The Enlightenment Study Guide Flashcards
Enlghtenment
an eighteenth-century intellectual movement, led by the philosophies, that stressed the application of reason and the scientific method to all aspects of life
Skepticism
a doubtful or questioning attitude, especially about religion
Cultural Relativism
the belief that no culture is superior to another because culture is a matter of custom, not reason, and derives its meaning form the group holding it
Philosophes
Intellectuals of the eighteenth-century Enlivenment who believed in applying a spirit of rational criticism to all things, including religion and politics, and who focused on improving and enjoying this world, rather than on the afterlife
Cosmopolitan
The quality of being sophisticated and having wide international experience
Separation of Powers
A doctrine enunciated by Montesquieu in the eighteenth century that separated executive, legislative, and judicial powers served to limit and control each other
Deism
Belief in God as the creator of the universe who, after setting it in motion, ceased to have any direct involvement in it and allowed it to run according to its own natural laws
Laussez-Faire
“let (them) do (as they please)” An economic doctrine that holds that an economy is best served when the government does not interfere but allows the economy to self-regulate according to the forces of supply and demand
Economic Liberalism
The idea that government should not interfere in the workings of the economy
Romantisism
A nineteenth-century intellectual and artistic movement that rejected the emphasis on reason of the Enlightenment. Instead, Romantics stressed the importance of intuition, feeling, emotion, and imagination as sources of knowing. When passion and love is valued
Feminism
The belief in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes; also, organized activity to advance women’s rights
Salons
Gatherings of philosophies and other notables to discuss the ideas of the Enlightenment; so called from the elegant drawing rooms (salons) where they met
Rococo
an eighteenth century artistic movement that emphasized grace, gentility, lightness, and charm
Neoclassicism
a late-eighteenth-century artistic movement that emerged in France. It sought to recapture the dignity and simplicity of the Classical style of ancient Greece and Rome
High Culture
the literacy and artistic culture of the education and wealthy ruling class
Popular Culture
as opposed to high culture, the unofficial written and unwritten culture of the masses, much of which was traditionally passed down orally and centered on public and group activities such as festivals. In the modern age, the term refers to the entertainment, recreation, and pleasures that people purchase as part of the mass consumer society
Pogroms
organized massacres of Jews
Pietism
a movement that arose in Germany in the seventeenth century whose goal was to foster a personal experience of God as the focus of true religious experience
Who provided a link between the Scientific Revolution of the 1500 and 1600’s and the French philosophies of the next?
Bernard de Fontenelle
Why were enlightenment thinkers secular in though?
They used the scientific method to analyze all aspects of human life
How proclaimed the motto “Dare to Know”
The thinker Immanuel Kant
What influenced intellectual thinking in the eighteenth century?
The emergence of secularization and the meaning of natural influence
Who sparked a growing skepticism towards the claims of religion?
Bernard de Fontenelle
What sparked numerous development during the Enlightenment era including the idea of natural man, the noble savage, cultural importance, and religious skepticism
Travel accounts of different cultures
What refers to a blank mind?
Tabula Rasa
What wanted to change the world through reason and rationality?
The philosophes
Who inspired the Enlightenment by arguing that reason and acquisition that reason and acquisition of knowledge one could discover the natural laws governing all aspects of human society
Issac Newton and John Lock
Where did the philosophies come from?
nobility and the middle class
Who argued that power should be divided into three separate branches
Montesquieu
Where was the recognized center of the Enlightenment?
Paris
What did Voltaire write?
Treatise of Toleration, and plays Edipe and Henriade, and Philosophic Letters on the English
Who was the leader of the Physiocrats?
Francois Quensay
What was Voltaire known for?
his defense of religious tolerance
Who was a female philosophe and mistress of Voltaire?
Mary Astell
Who believed that God created the universe but does not actively run it?
Deism
Why was the Encyclopedia published by Diderot
in attempt to change people’s ways of thinking
what did the “science of man” stress?
a belief in natural laws
What was the Encyclopedia?
A 28-volume compilation of articles by many influential philosophes
Who believed that the government should stay out of people’s economic decisions?
Adam Smith
Who wrote The Progress of the Human Mind
Condorcet
Who said that individuals will be forced to be free if they did not obey the general will of the majority?
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
What did Montesquieu’s “Persian Letters” allow?
him to criticize the Catholic Church and the French monarchy
What is the “general will”
A social consensus to which one must bow to
What was the source of many problems for Rousseau?
private property
What did “Emile” deal with
the issues of proper child rearing and human education
What were Salons popular with?
Wealthy bourgeoisie, aristocrats, and government officials in Western Civilization nations
Who was a strong supported of women’s rights during the Enlightenment era.?
Mary Wollstonecraft
Who created masterpieces in the Baroque–Rococo style?
Balthasar Neumann
Who emphasized the pleasure and joy of aristocratic life in his artwork?
Antione Watteau
What did Johann Sebastian Bach produce?
Religious music
What was later eighteenth music best associated with?
Haydn and Mozart
Who composed the Marriage of Figaro
Mozart
What became the literary expression to attack the hypocrisies of the era?
Novels
What did Mary Astell write?
A Serious Proposal to the Ladies
Who represented the appeal of Neoclassicism?
Jacques- Louis David
What led to a growth of reading and publishing in the eighteenth century?
Magazines
What was high culture in the eighteenth-century Europe characterized by?
The impact of the publishing industry
What work of Handel appeal to all aspects of eighteenth-century Western society?
Messiah
Who advocated a less brutal approach to justice and punishment in eighteenth-century?
Beccaria
What was public and gruesome in the eighteenth-century?
Punishment of crime
When was Carnival celebrated?
In the weeks leading up to Lent
What was a cheap and popular alcoholic drink in eighteenth century England?
Gin
What are attacks on Jewish communities?
Pogroms
Did churches still play a role in eighteenth-century Europe?
Yes
In the eighteenth century, who in Europe were most free in participating in banking and commercial activities in tolerant cities?
Jews
Who became a separate and independent sect from the Church of England in the eighteenth-century?
Methodism
Who saw some ordinary Protestant churchgoers chose new religious movements?
England and Germany
