Euro Chapter 16 Vocab (Unit 4)

Law of Inertia

A law formed 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

Haskalah

The Jewish Enlightenment of the second half of the eighteenth century, led by the Prussian philosopher Moses Mendelssohn

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.

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.

Empiricism

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

Natural Philosophy

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

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.

Deism

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

Enlightenment

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

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

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.

Rationalism

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

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

Salon

Regular social gatherings held by talented and rich Parisians in their homes, where philosophes and their 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 ideas of nationalism, progress, and tolerance.