Unit 10 - European Absolute Monarchs and Enlightenment

absolute monarch(s)

a king or queen who has unlimited power and seeks to control all aspects of society.

divine right

the idea that monarchs are God's representatives on earth and therefore answer only to God.

westernization

an adoption of the social, political, or economic institutions of Western—especially European or American—countries.

heliocentric theory

the idea that the earth and the other planets revolve around the sun.

Scientific Revolution

a major change in European thought, starting in the mid-1500's, in which the study of the natural world began to be characterized by careful observation and the questioning of accepted beliefs.

Galileo Galilei

Italian astronomer, mathematician, and physicist; he discovered the law of motion of falling objects and invented the first working telescope; his discoveries put him into conflict with the Roman Catholic Church.

Isaac Newton

English mathematician and natural philosopher; he discovered the law of gravity as well as laws on the physics of objects.

scientific method

a logical procedure for gathering information about the natural world, in which experimentation and observation are used to test hypotheses.

Enlightenment

a new intellectual movement that stressed reason and thought/rationality and the power of individuals to solve problems. Known also as the Age of Reason, the movement reached its height in the mid-1700s and brought great change to many aspects of Western civilization. Challenged the Church

John Locke

English philosopher and founder of British empiricism; he developed political and economic theories during the Enlightenment. He wrote Two Treatises of Government in which he declared that people have a right to rebel against governments that do not protect their rights.

Voltaire

French philosopher and author; he was a supporter of Deism, the idea that God was no longer involved with the universe after creating it. He also advocated a tolerant approach to religion.

Baron de Montesquieu

French jurist and political philosopher; he explored democratic theories of government. He proposed a government divided into three branches and greatly influenced the United States Constitution.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Swiss-French political philosopher; he valued the social contract and addressed the nature of man in his work On the Origin of Inequality.

Mary Wollstonecraft

British writer who advocated for greater education opportunities for women and urged women to enter the male-dominated fields of medicine and politics.

Salon

a social gathering of intellectuals and artists, like those held in the homes of wealthy women in Paris and other European cities during the Enlightenment

Telescope

A device built to observe distant objects by making them appear closer - Key instrument of the Scientific Revolution

Separation of powers

the division of power among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government; central concept to Enlightenment thinking