A History of Western Society: Chapter 16

cartesian dualism

descartes' view that all of reality could ultimately be reduced to mind/matter

philosophes

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

public sphere

idealized intellectual space that emerged in Europe during Enlightenment where public came together to discuss important issues relating society/economics/politics

enlightenment

influential/intellectual and cultural movement of late 17th/18th centuries that introduced new worldview based on use of reason, scientific method, and progress

haskalah

jewish enlightenment of the second half of the 18th century led by the Prussian philosopher Moses Mendelssohn

law of inertia

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

salons

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

experimental method

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

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 in turn, state should use its resources and authority to increase the public guard

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

empiricism

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

rationalism

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

natural philosophy

an early modern term for the study of nature of universe, its purpose, and how it functioned; it encompasses what we would call "Science" today

Rococo

popular style in europe 18th century, known for soft pastels, ornate interiors, sentimental portraits, and starry eyed lovers protected by hovering cupids

Reading Revolution

transition in Europe from society where literacy consists of patriarchal communal reading of religious texts to society where literacy was commonplace and reading material broad and diverse

enlightened absolutism

term coined by historians to describe the rule of 18th century, monarch who without renouncing their own absolute authority, adopted enlightenment ideals of rationalism, progress, tolerance