Voltaire argued that there was a god, but god didn’t intervene in human affairs.
English writer and early feminist who denied male supremacy and advocated equal education for women
Enlightened Absolutism
a system in which rulers tried to govern by Enlightenment principles while maintaining their full royal powers. Rulers only acted enlightened when it benefitted them.
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 commonplace and reading material was broad and diverse. Books also became less religious. So religious censorship increased
Thomas Malthus (1766-1834)
Saw that the population was rising faster than the food supply, thought Europe was heading towards starvation
Voltaire
Most famous French philosopher. Produced many works that criticized social and religious institutions of France. Supported religious tolerance, natural rights, but didn’t believe in democracy, only enlightened absolutism
Enlightened absolutists monarchs
John Locke
Paracelsus
Francis Bacon
Developed inductive reasoning
Despite him being a devote catholic, the pope ruled him a heretic and placed him under house arrest. But his books were published after his death
Urbanization
Thanks to new technologies, fewer people were required for farming, leading many to move to the cities.
Consumer Revolution
Middle and upper classes had more income, rise in demand for goods increased. People began wanting larger homes and more privacy and new venues for leisure
Thomas Hobbes
There is no morality in the state of nature. You need government to order the chaos of nature
Natural rights
The idea that human beings, just by virtue of being human, possess rights like life liberty and property
Philosophes
French thinkers
Deductive reasoning
Attacked mercantilist economics. Promoted laissez-faire, free-market economy, and supply-and-demand economics.
Denis Diderot
Collaborated with other enlightened thinkers to edit and publish an encyclopedia that contained a rational explanation for everything.
Atheism
Diderot defined it as someone who knows about god, but actively rejects his existence
Population increases in the 1700s
Contagious Diseases Act
This allowed police officers to arrest any woman they suspected to be a prostitute. They were then permitted to give that woman an examination to prevent the spread of STDs. This is state-sponsered sexual assault.
Overall, religion was increasingly viewed as a matter of private, rather than public concern. Structures of society grew increasingly secular.
Social Contract
A voluntary agreement among individuals to secure their rights and welfare by creating a government and abiding by its rules.
Affirmed Copernicus’ findings and through complex math of his own, found that plants orbit in ellipses, not perfect circles
William Harvey
Further overturned Galen’s theory by proving how the circulatory system works
Using specific observations to create general principles
Geocentric model of the universe
Every body in the galaxy circled around the earth, including the sun. This was the Catholic Churches view and presumed model of the universe in midevil europe
Nicolaus Copernicus
Challenged the geocentric model of the universe through mathematics and put forward the heliocentric model, where everything orbits the sun.
private drawing rooms where wealthy Parisian women would have intellectual discussions with aristocrats
