Chapter 18 Part 2 Enlightenment

Mary Wollstonecraft

British feminist of the eighteenth century who argued for women's equality with men, even in voting, in her 1792 "Vindication of the Rights of Women."

Baron de Montesquieu, Spirit of Laws

member of the french nobility; hated the absolutism of Louis XIV; heavily influenced America's system; started checks & balances; spirit of laws called for seperation of powers in govt. into 3 branches to prevent tyranny & promote liberty

tabula rasa

the human mind was born as a blank slate and registered input from the senses passively.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

"Social Contract" he explained an ideal society where each community member would vote on issues and majority would become one law.

François Quesnay

(1694-1774) French economist. Quesnay was the undisputed leader of the Physiocrats, the first systematic school of economic thought. Among its tenets were the economic and moral righteousness of laissez-faire policies and the notion that land was the ultimate source of all wealth.

Voltaire

(1694-1778) French philosopher. He believed that freedom of speech was the best weapon against bad government. He also spoke out against the corruption of the French government, and the intolerance of the Catholic Church.

Madame de Geoffrin

(1699-1777) A wealthy middle-class widow who hosted a famous Parisian salon. She created the salon to educate herself and to participate directly in the movement for reform. Brought together the most exciting thinkers and artists of the time and corresponded with influential people across Europe.

David Hume

(1711-1716) Scottish philosopher. Considered a pioneering social scientist. In his work "Treatise on Human Nature", he argued that observation and reflection, grounded in systematized common sense made conceivable a "science of man".

Frederick the Great

(1712-1786), King of Prussia from 1740 to 1786. Enlightened despot who enlarged Prussia by gaining land from Austria when Maria Theresa became Empress.

Immanuel Kant

(1724-1804) German philosopher who described the Eighteenth-Century Enlightenment by the phrase "Dare to Know

War of Austrian Succession

(1740-48) Conflict caused by the rival claims for the dominions of the Habsburg family. Before the death of Charles VI, Holy Roman emperor and archduke of Austria, many of the European powers had guaranteed that Charles's daughter Maria Theresa would succeed him.

Seven Years' War

(1756-1763) Britain + Prussia allied in this war; Prussian expansion alarmed Russia + France, Frederick II feared that he would be squeezed from both east + west; Frederick asked the British for help, British had interests in protecting Hanover; this alliance drove France, Russia, Austria, Saxony to form an alliance; Frederick attacked Saxony + Austria in 1756, which caused the Russians to intercede with a massive army; established the status of Prussia as a major power and a counterbalance to Austria in central Europe; initiated a long period of peace in eastern Europe; Prussia + Austria financially exhausted and needed a breathing spell to initiate administrative +economic improvements; made Britain's debt rise to 130 million pounds

Catherine the Great

(1762-1796) An "enlightened despot" of Russia whose policies of reform were aborted under pressure of rebellion by serfs

Treaty of Paris

(1783) peace agreement that officially ended the revolutionary war and established Britian's formal recognition of the US

Maria Theresa

(Ruled 1740-1780) Daughter of Charled VI, who's inheritance of the Austrian throne sparked the War of the Austrian Succession. She survived the war only by giving Silesia to Frederick II of Prussia. Became heiress of Austria and her husband became Holy Roman Emperor. Mother of Joseph II.

Joseph II

(r. 1780-1790) coregent with his mother (Maria Theresa) from 1765 until her death-controlled Catholic church closely; granted religious toleration and civic rights to Protestants and Jews; abolished serfdom; peasant labor to be converted into cash paymentscountry in turmoil at death

Pragmatic Sanction of 1713

1438 French ch. affirmed supremacy of councils over pope, declared administrative independence, ended annates to Rome & appointments by pope. Papacy lost influence in France but conciliarists were divided. (1449 dissolution of Council of Basel & Conciliar Movt. ended. 1450 Jubilee to celebrate papal triumph.)

Enlightenment

18th century movement led by French intellectuals who advocated reason as the universal source of knowledge and truth

Deism

A concept of God during the Scientific Revolution; the role of divinity was limited to setting natural laws in motion.

philosophes

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

physiocrats

A group of economists who urged the French government to deregulate the grain trade and make the tax system more equitable to encourage agricultural productivity. Claimed guilds should be abolished in order to establish a free market and strongly influenced Adam Smith.

Denis Diderot, The Encyclopedia

A philosopher and a prominent figure of the Enlightenment who created the first collection of the world's knowledge on a variety of subjects. Each article was written by an "expert" on the subject and many contained pictures, so even the illiterate could learn about a variety of things.

Enlightened Despotism

A system of government supported by leading philosophes in which an absolute ruler uses his or her power for the good of the people. Enlightened monarchs supported religious tolerance, increased economic productivity, administrative reform, and scientific academies. Joseph II, Frederick the Great, and Catherine the Great were the best-known Enlightened monarchs.

checks and balances

A system that allows each branch of government to limit the powers of the other branches in order to prevent abuse of power

classical liberalism

A term given to the philosophy of John Locke and other 17th and 18th century advocates of the protection of individual rights and liberties by limiting government power.

general will

According to Rousseau the general will is sacred and absolute, reacting the common interests of the people who have displaced the monarch as the holder of ultimate power.

Essay Concerning Human Understanding

An essay by John Locke. Asserted that humans are born with a "tabula rasa" or a blank slate. Everything humans know comes from experience, not initial nature.

Silesia

Austrian province in eastern Germany that is later seized by Frederick II of Prussia in December of 1740, provoking the War of the Austrian Succession.

Pugachev Rebellion

Eugene Pugachev, a Cossack soldier, led a huge serf uprising-demanded end to serfdom, taxes and army service; landlords and officials murdered all over southwestern Russia; eventually captured and executed

"first servant of the state"

Frederick considered himself this, and many of his reforms were for the improvement of society, but most were intended to increase the power of the state.

Madame de Staël

Hosted intellectual salons and was a writer during the Romantic period. Was an early advocate for women's rights and was banished from France by Napoleon (daughter of Jacque Necker)

Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations

In The Wealth of Nations, published in 1776, Adam Smith believed that self-interest was an "invisible hand in the marketplace, automatically regulating the supply of and demand for goods and services." He endorsed a laissez-faire approach to economics and was the first to define the system of capitalism.

Royal Society

Mid-17th century society dedicated to experimental natural philosophy. Based on Bacon's New Atlantis. Members included Sir Isaac Newton and Robert Boyle. The founding institution for modern science. Criticized by Margaret Cavendish.

Jean de Condorcet

Progress of the Human Mind-utopian ideas also undermined legitimacy of Enlightenment ideas-identified 9 stages of human progress and predicted 10th stage would bring perfection

Social Contract, 1762

ROUSSEAU - in this work, like Hobbes he talks of "state of nature" as brutish condition - need for social contract but among people - impose social control/contract rather than political contract. Fuse individual wills into General Will for common good. General WIll would be sovereign, sacred and inviolable. Govt. was secondary. Not interested in specifics about mechanism of govt. (Unfortunately, Marxists and Communists would later distort Rousseau's philosophy to support their own agendas).

Marquis de Beccaria

Sought to humanize criminal law based on Enlightenment concepts of reason and equality before the law

John Locke, Two Treatises of Civil Gov't

Though he had been working on this piece prior to the Glorious Revolution, John Locke published his Two Treatises of Government in 1690 with the purpose of justifying Parliament's actions. In "Two Treatises of Government," Locke argues that government rules by a breakable Social Contract that allows for the Natural Rights of Life, Liberty, and Property, and that those in the contract have the Right of Revolution in the face of an arbitrary king. John Locke is one of the most influential philosophers/political theorists of history, and hi views are contained within pivotal documents such as the American Declaration of Independence.

Polish partitions

Three territorial divisions of Poland, perpetrated by Russia, Prussia, and Austria, by which Poland's size was progressively reduced until, after the final partition, the state of Poland ceased to exist.

salon movement

Women played major role-many of brightest minds of Enlightenment assembled to discuss major issues-took part in discussions.

Baron Paul d'Holbach

Wrote "System of Nature", which said humans are only machines and have no free will- created a rift between atheist and deist thinkers within the enlightened group