Chapter 17 Terms (Shortened Version)

Marie-Thérèse de Geoffrin (Madame Geoffrin)

a wealthy French widow who hosted influential Parisian salons where philosophers, writers, artists, and aristocrats gathered to discuss Enlightenment ideas.

Immanuel Kant

a German philosopher who defined the Enlightenment as humanity's emergence from self-imposed immaturity and encouraged individuals to use their own reason.

Bernard de Fontenelle

a French writer and scientist who popularized the scientific discoveries of the seventeenth century, making complex scientific ideas understandable to educated Europeans.

Pierre Bayle

a French philosopher who challenged religious intolerance and superstition, arguing that individuals should be free to follow their own conscience.

Tabula Rasa

John Locke's belief that the human mind begins as a blank slate, acquiring knowledge and understanding through experience rather than innate ideas.

Baron de Montesquieu

a French Enlightenment philosopher who examined political institutions and advocated separating government powers into executive, legislative, and judicial branches to prevent tyranny.

Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)

a French Enlightenment philosopher and writer who criticized religious intolerance, superstition, and abuses of authority while advocating freedom of thought, religious toleration, and deism.

Marquise du Châtelet

a French intellectual who helped popularize Newtonian science, translated Newton's Principia into French, and maintained a close intellectual relationship with Voltaire.

Jean Calas

a French Protestant merchant whose controversial execution became a symbol of religious intolerance, prompting Voltaire to campaign against religious persecution and judicial injustice.

Denis Diderot

a French Enlightenment philosopher and editor of the Encyclopédie, who sought to organize and spread human knowledge while challenging traditional religious and political authority.

François Quesnay

a French physician and leader of the Physiocrats who argued that agriculture was the primary source of wealth and supported limited government interference in economics.

Baron Paul d'Holbach

a German-born French philosopher who advocated atheism and materialism, arguing that human behavior and the universe could be explained entirely through natural laws.

Marie-Jean de Condorcet

a French philosopher who believed human progress was unlimited and that advances in science, reason, and education would eventually lead humanity toward perfection.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

an Enlightenment philosopher who argued that legitimate political authority came from the general will and emphasized natural education, equality, and popular sovereignty.

Mary Astell

an English philosopher who advocated greater educational opportunities for women and criticized their unequal position in marriage and society.

Mary Wollstonecraft

an English writer who argued that women were entitled to the same education and fundamental rights as men, becoming an important early advocate of feminism.

Marquise du Deffand

a wealthy French aristocrat who hosted an influential Parisian salon that attracted Enlightenment thinkers, including Montesquieu, Voltaire, and David Hume.

Suzanne Necker (Madame Necker)

a Swiss-born French salon hostess who organized gatherings of prominent Enlightenment thinkers and writers, helping promote intellectual discussion and the exchange of ideas.

Antoine Watteau

a French Rococo painter known for his graceful depictions of aristocratic leisure, romantic gatherings, and elegant outdoor scenes emphasizing lightness and charm.

Balthasar Neumann

a German architect who combined Baroque and Rococo elements in elaborate church designs, including the pilgrimage church of Vierzehnheiligen in southern Germany.

Schönborn

a prominent German family associated with the prince-bishop of Würzburg, whose elaborate residential palace, designed by Balthasar Neumann, reflected eighteenth-century Baroque and Rococo architecture.

Vierzehnheiligen

a pilgrimage church in southern Germany designed by Balthasar Neumann, characterized by its elaborate decorations, curved architectural forms, bright interior, and combination of Baroque and Rococo styles.

Würzburg

a German city associated with the prince-bishop's Residenz, an elaborate palace designed by Balthasar Neumann that demonstrated the grandeur of Baroque-Rococo architecture.

Jacques-Louis David

a French painter and leading representative of Neoclassicism whose works, including Oath of the Horatii, emphasized classical simplicity, patriotic duty, and moral seriousness.

Johann Sebastian Bach

a German Baroque composer and organist renowned for his complex sacred music, cantatas, and instrumental compositions that demonstrated technical mastery and religious devotion.

George Frederick Handel

a German-born Baroque composer who achieved fame in England for his operas and oratorios, particularly Messiah, combining dramatic expression with powerful choral music.

Franz Joseph Haydn

an Austrian composer who contributed significantly to the development of classical music, particularly the symphony and string quartet, and influenced later composers.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

an Austrian composer and musical prodigy whose operas, symphonies, and concertos demonstrated the balance, clarity, and emotional expression characteristic of classical music.

Realschule

a type of German secondary school emphasizing practical education, including subjects such as science, mathematics, and modern languages, rather than traditional classical studies.

Cesare Beccaria

an Italian Enlightenment thinker who condemned judicial torture and excessive punishments, advocating legal reforms based on rationality, proportional punishment, and the prevention of crime.

Volkschulen

elementary schools established in German-speaking regions to provide ordinary children with basic education, particularly reading, writing, arithmetic, and religious instruction.

Count Nikolaus von Zinzendorf

a German religious leader who supported the Moravian Brethren and promoted Pietist Christianity, emphasizing personal devotion, religious community, and missionary activity.