Unit 5 Flashcards
Enlightenment
An eighteenth-century intellectual movement, led by the philosophes, that stressed the application of reason and the scientific method to all aspects of life.
Voltaire
French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit, his criticism of Christianity—especially the Roman Catholic Church—as well as his advocacy of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and separation of church and state.
Diderot
French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the Encyclopédie along with Jean le Rond d’Alembert. A prominent figure during the Age of Enlightenment.
Deism
Belief in God as the creator of the universe who, after settling it in motion, ceased to have any direct involvement in it and allowed it to run according to its natural laws.
John Locke
John Locke FRS was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the “Father of Liberalism”. Wrote Two Treatise of Government, came up with life, liberty and property as the three natural rights.
Adam Smith
Wrote the Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith’s economic theory is the idea that markets tend to work best when the government leaves them alone. … Smith’s laissez-faire (French for “let it/them do”) approach to economic policy in the 18th-century came at a time when governments discouraged international trade.
David Hume
David Hume was a Scottish Enlightenment philosopher, historian, economist, librarian and essayist, who is best known today for his highly influential system of philosophical empiricism, skepticism, and naturalism.
Mary Wollonstonecraft
Mary Wollstonecraft was an English writer, philosopher, and advocate of women’s rights. Until the late 20th century, Wollstonecraft’s life, which encompassed several unconventional personal relationships at the time, received more attention than her writing.
Madame Geoffrin
Marie Thérèse Rodet Geoffrin was a French salon holder who has been referred to as one of the leading female figures in the French Enlightenment. From 1750 to 1777, Madame Geoffrin played host to many of the most influential Philosophes and Encyclopédistes of her time.
Salon
Gatherings of philosophes and other notables to discuss the ideas of the Enlightenment; so called from the elegant drawing rooms (salons) where they met.
Skepticism
A doubtful or questioning attitude, especially about religion.
Montesquieu
He a French judge, man of letters, historian, and political philosopher. He is the principal source of the theory of separation of powers, which is implemented in many constitutions throughout the
Social Contract
Social contract theory, by Jean Jacques-Rousseau, says that people live together in society in accordance with an agreement that establishes moral and political rules of behavior.
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 literary and artistic culture of the educated and wealthy ruling classes.
Popular Culture
As opposed to high culture, the unofficial written and unwritten culture of the masses, much of which was traditionally passed worn 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.
Feminism
The belief in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes; also, organized activity to advance women’s rights.
Laissez -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.
“Invisible Hand”
The invisible hand is an economic concept that describes the unintended greater social benefits and public good brought about by individuals acting in their own self-interests.
Methodism
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity which derive their doctrine of practice and belief from the life and teachings of John Wesley.
Natural Law
A body of laws or specific principles held to be derived from nature and binding on all human societies even in the absence of written laws governing such matters.
Natural Rights
Certain inalienable rights to which all people are entitled, including the right to life, liberty, and property; freedom of speech and religion; and equality before the law.
Philosophes
Intellectuals of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment who believed in applying a spirit of rationale criticism to all things, including religion and politics, and who focused on improving and enjoying this world, rather than on the afterlife.
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.
Rationalism
A system of thought based on the belief that human reason and experience are the chief sources of knowledge.
Separation of Powers
A doctrine enunciated bu Montesquieu in the eighteenth century that separate executive, legislative, and judicial powers serve to limit and control each other.
