Syllabus                     Study Guide  Ch. 16 - 17

Ch 16
Galileo
Copernicus
the Copernican Model
Tycho Brahe
Johannes Kepler
Isaac Newton
Principia
Francis Bacon
da Vinci 

Descartes

Ch 17
The Enlightenment
Philosophes  

Age of the Enlightenment

 Enlightened Absolutism  
Montesquieu
Voltaire
Candide
French Deism
Diderot
The Encyclopedie
Adam Smith
The Wealth of Nations
Beccaria
Rousseau
The Social Contract
Mary Astell
Mary Wollstonecraft
Henry Fielding
Samuel Richardson
Frederick the Great

Catherine the Great
Maria Theresa
Joseph II
John Locke



History Page
How to Study  
Intro to Graphic Organizers
Writing in class Essays
Sample Essay Questions  
Answering ID Questions

                                               Practice Questions     

                            Spielvogel Companion Site            7th Ed.

Practice Quizzes     http://apeuro.20m.com/ Scientificc .htm
                                MatchingQuiz- ScientificRevolution
                                http://www.historyteacher.net/EuroCiv/ReviewQuizzes/ SciRevolution -1.htm
  Flashcards    http://www.classzone.com/books/wh_survey05/page_build.cfm?id=flip_cards&ch=22&sfd=yes
                                MatchingQuiz- Enlightenment    
                       
   Western Civilization Practice Exam III  Ch. 15 & 16 at Discovery
        You can read the questions, but the program is malfunctioning and does not grade them.

      flashcards     /     Chronological Ordering Exercises


A, B, C, D 
absolutism --  form of government in which sovereignty is vested in a single person, the king or queen; absolute monarchs in the 16th and 17th centuries based their authority on the theory of the divine right of king - i.e. that they had received their authority from God and were responsible only to Him.

 system of ruling were monarchs reduced the political power of the landlord nobility as they gained and monopolized their own political power.

Absolute monarchy or absolutism meant that the sovereign power or ultimate authority in the state rested in the hands of a king who claimed to rule by divine right. But what did sovereignty mean? Late sixteenth century political theorists believed that sovereign power consisted of the authority to make laws, tax, administer justice, control the state's administrative system, and determine foreign policy. These powers made a ruler sovereign.

agricultural revolution the period from the mid-seventeenth century on in Europe during which great agricultural progress was made and the fallow was gradually eliminated.

Mary Astell  argued that women needed to become better educated and that they should be equal partners in their marriage. 

Francis Bacon - (1561-1626)  one of the great philosophers of the Scientific Revolution. His thoughts on logic and ethics in science and his ideas on the cooperation and interaction of the various fields of science, presented in his work Novum Organum, have remained influential in the scientific world to this day.

Bill of Rights  passed in 1689, it affirmed Parliament's right to make laws and levy taxes and made it impossible for kings to oppose or do without Parliament by stipulating that standing armies could only be raised with the consent of Parliament. 

bourgeoisie
well-educated, prosperous, middle-class groups /  the middle class, a group that included the merchants, industrialists, bankers and professionals such as lawyers, holders of public offices, doctors, and writers.  / Under the old regime, anyone who lived in an urban area was a bourgeois or member of the bourgeoisie, but the term was usually applied only to wealthier people who did no manual labor. Bourgeois were also those who lived from their invested income or property, constituting a distinct social category that had its own representation in municipal politics. After the Revolution, the term “bourgeoisie” became associated with the concept of a capitalist social class. In the nineteenth century, most notably in the work of Karl Marx and other socialist writers, the French Revolution was described as a bourgeois revolution in which a capitalist bourgeoisie overthrew the feudal aristocracy in order to remake society according to capitalist interests and values, thereby paving the way for the Industrial Revolution.

Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) was a great astronomical observer, and made accurate and long-term records of his observations, from which he derived his view of the structure of the solar system, in which the moon and sun orbited the Earth and the remaining planets orbited the sun. While incorrect, his scheme was as viable by the knowledge of the time as was that of Nicolas Copernicus. /    Danish nobleman who made astronomical observations from an island given to him by the king of Denmark. 

checks and balances the idea that in government the executive, legislative and judicial branches would systematically balance each other and that the government would be checked by the power of the individual states.

constitutional monarchy a monarchy were the king remains head of state but all lawmaking power goes to the hands of another governing body such as the National Assembly.

Copernican hypothesis the idea that the sun, not the earth, was the center of the universe; this had enormous scientific and religious implications.

Copernicus (1473-1543) was an avid student of astronomy, and in 1543 published De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium. In this treatise, he presented the heliocentric theory, which rested on the revolutionary notion that the Earth orbited the sun. / a mathematician who felt that Ptolemy's geocentric system was too complicated and failed to accord with the observed motions of the heavenly bodies. He hoped that his heliocentric conception would offer a simpler and more accurate explanation.

Deism  belief in God as the creator of the universe who, after setting it in motion, ceased to have any direct involvement in it and allowed it to run according to its own natural laws. 

Denis Diderot  a writer who edited the Encyclopedia, or Classified Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts, and Trades, which became a major weapon of the philosophes' crusade against the old French society. The contributors attacked religious superstition and advocated tolerance and social, legal and political improvements that would lead to a more humane society. 

E, F, G

Enlightenment a world-view has played a large role in shaping the modern mind. The three central concepts of the Enlightenment were the use of reason, the scientific method, and progress. /  an eighteenth-century intellectual movement, led by the philosophes, that stressed the application of reason and the scientific method to all aspects of life. 

estates orders, the way in which France’s inhabitants were legally divided - the clergy, the nobility, and everyone else.

experimental method Galileo’s greatest achievement; rather than speculate about what might or should happen in an experiment, he conducted controlled experiments to find out what actually did happen.

Galileo (1564-1642) studied physics, specifically the laws of gravity and motion, and invented the telescope and microscope. Galileo eventually combined his laws of physics with the observations he made with his telescope to defend the heliocentric Copernican view of the universe and refute the Aristotelian system in his 1630 masterwork, Dialogue on the Two Chief Systems of the World. Upon its publication, he was censored by the Catholic Church and sentenced to house arrest in 1633, where he remained until his death in 1642. The Starry Messenger  the book in which Galileo Galilei published his revelations, revealing himself as a firm proponent of Copernicus' heliocentric system. 

Geocentric - The term geocentric describes the theory on the organization of the universe presented by Ptolemy of ancient Greece, and incorporated into the Aristotelian system, which claims that the earth is the center of the solar system and that the sun and other planets orbit around it.

H, I, J, K

William Harvey  a doctor whose work demonstrated that the heart, and not the liver, was the beginning point of circulation in the body, that the same blood flows in both the veins and the arteries, and that blood makes a complete circuit as it passes through the body. 

Heliocentric - The term heliocentric describes the correct theory, first posed by Nicolas Copernicus, that the Earth is simply one of several planets which orbit the sun.

Johannes Kepler  (1571-1630) studied the orbits of the planets and sought to discern some grand scheme that defined the structure of the universe according to simple geometry. Though he was unable to do accomplish his goal, he did come up with the laws of planetary motion, which explained the orbital properties of planets, and factored extensively into Isaac Newton's later work. /    mathematician and astronomer who discovered the three laws of planetary motion that both confirmed and modified the Copernican theory. They also eliminated the Ptolemaic-Aristotelian ideas of uniform circular motion and crystalline spheres moving in circular orbits. 

L, M, N, O

laissez faire economic liberalism that believes in unrestricted private enterprise and no government interference in the economy.

law of inertia a law formulated by Galileo that stated that rest was not the natural state of object. Rather, an object continues in motion forever unless stopped by some external force.

law of universal gravitation every body in the universe attracts every body in the universe in a precise mathematical relationship, whereby the force of attraction is proportional to the quantity of matter of the objects and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.

John Locke - Locke's Second Treatise on Civil Government and other works set forth the theory that men form governments, compromising a degree of their liberty, in order that the government might protect their lives and property. Locke (1632-1704) argued that a representative government was the best type because it was bound to the will of the people. /   an 18th century English political thinker who, while hardly an advocate of political democracy, had ideas that proved important to both the Americans and the French and were used to support demands for a constitutional government, the rule of law, and the protection of rights. 

Maria Theresa  the Austrian empress whose changes made the empire more centralized and bureaucratic for the purpose of strengthening the Habsburg state. She also enlarged and modernized the armed forces. 

mercantilism prevailing economic theory of European nations in 16th and 17th centuries. It rested on the premise that a nation’s power and wealth were determined by its supply of precious metal which were to be acquired by increasing exports (paid for with gold) and reducing imports to achieve domestic self-sufficiency; mercantilism remained the dominant theory until the Industrial Revelation and articulation of theory of laissez faire.

the economic health of a nation could be measured by the amount of precious metal, gold, or silver, which it possessed
mercantilism dictated a favorable balance of trade
each nation tried to achieve economic self-sufficiency
regulated commerce could produce a favorable balance of trade
sea power was necessary to control foreign markets
colonies could provide markets for manufactured goods and sources of raw material
Adapted from <http://mars.acnet.wnec.edu/%7Egrempel/courses/wc2/lectures/mercantilism.html>

The Baron de Montesquieu an Enlightenment writer whose most well known work was done in the realm of political theory. Montequieu sought to classify types of government by the geography and climate to which they were best suited. His theories on the separation of powers within a republic were important throughout the next century, as monarchies were overthrown and republics established throughout Europe. /  wrote of the importance of governmental checks and balances created by a means of separation of powers. Much of the program of the French Enlightenment is contained in his work. 

Isaac Newton (1642-1727) took the current theories on astronomy a step further and formulated an accurate comprehensive model of the workings of the universe based on the law of universal gravitation. Newton explained his theories in the 1687 revolutionary work Philosophia Naturalis Principia Mathematica, often called simply the Principia. /   the scientist who invented calculus and spelled out the mathematical proofs demonstrating his universal law of gravitation. 

nobility of the robe  the faction of the French nobility that derived their status from officeholding, a pathway that often enabled commoners to attain noble rank. 
nobility of the sword   French nobility that claimed to be descendants of the original medieval nobility. 

O, P, Q, R
Peace of Utrecht (1713) series of treaties that ended the War of the Spanish Succession, ended French expansion in Europe, and marked the rise of the British Empire.

Peace of Westphalia (1648) general name of a series of treaties that concluded the Thirty Years War; recognized the sovereign authority of 300+ German princes (and thereby the end of the Holy roman Empire as a viable state); acknowledged the independence of the United Provinces of the Netherlands; made Calvinism a permissible creed within Germany; and, by implication, reduced the role of the Roman Catholic Church in European politics.

philosophes intellectuals in France who proclaimed that they were bringing the light of knowledge to their ignorant fellow creatures in the Age of Enlightenment. The philosophes were the group of French Enlightenment philosophers who publicized and popularized the ideals of the Enlightenment during the eighteenth century. Notable philosophes include Voltaire, the Baron de Montesquieu, and Denis Diderot.

Pragmatic Sanction proclaimed by Charles VI in 1713, it stated that the Habsburg possessions were never to be divided and were always to be passed intact to a single heir, who might be female.

progress the idea that with the proper method of discovering the laws of human existence, it was possible for humans to create better societies and better people. 

putting-out system
term used to describe the 18th century rural industry.

Jean Jacques Rousseau - (1712-1778), set forth his ideas on government in his Contrat Social, which depicted a direct democracy in a small state, governed by the will of the people. / The Social Contract  published in 1762, the work in which Rousseau tried to harmonize individual liberty with governmental authority. The social contract was basically an agreement on the part of an entire society to be governed by its general will. 

S, T, U, V

salons elegant private drawing rooms where talented and rich Parisian women held regular social gatherings to discuss literature, science and philosophy.

Second Treatise on Civil Government (1690) by English political philosopher John Locke, a justification of the Glorious Revolution of 1688-89 and of the people’s right of revolution; a defense of the rights of property; it supported a system of checks and balances as (later) embodied in the U.S. Constitution.

separation of powers the idea that despotism could be avoided when political power was divided and shared by a variety of classes and legal estates holding unequal rights and privileges.

serfdom system used by nobles and rulers where peasants were bound first to the land they worked and then, by degrading obligations to the lords they served.

tabula rasa a blank tablet, incorporated into Locke’s belief that all ideas are derived from experience, and that the human mind at birth is like a blank tablet on which the environment writes the individual’s understanding and beliefs.

Voltaire -  (1694-1778) rejected all that was based on intolerance, tyranny, and superstition. He criticized religious tradition and beliefs based on anything other than reason, presenting his views wittily in a series of short stories and novels, the most famous of which is Candide.
   Glossary      

Practice Tests: These are for other texts, but they cover similar information. 
     Civilization in the West Online    

     A History of Western Society

     Western Civilization : Ideas, Politics, and Society

    Western Civilization : The Continuing Experiment

          The Western Heritage     Vol. 2

 

         Shaping of the Modern World

         HyperHistory   Timeline 

Italian Renaissance
 Reformation
Age of Exploration
Age of Absolutism
 Enlightenment

         The European Enlightenment    Learning Module by Richard Hooker

History Page           Syllabus