occurred as families in northwestern Europe focused on earning wages instead of producing goods for household consumption; this reduced their ability to purchase consumer goods

proletarianization

The transformation of large numbers of small peasant farmers into landless rural wage earners

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

Treaty of Paris

The treaty that ended the Seven Years' War in Europe and the colonies in 1763, and ratified British victory on all colonial fronts

consumer revolution

The wide-ranging growth in consumption and new attitudes toward consumer good that emerged in the cities of northwestern Europe in the second half of the eighteenth century

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 recourses and authority to increase the public good