Ch. 16 Flashcards
Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment (mostly evidence)
natural philosophy
Study of the nature, purpose, and functions of the universe
science today and was based on the ideas of Aristotle
Thomas Aquinas
Medieval theologian who synthesized Aristotelian philosophy with Christian doctrines
Aristotle
Greek philosopher; celestial spheres and sublunar world; opposite of inertia; geocentrism
Medieval thought
Ptolemy
Hellenized Egyptian; planets move in small epicycles
Medieval thought
Ptolemy’s Geography
Advances in medieval cartography; latitude, and longitude; only includes Europe, Asia, and Africa (no knowledge of the Pacific Ocean and Americas)
Nicolaus Copernicus
Polish cleric; heliocentrism; astronomer
Publishes his book the year of his death due to fear of ridicule
On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres
Copernican hypothesis; heliocentrism (sun is at the center of the universe)
Destroyed basic ideas of Aristotelian physics
Tycho Brahe
Danish astronomer; agrees with Copernican hypothesis & Ptolemaic ideas’ built sophisticated observatories
Rudolphine Tables
started by Tycho Brahe containing details tables of planetary motion for Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II
finished by Kepler
Johannes Kepler
Finishes Brahe’s work; 3 laws of planetary motion (orbits of planets around the sun are elliptical, planets do not move at a uniform speed in their orbits, the time it takes a planet to orbit the Sun is proportional to its distance from the Sun); agrees with Copernicus
Cast horoscopes = prove alchemy and magic are still present even among the educated
Galileo Galilei
Florentine; law of inertia; disproves Aristotle’s ideas; telescope; agrees with Copernicus
Sidereal Messenger
Telescope’s findings; the moon has craters (disproves Aristotle’s ideas of perfect spheres)
Galileo
Dialogue on the Two Chief Systems of the World
Ideas on heliocentrism
Is persecuted for this text and is threatened with torture
Galileo
heliocentrism
The idea that the Sun is at the center of the universe
Threatens understanding of mankind’s place in creation, as stated in Genesis = this is why the church is against these ideas
Isaac Netwon
English scientist; agrees with Copernicus; law of universal gravitation (all objects are attracted to one another and the force of attraction is proportional to their mass and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them)
Intensely religious and fascinated by alchemy
Principia
Integrates Copernicus’ astronomy (as corrected by Kepler’s laws) and Galileo and his predecessors’ physics
Netwon
Francisco Hernández
He was the personal physician of King Philip II, who sent him to New Spain to find specimens. Fills 15 volumes with illustrations of 3000 previously unknown plants
cinchona bark
1st effective treatment for malaria
(example of discoveries)
Carl Linnaeus
Swede; devises a formal system of naming and classifying living organisms (still used today)
astrology
Inspired by the belief that the movement of heavenly bodies influenced events on Earth
many astronomers also work as astrologers
magic and alchemy
Strives to understand and control hidden connections perceived among different elements of the natural world.
Alchemists believed base metals could be turned into gold
did not interfere with religion
Francis Bacon
English politician and writer; greatest early propagandist for experimental method (rejects medieval and Aristotelian speculative method; empiricism); inductive method
empiricism
Acquiring evidence through observation and experimentation
Accepted in England
royal society
Founded by Bacon’s followers who met up weekly to conduct experiments and discuss findings
Still exists today
René Descartes
French philosopher; discovers analytic geometry; the quantity of motion in the universe is constant; matter is made up of identical corpuscules that collide together in an endless series of motions; deductive reasoning
“I think therefore I am” - Discourse on the Method
It is necessary to doubt anything that can be doubted; God endowed man with reason for a purpose and rational speculation can provide a path for the truths of creation
Descartes
cartesian dualism
All reality can ultimately be reduced to mid and matter
Galen
Greek physician; body is made up of four humors (black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, blood)
Illness was an imbalance of these humors
Paracelsus
Swiss physician and alchemist; believes illness is caused by chemical imbalances; introduces the use of drugs and chemicals in medicine
Andreas Vesalius
Flemish physician and experimentalist; studies anatomy by dissecting prisoners
On the Structure of the Human Body
Andreas Vasalius, 200 drawings on human anatomy
William Harvey
English royal physician; blood circulation through veins and arteries; explains that the heart works like a pump (also explains the functions of its muscles and valves)
Robert Boyle
His works led to the development of modern chemistry; experiments that discover the basic elements of nature
Boyle’s law: pressure of a gas is inversely proportional to its volume
international scientific community
Closely tied to the state and its agendas, science becomes competitive
Maria Sibylla
Botanical and zoological illustrator
Margaret Cavendish & Anne Conway
Contribute to debates about cartesian dualism
Princess Elizabeth of Bohemia
Descartes praises her and conducts her with intellectual correspondance
environmental determinism
How the enviroment affects you
key ideas of the European enlightenment
Sensibility (religious tolerance), progress, nature, happiness (viewed as a human right), reason, liberty
*Without liberty (freedom of expression) there is no progress
causes of the enlightenment
Age of exploration (european contact with other cultures)
Reformation and Thirty Years’ War (religious certainties come into question)
Scientific revolution
Political opposition to absolutist rule
reason
Rationalism and scientific method can be used to examine and understand all aspects of life
rationalism
Critical way of thinking in which nothing is accepted on faith and everything is submitted to reason
Adopted in France and the Netherlands
Pierre Bayle
Huguenot who takes refuge in France
Historical and Critical Dictionary
Piere Bayle, critically examines the religious beliefs and persecutors of the past; skepticism
Baruch Spinoza
Dutch Jewish philosopher seeks to apply natural philosophy to thinking about human society; a deterministic universe where god and evil are relative and human circumstances are shaped by outside circumstances (not free will)
Excommunicated by the Jewish community in Amsterdam
Anti-Islam (sees it as superstitious and favorable to despotism)
monist
monism
Mind and body are united in one substance
God = nature
of the greatest intellectual inspirations for the enlightenment
Principia and John Locke’s Essay of Concerning Human Understanding
Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz
German philosopher and mathematician; developed calculus independently of Newton; the idea of an infinite number of substances from which all matter is composed
Believes Chinese ethics & political philosophy are superior; Europeans equal in science and technology
Theodicy
Leibniz, our must be the best of all worlds because it was created by a benevolent and omnipotent God
Candide or Optimism
Voltaire ridicules Leibniz’s optimism
John Locke
Physician and member of the royal society
Essay of Concerning Human Understanding
Locke, believes all ideas are derived from experience and at birth our minds are blank tablets; empiricism; human development is determined by external forces (not innate characteristics)
Contributes to sensationalism
sensationalism
All human ideas and thoughts are produced as a result of sensory impressions
philosophes
French philosophers who brought the light of reason to their fellow humans during the Enlightenment
Why France is a hub of enlightenment thought
French is the language of the educated and they are the wealthiest and most populated country
Calls for reform amongst the elite (King Louis XV and his mistress are unpopular)
Republic of Letters
Baron de Montesquieu
One of the greatest philosophes
The Persian Letters
Montesquieu, social satire
Harem is a sign of Persian tyranny and their oppression of women
Serves as a reflection of Western society
The Spirit of Laws
applies critical methods to issues of the government
3 main types of government: monarchy, despot, republic
Political powers must be divided (admires the English Parliamentary system)
He wrote it in response to King Louis XIV’s absolutist rule, which he feared would drift into tyranny
Voltaire (François Maria Arouet)
The most famous philosophe; the best one could hope for in the way of government was a good monarch; did not believe in social and economic equality
Deist
Pro-Confucianism, Anti-Islam
Gabrielle-Emilie le Tonnelier de Breteuil, marquis du Châtelet
Invites Voltaire to live with her in her country house (witch permission of her husband)
Studied physics and mathematics and published scientific articles and translations (Including Principia to French)
Believes women should have a more active role in science
Voltaire’s 4 key eras
Classical Greece, Classical Rome, Renaissance, Louis XIV’s rule
Proves ideas of European superiority
deism
Belief in a distant, noninterventionist deity
Encyclopedia
Edited by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d’Alembert.
Compiles Enlightenment thought
Science and industrial arts are exalted, religion and immorality are questions, and intolerance, legal injustice, and out-of-date social institutions are criticized.
Jean Jacques Rousseau
Son of a Swiss watchmaker who makes his way into the Enlightenment through his intellect
Passionately committed to individual freedom; believes rationalism and civilization destroy, rather than liberate, the individual
The Social Contract
Rousseau, 2 fundamental concepts: general will and popular sovereignity (general will reflects the common interests of the people)
Citizens enter social contracts with one another
Republic of Letters
Networks from Western Europe to its colonies in the Americas, Russia, Eastern Europe, Africa, and Asia
Catholic Enlightenment
Renew and reform the church from within, looking to divine grace rather than human will as the source of progress.
Scottish Enlightenment
Centered at Eidenburgh
Emphasized on common sense as scientific reasoning
David Hume
Scottish Enlightenment; civic morality and religious skepticism; senses and the passions over reason in driving human thought and behavior (reason alone could not support moral principles and they derived instead from emotions and desires)
Build on Locke’s ideas
Anti-black
Adam Smith
Scottish Enlightenment; physiocrat; social interaction produces feelings of mutual sympathy that lead people to behave in ethical ways (despite inherent tendencies toward self-interest)
economic liberalism
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
Smith; attacks laws and regulations created by mercantilist societies (guilds); commerce is ruled by natural laws and the government should not intervene
physiocrat
Question mercantilist policies; believe in laissez-faire
sensibility
Sensitivity of nerves and brain to outside stimuli which produces strong emotional and physical reatcions
Immanuel Kant
German philosopher and professor in East Prussia; insists that in their private lives individuals must obey all laws; tries to reconcile absolute monarchical authority and religious faith with a critical public sphere.
What is Enlightenment?
Sapere Aude (dare to know!) “Have courage and use your won understanding” is the motto of the Enlightenment
Kant
Cesare Beccaria
Central figure in northern italy
On Crimes and Punishments
Plea for reform of the penal system; decries torture, arbitrary imprisonment and capital punishment
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
Writer; wife of the English ambassador to the Ottoman Empire; depicts Turks as sympathetic and civilizes; disputes the notion that women are oppressed in Ottoman society.
Carl von Linné
Swedish botanist
The System of Nature
Argues nature is organized into a god-given hierarchy
Linné
Comte de Buffon
Argues that all humans originated with one species that developed into distinct races largely due to climactic conditions
From “The System of Nature”
Of Natural Characters
All other races are inferior to whites
Hume
On the Different Races of Man
All human races derived from an original race; those closest to this original race are the white population of northern Germany
Kant
History of the Two Indies
Attacks slavery and the abuses of European colonization
Abbé (abbot) Raynal
Supplement to Bougainville’s Voyage
Fictional account of a European voyage to Tahiti by the traveler Louis-Antoine de Bougainville
Diderot expresses his loathing of colonial conquest and exploitation; introduces idea of natural man
Diderot
James Beattie
Argues Europeans also started out as savage as nonwhites supposedly were; many non-European peoples (Asia, Africa, and Americas) developed high levels of civilization
Olaudah Equinao and Ottobah Cugoana
Former slaves who publish eloquent memoirs testifying the horrors of slavery
scientific racism
Proves whites are biologically superior and “legitimizes and justifies” slavery
natural man
Still has the goodness of humanity uncorrupted by society
Depicted by indigenous peoples of the Americas
querelle les dames
Ideas remain mostly the same during the Enlightenment
They use women’s sexual and reproductive functions to argue that women are naturally inferior and subordinate
Marquis de Condorcet
celebrated mathematician
Urged that women and men should share equal rights (extremely rare position)
Mary Astell
Writer; contributes to debates about cartesian dualism; criticizes marriage and argues husband should not exercise absolute control over their wives (still she was careful to acknowledge women’s God-given duties to be good wives and mothers)
A Serious Proposal to the Ladies
Encourages women to aspire a life of the mind; proposes creation of a women’s college
Astell
In the second half of the 18th century women produced some 15% of published novels (where they enjoyed greatest success); they represent a much smaller proportion of nonfiction authors
Proof of women working in literature
salons
Regular social gatherings held by alented and rich parisiand where philosophes and their followers met to discuss literature, science, and philosophy
salonnière
hostess of the salon
Madame du Deffand
Salonnière; her weekly salon included such guest as Montesquieu, d’Alembert, and Benjamin Franklin
Rococo
Popular artsyle in Europe from 1720-1728
Known for soft pastels, ornate interiors, sentimental paintings, and starry-eyed lovers protected by hovering cupids
Its main subjects were nobles and women, and it is associated with Madame de Pompadour (Louis XV’s mistress)
Main patrons are women
Jean Jacques Rousseau’s view on women
Women and men are radically different by nature: men are destined to assume the active role in sexual relations and are more suited for politics and public life, while women’s role is to attract male sexual desire in order to marry and create families and then care for their children and home in private
He finds it unnatural and corrupting that Parisian women love attending social gatherings
Mary Wollstonecraft
English writer; rejects Rousseau’s ideas of women’s limitations
Coffehouses
Public space where urban Europeans could learn about and debate the issues of the day
public sphere
Intellectual space where the public comes together to discuss important issues relating to society, economics, and politics
Rising literacy = individual reading = texts are questions = public sphere
Enlightened absolutism
Describes the rule of 18th century monarchs who (without renouncing their own absolutist authorities) adopted Enlightenment ideas of tolerance, rationalism, and progress
Frederick The Great (II) of Prussia
Religious and philosophical freedom
Simplified Prussia’s laws
Abolished torture
Judges decide cases quickly and impartially
Promotes advancement of knowledge (improving schools)
“Only the first servant of the state”: justifies monarchical rule by practical means (not divine right)
Accepts serfdom
Extends privileges to the nobility
Against Jewish emancipation
War of the Austrian Succession
Empress Maria Theresa of Austria inherited Habsburg dominions upon the death of her father, Charles VI
Frederick the Great invades Silesia, defying promises to respect the Pragmatic Sanction (diplomatic agreement that guarantees Maria Theresa’s succession)
Maria Theresa, British, and Russia vs. Prussia and France - Frederick wins and gets almost all of Silesia
Seven Years’ War
Britain vs. France
Maria Theresa gathered her allies (Britain, Russia, and Austria [her])
Peter III rose to Russian power and liked Frederick the Great so the attack was called off
Frederick the Great to Voltaire: “I must enlighten my people, cultivate their manners and morals, and make them as happy as human beings can be, or as happy as the means at my disposal permit”
Proves Frederick is an enlightened monarch
Cameralism
German science of public administration
View that monarchy was the best form of government, all elements of society should serve the monarch, and the state should use its resources and authority to increase public good
Shared with the Enlightenment an emphasis on rationalism, utilitarianism, and progress
Emerged after the Thirty Years’ War
Catherine the Great of Russia
German princess from Anhalt-Zerbst
Mother was related to Russia’s Romanovs and profited off Peter III’s (her husband) unpopularity; she later kills him with her lover, Gregory Orlov, and becomes empress of Russia
Continues Peter the Great’s Westernization efforts: Offers to publish Encyclopedia in ST. Petersburg (after it was banned in France) and corresponds with Voltaire
Domestic reforms: restricts torture, limits religious toleration, improves and strengthens local government
Gives noble absolute control of serfs and extends serfdom to new areas (due to an uprising)
Territorial expansion
Opposes emancipation of Jews
Emilian Pugachev
Common Cossack soldier who sparks a gigantic uprising of serfs
He is betrayed by his own company and savagely executed
memoirs: “I did not care about Peter, but I did care about the crown” - Catherine the Great
Proof of her commitment and smarts
Partition of Poland
Catherine’s armies are victorious against the Ottomans and this threatens to disturb the power between Austria, Prussia, and Russia
Poland is divided among the three countries and Turkey is left alone
Maria Theresa of Austria
Initiated church reform; aimed at limiting papal influence, eliminating many religious holidays, and reducing the number of monasteries
Administrative operations: strengthened central bureaucracy, smoothed out provincial differences, revamped tax system, and improved the agricultural population (reducing the power of lords over their hereditary serfs)
Joseph II
Maria Theresa’s son
Abolished serfdom; decreed peasants could pay landlords in cash rather than labor
Gave Jews more opportunities: eligibility for military service, admission to higher education and artisanal trades, and removal of requirements of special emblems and clothing.
Died
Leopold II
Brother of Joseph II
Cancels Joseph’s edicts (re-establishes serfdom and cancels Jews’ opportunities)
Haskalah
Jewish Enlightenment of the second half of the 18th century
Social change within the Jewish community: rabbinic control loosens and there is more contact with Christians
Led by Moses Mendelssohn
Moses Mendelssohn
Leads Jewish Enlightenment
Pale of Settlement
Established by Catherine the Great
Territory including parts of modern-day Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukrania, and Belarus where most Jews were required to live.
