Key Terms Flashcards
Natural Philosophy
An early modern term for the study of the nature of the universe, its purpose, and how it functioned; it encompassed what we would call “science” today.
Copernican Hypothesis
The idea that the sun, not the earth, was the center of the universe.
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.
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 unless stopped by some external force.
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
A theory of inductive reasoning that calls for acquiring evidence through observation rather than deductive reason and speculation.
Cartesian Dualism
Descartes’s view that all of reality could ultimately be reduced to mind and matter.
Enlightenment
The influential intellectual and cultural movement of the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that introduced a new worldview based on the use of reason the scientific method, and progress.
Rationalism
A secular, critical way of thinking in which nothing was to be accepted on faith, and everything was to be submitted by reason.
Philosophers
A group of French intellectuals who proclaimed that they were bringing the light of knowledge to their fellow humans in the Age of Enlightenment.
Reading Revolution
The transition in Europe from a society where literacy consisted of patriarchal and communal reading of religious texts to a society where literacy was common place and reading material was broad and diverse.
Salon
Regular social gathering held by talented and rich Parisians in their homes, where philosophes and their followers would met to discuss literature, science and philosophy.
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.
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.
Enlightened Absolutism
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.
