World Societies Chapter 18

empericism

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

Mary Wollstonecraft

an Englishwoman who published "The Vindication of the Rights of Women" in 1792

natural philosophy

an early modern term for the study of the nature of the universe, its purpose, and how it functioned; it 3ompassed what we call "science" today

Robert Boyle

created Boyle's law which states that the pressure of a gas varies inversely with volume

Denis Diderot

edited the Encyclopedia that spread

Isaac Newton

explained the movement of all physical objects in the universe through mutual attraction, published his results 1687 in the Principia Mathermatica

Galileo

formed the law of inertia, discovered the first four moons of Jupiter, first person to create the telescope

Francis Bacon

inductive reasoning known as empiricism demanded that evidence be gathered through observation and experimentation rather than speculative reasoning

Voltaire

most famous work is the "Candide" which attacked superstition, religious persecution, and war

Montesquieu

proposed the separation of powers and system of checks and balances in the "Spirit of Laws"

salons

regular social gatherings held by talented and rich Parisian women in their homes, where philosophes and their followers met to discuss literature, science, and philosophy

Enclosure

the controversial process of fencing off common land to create privately owned fields that increased agricultural production at the cost of reducing poor farmers' access to land

Adam Smith

"The Wealth of Nations" in 1776 which critiqued mercantilism and that people should be free to pursue their own economic self-interest

laissez-faire

"let do, let pass"

Jean Jacques Rousseau

'The Social Contract' opened with the famous line "All men are born free, but everywhere they are in chains" and wrote that government and authority are a mutual contract between the authorities and the governed

general will

A concept in political philosophy referring to the desire or interest of a people as a whole introduced by Rousseau

social contract

An agreement between the people and their government signifying their consent to be governed

Copernicus

Developed the first modern theory of a sun-centered universe

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

Philosophes

French writers and thinkers who popularized ideas of the Enlightenment and proposed reform

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