Salon
private drawing rooms where wealthy Parisian women would have intellectual discussions with aristocrats
A French man who believed that Human beings are naturally good & free & can rely on their instincts. Government should exist to protect common good, and be a democracy. Similar ideas to John Locke. Idea of the social contract
The enlightenment
Enlightenment thinkers applied new methods of reasoning to politics, and human institutions
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
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.
Charter of towns 1792
Atheism
Diderot defined it as someone who knows about god, but actively rejects his existence
Affirmed Copernicus’ findings and through complex math of his own, found that plants orbit in ellipses, not perfect circles
Scientific method
During the scientific Revolution, the scientific method was invented, which emphasizes observations and experimentation
Galileo Galilei
Built a telescope and observed that other planets and moons, existed, and weren’t just balls of light
Galen
Geocentric model of the universe
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
Inductive reasoning
Deism
Rejected the humoral theory and claimed that chemical imbalances caused disease, meaning chemical remedies could be used to cure people.
Population increases in the 1700s
Rising birth rates, improving medical technology, vaccines, and bubonic plague went away
Thomas Hobbes
There is no morality in the state of nature. You need government to order the chaos of nature
Social Contract
A voluntary agreement among individuals to secure their rights and welfare by creating a government and abiding by its rules.
In the later 1700s, the nature and subject of art shifted from state and religious themes to themes that appealed to bourgeoisie society
Coffee Houses
English writer and early feminist who denied male supremacy and advocated equal education for women
Philosophes
Deductive reasoning
Using general principles to determine specific consitions
William Harvey
Further overturned Galen’s theory by proving how the circulatory system works
Overall, religion was increasingly viewed as a matter of private, rather than public concern. Structures of society grew increasingly secular.
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
Nicolaus Copernicus
Challenged the geocentric model of the universe through mathematics and put forward the heliocentric model, where everything orbits the sun.
Denis Diderot
Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations
Attacked mercantilist economics. Promoted laissez-faire, free-market economy, and supply-and-demand economics.
