Mary Wollstonecraft
English writer and early feminist who denied male supremacy and advocated equal education for women
In the later 1700s, the nature and subject of art shifted from state and religious themes to themes that appealed to bourgeoisie society
Enlightenment views of religion
Overall, religion was increasingly viewed as a matter of private, rather than public concern. Structures of society grew increasingly secular.
Atheism
Argued that natural rights were given by god, not a government, so a government couldn’t take them away. Therefore power originates with the people
These new ideas from Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo are challenging established beliefs of the Catholic Church during the catholic counter reformation. The geocentric model fit nicely with scripture so the church stuck with it.
Francis Bacon
Developed inductive reasoning
Natural rights
The idea that human beings, just by virtue of being human, possess rights like life liberty and property
Coffee Houses
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
Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations
Attacked mercantilist economics. Promoted laissez-faire, free-market economy, and supply-and-demand economics.
Collaborated with other enlightened thinkers to edit and publish an encyclopedia that contained a rational explanation for everything.
The enlightenment
Rising birth rates, improving medical technology, vaccines, and bubonic plague went away
Salon
Nicolaus Copernicus
Urbanization
Thanks to new technologies, fewer people were required for farming, leading many to move to the cities.
Deductive reasoning
Voltaire
Humoral theory of the body
The body is made up of 4 substances: blood, yellow bile, black bile, and flem? Imbalance of these 4 lead to disease. This is where blood letting came from
Deism
Voltaire argued that there was a god, but god didn’t intervene in human affairs.
Inductive reasoning
Using specific observations to create general principles
Galen
Ancient Greek doctor who advanced the humoral theory of the body
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
Johannes Kepler
Affirmed Copernicus’ findings and through complex math of his own, found that plants orbit in ellipses, not perfect circles
Built a telescope and observed that other planets and moons, existed, and weren’t just balls of light
Enlightened absolutists monarchs
Frederick the great of Prussia: tried to help the people. Increased freedoms of press and speech to weaken the nobility and strengthen his power.
Paracelsus
Rejected the humoral theory and claimed that chemical imbalances caused disease, meaning chemical remedies could be used to cure people.
A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792)
Argued that women and men were equal, and anything women seemed inferior at, it was only because they had been denied education and opportunities by men
Thomas Malthus (1766-1834)
Saw that the population was rising faster than the food supply, thought Europe was heading towards starvation
