Unit 4 Termonology Flashcards
The idea that the sun, not the earth, was the center of the universe.
Copernican hypothesis
An early modern term for the study of the nature of the universe, it’s purpose, and how it functions; it encompassed what we would call the science today.
Natural philosophy
The approach, pioneered by Galileo, that the proper way to explore the workings of the universe was through repeatable experiments rather than speculation.
Experimental method
A law formulated by Galileo that states the motion, not rest, is the natural state of an object, then object continues in motion forever unless stopped by some external force.
Law of inertia
Newton’s law that all objects are attracted to one another and that the force of attraction is probably proportional to the objects quantity of matter and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.
Law of universal gravitation
A theory of inductive reasoning that calls for acquiring evidence through observation and experimentation rather than reason and speculation.
Empiricism
Descartes’s view that all reality could ultimately be reduced to mind and matter.
Cartesian dualism
The influential intellectual and cultural movement by the late 17th and 18th centuries that introduced a new world view based on the use of reason, the scientific method, and progress.
Enlightenment
A secular, critical way of thinking in which nothing was to be excepted on faith, and everything was to be submitted to reason.
Rationalism
A group of French intellectuals who proclaimed they were bringing the light of knowledge to their fellow creatures in the Age of Enlightenment.
Philosophes
The transition in Europe from a society where literacy consisted of patriarchal article and communal reading of religious text to society where literacy was commonplace and reading material was broad in diverse.
Reading revolution
Regular social gatherings held by talented and rich Parisian in their homes, where philosophes and their followers met to discuss literature science and philosophy.
Salons
A popular style when you’re out in the 18th century, known for its soft pastels, ordinate interiors, sentimental portraits, and starry–eyed lovers protected by hovering cupids.
Rococo
An idealized intellectual space that emerged in Europe during the Enlightenment, where the public came together to discuss important issues related to society, economics, and politics.
Public sphere
Term coined by historians to describe the rule of 18th century monarchs who, without renouncing their own absolute authority, adopted Enlightenment ideals of rationalism, progress, and tolerance.
Enlightened absolutism
View that monarchy was the best form of government, that all elements of society should serve the monarch, and that, in turn, this state should use its resources and authority to increase a public good.
Cameralism
The Jewish enlightenment of the second half of the 18th century, led by Prussian philosopher Moses Mendelssohn.
Haskalah
The period in Europe from the mid-17th through the mid-19th century during which great agricultural progress was made and the fallow, or idling of the field to replenish nutrients, was gradually eliminated.
Agricultural revolution
The movement to fence in fields in order to farm more effectively, at the expense of poor peasants who relied on common fields for farming and pasture.
Enclosure
The transformation of large numbers of small peasant farmers into landless rural wage earners.
Proletarianization
The stage of industrial development in which rural workers used hand tools in their homes to manufacture goods on a large scale for sale in market.
Cottage industry
The 18th-century system of rule industry in which a merchant loaned raw materials to cottage workers, who processed them and returned the finished products to the merchant.
Putting out system