Chapter 19

empiricism

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

Locke

"Father of Liberalism" philosopher and physician; influential Enlightenment thinkers

Smith

"Inquery into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations", enlightenment Figure

economic liberalism

the theory, associated with Adam Smith, that the pursuit of self-interest in a competitive market suffices to improve living conditions, rendering government intervention unnecessary and undesirable

Catherine the Great

Ruler of Russia, expanded Russian territory to what it is now; had many lovers

enlightened abolutism

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.

Enclosure

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

Haskalah

a Jewish Enlightenment movement led by Prussian philosopher Moses Mendelssohn

Copernican hypothesis

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

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

general will

a concept associated with Rousseau, referring to the common interests of all the people, who have replaced the power of the monarch

philosophes

a group of French intellectuals who proclaimed that they were bringing the light of knowledge to their fellow creatures int eh Age of Enlightenment

Law of Inertia

a law formulated by Galileo stating 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

sensationalism

an idea, espoused by John Locke, that all human ideas and thoughts are produced as a result of sensory impressions

public sphere

an idealized intellectual space that emerged in Europe during the Enlightenment. Here, the public cam together to discuss important social, economic, and political issues

Enlightenment

an intellectual and cultural movement in late seventeenth and eighteenth century Europe and its colonies that used rational and critical thinking to debate issue such as political sovereignty, religious tolerance, gender roles, and racial differences.

deism

belief in a distant, noninterventionist deity, shared by many Enlightenment thinkers.

Cottage Industry

manufacturing with hand tools in peasant cottages and work shed, a form of economic activity that became important in eighteenth-century Europe

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 philosphy.