Scientific Revolution & the Enlightenment Flashcards

1
Q

The Commercial Revolution

A
  • economic revolution
  • inflation of prices
  • New World (the Americas) gold and silver forced prices up
  • product demand surpassed availability
  • great trading companies formed to take advantage of colonial markets
  • increasing commerce stimulated manufacturing
  • specialized agriculture regions emerged
  • new developments stimulated population and urban growth
  • prosperity was shared by all classes in western Europe, but there were victims
  • commercialization created a new rural and urban proletariat that suffered from increased food prices
  • it also supported a more elaborate family life and the demystification of nature
  • changes stimulated protests
  • witchcraft hysteria reflected economic and religious uncertainties with women the common targets
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2
Q

renaissance

A
  • drove wedge between wealthy and poor
  • social tensions shown by rebellions
  • suppression of landlords and taxes
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3
Q

scientific revolution

A
  • sealed cultural reorientation of the west
  • brought about a more decisive form of government (feudalism, monarchs more absolute in power)
  • early on, it was thought we were at the center of the universe
  • church supported geocentric theory of earth
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4
Q

Copernicus

A
  • through astronomical observation and mathematics, Copernicus discredited the belief that the Earth was the center of the universe
  • sun at center, earth rotates around sun
  • his discovery set in motion other scientific advances
  • Galileo proved Copernicus right
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5
Q

Galileo

A
  • condemnation by the Catholic Church demonstrated the difficulty traditional religion had in dealing with the scientific attitude
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6
Q

science: the new authority

A
  • Harvey explained the circulatory system of animals
  • Bacon urged the value of observation and experimental research
  • Descartes established the importance of a skeptical review of all received wisdom
  • the capstone of the scientific revolution was Newton’s argument for a framework of natural laws: established principles of motion, defined the forces of gravity, refined the principles of scientific methodology
  • Deism argued that God did not regulate natural laws
  • Locke stated that people could learn all that was necessary through their senses and reason
  • science became central to Western intellectual life, a result not occurring in other civilizations
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7
Q

the Enlightenment

A
  • centered in France
  • scientific research and methods were used to study human society
  • rational laws could describe both physical and social behavior
  • new schools of thought emerged in criminology and political science
  • Adam Smith maintained governments should stand back and let individual effort and market forces operate for economic advance
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