Chapter 8 Important Vocab:
Sec 8.35
-Age of Enlightenment: emergence from a time of dark barbarism in the 1700s; composed of ideas of
optimistic beliefs in historical advance of reason, science, education, social reform, tolerance, and
enlightened gov.; dynamic tradition in cultural and political life still; developed modernity; carried over
intellectual rev ideals
-Ancients: held that Greek and Roman work had never been surpassed, disputed in 1600 England and
France
-Moderns: declared their own time was the best referring to science, art, lit, and invention; reasoned
that ppl’s knowledge built upon old, did not fear devil or God much
-First Cause: what Moderns referred to God as, saying he started the physical universe
-Watchmaker: symbol for scientific people of God instead of a cross; compared intricate nature of the
universe to a watch
-Pietism: alarmed Lutherans, stressed inner spiritual experience of ordinary persons as distinct from
doctrines taught and debated in theological faculties; quest of “inner light” or soul illumination, more
personal than societal, not main Enlightenment ideals
-Methodist societies: established by Welsey and also Whitfield as a group that prayed, meditated,
helped suffering, taught, spread to America, outside restrictive systems
-Great Awakening: 1740s, helped establish individual worth and spiritual consciousness apart form
religious authorities, democratizing
-“physiogonomy”: science from Swiss pastor J. C. Lavater, saying person’s character can be read from
play of facial features
-seances: F. A. Mesmer, Austrian physician had these events in Paris where wand and tubs were used to
cure illness, primitive hypnotism
-Freemasonry: started in England and spread to Continent, ppl who held Enlightened views, reason,
progress, toleration, and humane reforms; respected God, secret meetings, rituals, occult knowledge;
mixed classes and some women; distrusted
-Illuminati: “Enlightened ones” offspring of Freemansonry in south of German, dangerous, suppressed
by Bavarian gov in 1786; blamed for French Rev by some
-Philosophes: men mostly, wrote to gain attention, helped spread ideas of Enlightenment
-“the publick”: who the writers wrote for now instead of just upper class
-philosophical: approach any subject in a critical and inquiring spirit
-“public opinion”: developed in this period, judged literature and decided fate of authors
-censorship: all writings written under this, to protect people from harmful ideas just like anything else,
mild in England ranged to powerful in Spain
-On the Mind & On Man: books by Helvetius a wealthy philosophe
-salonnieres: famous women host at salons, played big part in “Republic of Letters”
-“Republic of Letters”: talent and creativity counted for more than noble lineage
-post-Revolutionary salons: places for French liberalism of 1800s, birth place
-Encyclopedie: mid 1700s published this 17 volume written form 1751 to 1772, Denis Diderot edited it;
held science, technical, historical knowledge; had skeptical, critical, rational, scientific edge; by major
French philosophers Voltaire, Montesquieu, Rousseau, d’Alembert, Buffon, Turgot, Quesnay, etc, called
encyclopedists; 25,000 sold before the Rev
-Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: book by Edward Gibbon attacking Christianity and shocking the
pious
-The Spirit of Laws: by Montesquieu in 1748 said forms of gov vary with climate and circumstances &
separation and balance of powers against absolutism
-Philosophical Letters on the English (1733), Elements of Philosophy of Newton (1738): by Voltaire,
popularized England and new scientific ideas
-Age of Louis XIV: by Voltaire expressing praise of Sun King for art and lit in his rule
-“Ecrasez l’infame!”: “crush the infamous thing!”, famous Voltaire war cry; meaning bigotry, intolerance,
superstition, organized clergy to Voltaire
-Essai sur les moeurs: “Universal History” secular view ranging from China to other great civilizations,
put religious thought in sociological framework, broader spread of Judo-Christian ideals
-Arts and Sciences (1750) & Origin of Inequality Among Men (1753): written by Rousseau, argued
civilization was source of much evil, life naturally would be better
-Social Contract (1762): by Rousseau, state of nature was brutish without law or morality, not like his
common opinion, agreement btwn ppl to form a community and surrender natural liberty
-General Will: idea of Rousseau’s to fuse individual wills of ppl into this rule and accept it, above all
other law a sovereign power
-Consideration on Poland: by Rousseau, requested by Poles fighting partitions of nation’s territories by
foreign powers, used Social Contract ideas in a solid form and theorized systematically for the 1st time
conscious and calculated nationalism
-Emile(1762) & Nouvelle Heloise (1760): by Rousseau, read by many esp women who formed a sort of
cult
-humanitarianism: force leading to a new sense of human equality
-Physiocrats: critics called them “economists”,many close to gov as administrators or advisors, into fiscal
tax reform and increasing national wealth of France, opposed guild regulations, price controls; laissezfaire economic activity; supported strong gov and depended on it
-laissez faire: “let them do as they see fit” gov ideal developed by Physiocrats
-economics/statistics: born by studying quantitative data
-free market/ freetrade: shortage =price rises and producer produce more and attract more producers;
excess=more produced than purchasers buy, capital and labor withdrew and moved to a new area with
stronger demand; demand increased with lower prices that depended on lower costs that depended on
specialization of labor
-Wealth of Nations: written by Adam Smith in 1776, translated into most languages, his ideals were that
barrier reduction would create growth and wealth
-Universalists: ppl who believe in the unity of humankind under a natural law of right and reason;
classical/Christian outlook in a secular way; thought all ppl would eventually progress together
-Sketch of the Progress of the Human Mind: by philsophe Condorcet, a great testament to the
Enlightenment
Sec 8.36
-Enlightened despotism: grew out of earlier absolutism; public works projects, codified laws,
represented local authority, restricted nobles and church, & developed a prepared bureaucracy; differed
in attitude tempo not emphasizing family or divine rights, called themselves “first servants of the state”;
secular and usually favored toleration; rational and reformist; acceleration of old centralizing institutions
of monarchy but using reason and secularism; began by writers, philosophes, great war of mid 1700s
-Jesuits: high papalists, believed in authority of universal church of Rome, strongest order in Catholicism,
disliked by enlightened rulers
-“feudalism”: old system of customary institutions such as churches nobles, towns, guilds, parlements,
etc that monarchs hated
- taille: a kind of French tax usually paid by peasants only
-capitation/poll tax & dixiem/tenth: Louis XIV’s taxes he tried to put on everyone, assessed in proportion
to income, widely evaded
-vingtieme/twentieth: tax in 1740s in France, 5% tax on income from all forms of property (only on
land), not defined by any exceptions; survived until rev
-pays d’ etats: provinces in France having assemblies of estates, protested tax raise during 7 yrs war
-Maupeou parlements: new parlements in France put in place by Louia XV after 7 yrs war; supported by
most philosophes, given payment/retirement instead of property rights, expected to agree to decrees of
the gov and be just judicial
-corvee: royal requirement that made peasants work on the roads a few days each year; abolished by
Turgot
-Pragmatic Sanction: by Charles VI of Austria said Habsburg inheritance was to be protected against
foreign attack and many parts of the empire were to stay united under Habsburgs
-“cameralism”: form of mercantilist doctrine Austrian officials used, planning on augmenting economic
strength by increasing production
-port of Trieste: developed by Joseph II of Austria, establishing an East India Co there that failed
-Junkers: private landlords