CH. 16 Flashcards
Natural Philosophy
An early modern term for the study of the nature of the universe, its purpose, and how it functioned; it encompassed what we would call “science” today.
The Aristotelian Universe
A round Earth is at the center, surrounded by spheres of water, air, and fire. Beyond this small nucleus, the moon, the sun, and the 5 planets were embedded in their own rotating crystal spheres, with the stars sharing the surface of one enormous sphere. Beyond, the heavens were composed of unchanging terms.
Copernican hypothesis
The idea that the sun, not the Earth, was the center of the universe.
Hevelius and His Wife
Portable sextants were used to chart a ship’s position at sea by measuring the altitude of celestial bodies above the horizon. Astronomers used much longer sextants to measure the angular distances between 2 bodies.
Experimental Method
The approach, pioneered by Galileo, that the proper way to explore the workings of the universe was through repeatable experiments rather than speculation.
Law of Inertia
A law formulated by Galileo that states that motion, not rest, is the natural state of an object, and that an object continues in motion forever unless stopped by some external force.
Law of Universal Gravitation
Newton’s law that all objects are attracted to one another and that the force of attraction is proportional to the object’s quantity of matter and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.
Empiricism
A theory of inductive reasoning that calls for acquiring evidence through observation and experimentation rather than deductive reason and speculation.
Cartesian Dualism
Descartes’s view that all of reality could ultimately be reduced to mind and matter.
Enlightenment
The influential intellectual and cultural movement of the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that introduced a new worldview based on the use of reason, the scientific method, and progress.
Rationalism
A secular, critical way of thinking in which nothing was to be accepted on faith, and everything was to be submitted to reason.
Philosophes
A group of French intellectuals who proclaimed that they were bringing the light of knowledge to their fellow humans in the Age of Enlightenment.
Madame du Chatelet
The marquise du Chatelet was fascinated by the new world system of Isaac Newton. She helped spread Newton’s ideas in France by translating his Principia and by influencing Voltaire, her companion for 15 years until her death.
Reading Revolution
The transition in Europe from a society where literacy consisted of patriarchal and communal reading of religious texts to a society where literacy was commonplace and reading material was broad and diverse.
Salon
Regular social gathering held by talented and rich Parisians in their homes, where philosophes and their followers met to discuss literature, science, and philosophy.
