AP European History Unit 4: The Scientific Revolution, Enlightenment, and 18th-Century Society

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the major figures, intellectual movements, demographic transitions, and social developments of AP European History Unit 4 as outlined in the lecture.

Geocentric Model

The cosmological view developed by ancient Greeks Aristotle and Ptolemy and supported by the Catholic Church, positing that the Earth is stationary at the center of the universe with all celestial bodies revolving around it.

Nicolaus Copernicus

Astronomer who mathematically challenged the geocentric model by proposing the heliocentric view that the Earth and other planets revolve around the sun and that the Earth spins on its axis.

Heliocentric View

The model of the universe demonstrating that the sun sits at the center while Earth and other heavenly bodies orbit around it.

Johannes Kepler

Astronomer who mathematically affirmed Copernicus's heliocentric model and determined that planets travel around the sun in elliptical orbits rather than perfect circles.

Galileo Galilei

Italian astronomer who built a telescope to examine the moons of other planets, demonstrating they were made of physical matter like Earth rather than ethereal light; later placed under house arrest for heresy.

Humoral Theory of the Body

Ancient physiological doctrine advanced by Galen asserting that human health and illness depend on the balance of four bodily humors: blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm.

Paracelsus

Physician who rejected Galen's humoral theory, proposing instead that illnesses are caused by chemical imbalances in the body that can be corrected with specific chemical remedies.

William Harvey

Physician who disproved Galen's dual blood system theory through experimentation, demonstrating that the circulatory system operates as one continuous whole pumped by the heart.

Inductive Reasoning

A methodology pioneered by Francis Bacon emphasizing empirical research that begins with specific observations of the smallest components and builds upward toward general principles.

Deductive Reasoning

A method of inquiry championed by René Descartes that begins with broad, indubitable foundational principles and reasons down to specific truths.

Astrology

The study of the celestial positions and their supposed influence on human events, an older belief system that persisted throughout the Scientific Revolution.

Alchemy

A pseudoscience aiming to transmute base metals into gold, which continued to be practiced by many scientific innovators during the early modern era.

Voltaire

A prominent French philosophe renowned for his caustic critiques of French religious intolerance and institutions; he favored free speech and natural rights under an enlightened monarch over democratic rule.

Denis Diderot

French philosophe who compiled and edited the Encyclopedia (The Rational Dictionary of the Sciences, the Arts, and the Crafts), organizing over 72,000 entries to promote secular rationalism and criticize religious authority.

Deism

An Enlightenment theological perspective portraying God as a cosmic clockmaker who established unchanging physical laws to govern the universe without performing miracles or intervening in human affairs.

Skepticism

A philosophy formulated by David Hume asserting that mental ideas merely reflect sensory inputs, meaning reason cannot establish knowledge beyond what human senses directly perceive.

German Pietism

A 17th- and 18th-century revival movement led by Count Nicholas von Zinzendorf that reacted against cold Lutheran rationalism by emphasizing deeply personal, mystical religious experiences over state-mandated church membership.

Natural Rights

John Locke's political concept that every human being possesses fundamental God-given entitlements to life, liberty, and property that no government or monarch has legitimate authority to strip away.

Popular Sovereignty

The political doctrine stating that governmental power originates with the people, meaning legitimate rule requires the consent of the governed rather than the divine right of kings.

Social Contract

The reciprocal political agreement identified by Jean-Jacques Rousseau in which citizens surrender individual power to a government so it may safeguard their natural rights according to the general will.

General Will

Jean-Jacques Rousseau's concept describing the collective desires and best interests of the community to which a legitimate government must conform.

Mary Wollstonecraft

English writer and philosopher who authored The Vindication of the Rights of Woman, arguing that apparent female deficiencies were not innate but resulted from unequal access to education and opportunity.

Adam Smith

Scottish economist who authored The Wealth of Nations, opposing mercantilist regulations and arguing that market forces of supply and demand—the invisible hand—foster national prosperity.

Salon

A private gathering held in opulent residences, often hosted by prominent women like Madame DuDefonde, where intellectuals and philosophers met to discuss and disseminate Enlightenment ideas.

Enlightened Absolutists

Monarchs who adopted rational Enlightenment legal and social reforms primarily for immediate political benefit and to consolidate central authority at the expense of the nobility.

Frederick the Great

Prussian enlightened ruler (Frederick II) who regarded himself as the benefactor of his subjects, patronized Voltaire, expanded press freedoms, and overhauled the judiciary to remove class disparities.

Catherine the Great

Russian empress (Catherine II) who instituted penal reforms ending torture and capital punishment, promoted education and the arts, and recognized Jews under the Charter of Towns in 1782.

Edward Jenner

Physician who developed the smallpox vaccine, dramatically decreasing mortality rates across Europe during the 18th century.

Thomas Malthus

Theorist who predicted that rapid population growth would inevitably surpass the available food supply, precipitating widespread starvation unless birth rates were checked.

Agricultural Revolution

A wave of agricultural advances, including wetland drainage, selective animal breeding, and soil replenishment using clover and beans, that substantially expanded food production in Europe.

Jethro Toll's Seed Drill

A mechanical agricultural implement that sowed seeds precisely deep into the soil to protect them from being scattered by wind, greatly improving crop yields.

European Marriage Pattern

The demographic custom of delaying marriage until sufficient financial resources were secured to establish an autonomous nuclear household, which reduced female fertility rates.

Urbanization

The mass migration of displaced agricultural laborers from rural countryside communities into rapidly expanding cities in search of wage labor.

Tenement

A hastily built, unventilated, and plumbing-free urban apartment building constructed to accommodate impoverished factory workers at low rental costs.

Contagious Disease Act of 1864

An English statute designed to curb prostitution by arresting suspected women and subjecting them to involuntary physical examinations and detention in secure hospital wards for venereal diseases.

Reading Revolution

A transformation in European intellectual habits characterized by widespread literacy, soaring consumption of print materials, and a shift away from religious devotionals toward history, science, and law.

Neoclassicism

An 18th-century cultural movement that displaced Baroque extravagance by embracing symmetry, simplicity, and themes reflecting the morality of bourgeois and middle-class life.

Consumer Revolution

An economic phenomenon fueled by expanding disposable income in which Europeans began purchasing non-essential manufactured goods, such as mirrors, porcelain, and home linens, purely out of desire.

Boudoir

A private residential chamber created during the consumer revolution specifically designated for the mistress of the house to spend time apart from her husband or entertain female companions.

Coffee Houses

Leisure establishments popularized by the Columbian Exchange where men from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds gathered to drink coffee and debate contemporary Enlightenment ideas.