CHAPTER FIFTEEN
WAR AND CRISIS

LECTURE AND DISCUSSION TOPICS

1. Explore the career of Philip II of Spain. In what ways did this king dominate the politics of the era?
2. Ask students to research the rule of Elizabeth I, Catherine de Medici, Marie de Medici, Anne of Austria, and Queen Christina, and lead a discussion on advantages and disadvantages of being a female head of state in the early modern period.
3. Compare the religious sources of conflict in the Netherlands and France.
4. Compare the French and Spanish churches in the seventeenth century, noting their relations with the crown, the papacy, and the populace.
5. Investigate the changes in warfare that technology brought to European armies in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
6. Research the radical sects that participated in England’s revolution. Which ones presented a threat to even the radical Puritans? Why?
7. Investigate the life of Richelieu. How did his centralizing policies provoke unrest in France?
8. Consider the social, political, economic, and religious reasons behind the uniqueness of the United Provinces in Europe.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS

1. Which of the following was not a foreign policy initiative of Philip II of Spain?
a. an attempt to invade England
b. an attempt to influence the succession to the French throne
c. an attempt to clear the Mediterranean of Muslim navies
d. an attempt to return the Lutheran areas of north Germany to the Catholic fold
e. an attempt to combat the work of Calvinists in the Netherlands

2. Elizabeth I
a. never married
b. tolerated religious dissent
c. executed Mary Queen of Scots
d. all of the above
e. a and c

3. Which of the following is true of the Dutch Revolt?
a. the nobleman William of Orange led the revolt
b. the Dutch flooded their own lands to hamper the Spanish
c. the war was both a political and religious struggle
d. the southern provinces pledged loyalty to Spain in exchange for compromises on certain issues
e. all of the above

4. During the civil wars in France in the second half of the sixteenth century, the Huguenots
a. formed roughly half the population
b. were led by a noble family known as the Guise who hoped to secure the throne
c. perpetrated the infamous St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre to wipe out the Catholic leadership
d. achieved limited toleration after their leader converted to Catholicism to gain the throne

5. Henry IV gained the French throne in 1594 when he
a. married the daughter of his chief rival
b. organized a foreign alliance with the Spanish
c. changed his religion
d. called on the military and naval forces of his English allies

6. The Thirty Years’ War
a. began over the withdrawal of toleration of Protestants in the Netherlands
b. was a purely religious struggle
c. was fought primarily on French soil
d. was nearly won by the Catholic forces until France entered the conflict

7. The policy of France in the Thirty Years’ War was
a. to remain neutral
b. to ally with all other Catholic rulers against the Protestants
c. to ally with the Spanish against Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden
d. to ally with the Protestants to prevent a Habsburg victory

8. Which of the following is true of the Peace of Westphalia?
a. all the participants in the Thirty Years’ War were present at the peace conference
b. it was the first comprehensive rearrangement of the map of Europe in modern history
c. it confirmed the freedom of the German states from imperial interference
d. it recognized the independence of the United Provinces
e. all of the above

9. Which statement is false? In the international state system that emerged in the decades after the Peace of Westphalia,
a. religious controversy provided an important motive for international conflict
b. the Habsburgs lost influence in central and western Europe and began to turn their attention to the Danube possessions
c. economic leadership passed to northwest Europe
d. multinational conferences would be used more frequently to end international conflicts
e. monarchs would have a clearer sense of the territorial, economic, and political interests of their country

10. Warfare became more expensive in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries than it had been in the past because of the
a. widespread use and high cost of gunpowder and sieges
b. need to build stronger fortifications
c. growing site of armies
d. need to maintain armies on a year-round basis
e. all of the above

11. The strategic and technological changes in seventeenth-century warfare included
a. the ability to subdue nearly any city or fortification much more quickly than in the past
b. mounted horsemen as the most important branch of the army
c. use of the salvo to overcome massed infantry
d. little need for drill or combat training because armies were composed of hired professionals


12. Common soldiers in the seventeenth century were
a. rarely paid on time
b. sometimes accompanied by their families
c. often billeted with ordinary citizens
d. rarely punished according to the harsh codes that existed
e. all of the above

13 The rise of the gentry in sixteenth-century England was due primarily to
a. their promotion of industrial development
b. their promotion of commercial links abroad
c. their participation in the flourishing commerce of the period
d. their particiapation on the House of Commons
e. all of the above

14. Which of the following was not one of James I’s problems when he ascended the English throne?
a. the massive debt left by Elizabeth I
b. the growing power of the gentry
c. conflicts between Catholics and Protestants
d. James’s ignorance of English tradition
e. resentment toward the growth of royal courts

15. During its first year the Long Parliament
a. used the Star Chamber court to try its enemies
b. declared that taxes could not be levied without the consent of Parliament
c. executed the king
d. ruled that Parliament had to meet once every ten years

16. The radical sects disturbed the Puritans and members of Parliament because they
a. advocated egalitarianism
b. rejected widening the vote
c. objected to religious freedom
d. supported Cromwell

17. After the Restoration of the English monarchy in 1660, which of the following changes enacted during the period of the civil war and interregnum survived?
a. abolition of the House of Lords
b. abolition of the bishops of the church of England
c. abolition of the Court of Star Chamber
d. toleration of other religions
e. the rule that parliament had to meet at least once every three years

18. Mercantilist theory argued that
a. a nation should import more than it exports
b. only a strong centralized government can guide a country to prosperity and order
c. countries should avoid war since it is harmful to the economy
d. countries should import food products and export manufactured goods

19. Which measures did Richelieu take in his effort to strengthen the French monarchy?
a. he ended the independence of the Huguenots
b. he abolished the Edict of Nantes
c. he incorporated the nobility into the regime, giving them positions as diplomats, soldiers, and officials
d. a and c
e. all of the above

20. Rebellion in France in the mid-seventeenth century
a. took the form of a revolt called the Fronde, that was led by the upper classes
b. was led by peasants who marched on Paris and took over the government
c. established a constitutional government similar to the one established in England
d. ended when Richelieu resigned

21. The count of Olivares failed in his efforts to maintain Spanish supremacy in seventeenth-century Europe because
a. there was a considerable drop in revenues from the New World
b. Spain suffered a demographic crisis that resulted in a severe decline in population
c. Catalonia and Portugal rebelled against the monarchy
d. of resistance to the centralization implied in the Union of Arms
e. all of the above

22. The United Provinces in the seventeenth century
a. was one of the most open-minded societies in Europe
b. kept strict Calvinist controls over the morals and behavior of anyone who lived in or visited the country
c. neglected the fine arts
d. was unable to recover economically from its wars against Spain

23. The political factions in the United Provinces differed over
a. loyalty to Spain
b. representative government vs. monarchical control
c. mercantilism and war
d. all of the above

24. Sweden’s extraordinary rise in power and influence in the seventeenth century was based on
a. an expansion of mining, metallurgy, and export trade
b. very slow urban growth that limited the problems associated with urban expansion
c. its success in staying out of the Thirty Years’ War
d. a nobility that agreed to subordinate its interest to the crown

ESSAY QUESTIONS

25. By the middle of the seventeenth century, the economic, territorial, and political goals of states were superseding religious and dynastic ambitions in guiding the foreign policies of the great powers. Evaluate the history of the Spanish Habsburgs from 1520-1660 in terms of this transition.
26. What were the developments that led to the military revolution of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries? What were the social and political consequences of these changes?
27. Compare the policies and leadership of Elizabeth I and Charles I with regard to religion and relations to the political community represented in the House of Commons.
28. What were the causes of the English Civil War? How did different social classes and religious groups take sides during the war?
29. The English and French monarchies both aspired to royal absolutism in the seventeenth century, but met with opposition from groups that sought to share that power. Discuss the challenges to absolutism in both countries, as well as the efforts to overcome this opposition.
30. Compare Olivares’ efforts to unite Spain and strengthen the monarchy with those of Richelieu in France. In evaluating the work of the two ministers consider those conditions in their respective countries that might have aided or impeded their efforts.
31. Describe the social conditions that would encourage a peasant or urban laborer to join the army during this period.
32. How did religion during this period become both an aspect of national policy and a rallying point for national identification?
33. Although great wealth entered Spain from her overseas colonies, Spain never became a wealthy country. Explain this apparent paradox.
34. Compare and contrast the causes of the civil wars in England, France, and Spain.

CRITICAL THINKING

Evaluating Evidence
35. How does The Dream of Philip II on page 515 convey the sense of a reunited Christendom reminiscent of the Middle Ages and the Crusades?

36. What devices are used in the portrait of Queen Elizabeth I of England on page 516 to suggest both femininity and royal authority?

37. Do you think Engraving of the Spaniards in Haarlem on page 517 was the work of an artist sympathetic to the Dutch or Spanish cause? Why?

38. Explain the purpose of the biblical motif in The Massacre of the Innocents on page 518.

39. Consider Maps 15.1 and 15.2. How did religion and politics intertwine and clash in northwestern Europe?

40. What factors help explain the increased depiction of brutality in art during this period? (Consider illustrations throughout the chapter in your response)

Critical Analysis
Queen Elizabeth's Armada Speech
41. How does Elizabeth appeal to her subjects by describing herself as both a woman and a king? Why was it necessary for her to take this approach?

42. Who and what are the enemies of Elizabeth and the English in this speech?

43. How does the speech draw on English nationalism without making it a religious issue? Why would Elizabeth mold the speech to play down religious tensions?

Oliver Cromwell's Aims
44. What distinctions does Cromwell make between a King and a Constable?

45. Why, on the heels of the English Civil War, did Cromwell find it prudent to refuse the offer of kingship?

46. What role does Cromwell claim to have played in the English Civil War?

Richelieu on Diplomacy
47. How does this passage echo the new diplomacy and changed international relations that emerged after the Thirty Years' War?

48. What, according the Richelieu, are the advantages of negotiations over outright conflict?

IDENTIFICATIONS

49. Philip II
50. William of Orange
51. Armada
52. St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre
53. Huguenot
54. Henry IV
55. Thirty Years’ War
56. Bohemia
57. Wallenstein
58. Gustavus Adolphus
59. Leopold I
60. conscription
61. gentry
62. James I
63. Oliver Cromwell
64. antiroyalists
65. Presbyterians
66. Rump Parliament
67. Society of Friends
68. paulette
69. Louis XIII
70. Richelieu
71. Mazarin
72. Philip IV
73. Union of Arms
74. Maurice of Nassau
75. Oxenstierna
76. Elizabeth I
77. United Provinces
78. Catherine de Medici
79. Guises
80. Catholic League
81. Edict of Nantes
82. Ferdinand
83. Frederick II
84. Edict of Restitution
85. Peace of Westphalia
86. salvo
87. billet
88. Puritans
89. Charles I
90. Grand Remonstrance
91. Independents
92. New Model Army
93. Diggers
94. habeas corpus
95. mercantilism
96. Marie de Medici
97. intendant
98. the Fronde
99. Olivares
100. Catalonia
101. Jan De Witt
102. Riksdag

Darlene
25. What factors contributed to the economic boom of the sixteenth century? What areas of the economy experienced the most dramatic growth? Did the prosperity of the age extend to all segments of society?
Julianne
26. Compare and contrast how the Spanish and Portuguese exploited their respective overseas empires. Your response should include discussion of their motives, the economic impact on each country, and their relations with the native populations.

Machiavelli’s The Prince
Philosophical Context

The most revolutionary aspect of The Prince is its separation of politics and ethics. Classical political theory traditionally linked political law with a higher, moral law. For example, this would be typical of Aristotle. In contrast, Machiavelli argues that political action must always be considered in light of its practical consequences rather than some lofty ideal.

Another striking feature of The Prince is that it is far less theoretical than the literature on political theory that preceded it. We referred to a work such as Utopia which is idealized politics, but not a real place nor is it a practical guide.

Machiavelli’s book also distinguishes itself on the subject of free will. Medieval and Renaissance thinkers often looked to religion or ancient authors for explanations of plagues, famines, invasions, and other calamities; they considered the actual prevention of such disasters to be beyond the scope of human power. In The Prince, when Machiavelli argues that people have the ability to shield themselves against misfortune, he expresses an extraordinary confidence in the power of human self-determination and affirms his belief in free will as opposed to divine destiny.
Since they were first published, Machiavelli’s ideas have been oversimplified and vilified. His political thought is usually—and unfairly—defined solely in terms of The Prince. The adjective “Machiavellian” is used to mean “manipulative,” “deceptive,” or “ruthless.” But Machiavelli’s Discourses, a work considerably longer and more developed than The Prince, expounds republican themes of patriotism, civic virtue, and open political participation.
Quote #1

[A]nyone compelled to choose will find greater security in being feared than in being loved.

Explanation: At this point one may note that men must be either pampered or annihilated. They avenge light offenses; they cannot avenge severe ones; hence, the harm one does to a man must be such as to obviate any fear of revenge.

Machiavelli’s The Prince
Quote #2

Only the expenditure of one’s own resources is harmful; and, indeed, nothing feeds upon itself as liberality does. The more it is indulged, the fewer are the means to indulge it further. As a consequence, a prince becomes poor and contemptible or, to escape poverty, becomes rapacious and hateful. Of all the things he must guard against, hatred and contempt come first, and liberality leads to both. Therefore it is better to have a name for miserliness, which breeds disgrace without hatred, than, in pursuing a name for liberality, to resort to rapacity, which breeds both disgrace and hatred.

Explanation:
This passage from Chapter XVI illustrates Machiavelli’s attitude toward virtue and statecraft. Machiavelli advises the prince to disregard the principles of virtue when acting on behalf of his state. Instead, while it is desirable for a prince to act virtuously when he can, he should never let perceptions of virtue interfere with statecraft. Even though generosity seems admirable, it is ultimately detrimental to the state, and therefore should be avoided. A prince will never be hated for lack of virtue—Bill Clinton comes to mind--he will be hated only if he fails in his duty to maintain the state. Virtuous action, in that it often promotes self-sacrifice, often conflicts with that duty.

Machiavelli’s The Prince
Quote #3

Here a question arises: whether it is better to be loved than feared, or the reverse. The answer is, of course, that it would be best to be both loved and feared. But since the two rarely come together, anyone compelled to choose will find greater security in being feared than in being loved. . . . Love endures by a bond which men, being scoundrels, may break whenever it serves their advantage to do so; but fear is supported by the dread of pain, which is ever present.
This passage from Chapter XVII contains perhaps the most famous of Machiavelli’s statements. Often, his argument that it is better to be feared than loved is taken at face value to suggest that The Prince is a handbook for dictators and tyrants. But a closer reading reveals that Machiavelli’s argument is a logical extension of his assessments of human nature and virtue. In the first place, people will become disloyal if circumstances warrant. In the second, the prince’s ultimate goal is to maintain the state, which requires the obedience of the people. From these two points, it follows that between benevolence and cruelty, the latter is the more reliable. Machiavelli never advocates the use of cruelty for its own sake, only in the interests of the ultimate end of statecraft.
Themes
Statesmanship & Warcraft
Machiavelli believes that good laws follow naturally from a good military. His famous statement that “the presence of sound military forces indicates the presence of sound laws” describes the relationship between developing states and war in The Prince. Machiavelli reverses the conventional understanding of war as a necessary, but not definitive, element of the development of states, and instead asserts that successful war is the very foundation upon which all states are built. Much of The Prince is devoted to describing exactly what it means to conduct a good war: how to effectively fortify a city, how to treat subjects in newly acquired territories, and how to prevent domestic insurrection that would distract from a successful war. But Machiavelli’s description of war encompasses more than just the direct use of military force—it comprises international diplomacy, domestic politics, tactical strategy, geographic mastery, and historical analysis.

http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/prince/index.html

I'll take #32

32. How did religion during this period become both an aspect of national policy and a rallying point for national identification?

CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CULTURE AND SOCIETY IN THE AGE OF THE SCIENTIFIC
REVOLUTION

LECTURE AND DISCUSSION TOPICS

1. Compare medieval views of matter and natural forces with the scientific outlook espoused by Galileo.
2. Describe the mystical preoccupations of Kepler and Newton and discuss how they fit into the scientific discoveries of the two men.
3. Choose one subject such as the human image, depictions of kings, landscapes, or images of Christ or Mary, and show the changes of representation in Renaissance, Mannerist, Baroque, and Classical paintings.
4. Research the founding of England’s Royal Society. What kinds of research did the organization sponsor and encourage?
5. Assign students texts from Marie Boas Hall’s collection Nature and Nature’s Laws: Documents of the Scientific Revolution. How did the pioneers of modern science view the relationship between science and nature?
6. Explore the challenges facing villagers over the course of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
7. Read excerpts of Cervantes and/or Shakespeare. How did these authors critique the human folly they observed around them?
8. Stage a charivari in which students address the kinds of social problems that ordinary people faced in this period.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS

The page numbers listed below indicate the correct answers and their locations in the text.
1. A major factor contributing to the scientific revolution was
a. the discovery by the humanists that the works of Ptolemy were a forgery
b. a loss of interest in magic among educated Europeans
c. the invention of instruments that made scientific discoveries possible
d. the finding of a lost manuscript of Aristotle that led to the discovery of the law of gravity

2. Which idea is associated with Copernicus?
a. the orbits of the planets are circles
b. the orbits of the planets are ellipses
c. Jupiter has three moons
d. the earth rotates around the sun
e. the planets are attached to transparent spheres

3. Galileo’s accomplishments included
a. developing the theory of inertia, which undermined Aristotelian physics
b. the discovery that the physical makeup of the other heavenly bodies is different from earth’s
c. proof that the orbits of the planets are elliptical, with the sun at one focus of the ellipse
d. the fact that he persuaded the Roman Catholic church to accept his discoveries as true

4. Galileo
a. was brought before the Inquisition
b. antagonized Jesuit and Dominican astronomers
c. published a book approved by the Church
d. all of the above
e. none of the above

5. Which of the following is true of Isaac Newton?
a. he got into fierce arguments with other researchers of his day
b. he discovered the law of gravity
c. he demonstrated that laws of motion on earth and in the heavens are the same
d. he developed the lunar explanation of the action of tides
e. all of the above

6. Which of the following words least applies to the scientific outlook?
a. skepticism
b. common sense
c. experimentation
d. hypothesis
e. deduction

7. The primary importance of Francis Bacon to the scientific revolution was
a. as a great experimental scientist who formulated the basic law of acceleration
b. as a mathematician who provided the third part of Kepler’s second law of motion
c. as a great theoretical scientist who provided a uniform theory of universal attraction from the work of Copernicus and Galileo
d. as a great propagandist who popularized the findings and methodology of the new scientific inquiries

8. The intellectual approach of Descartes
a. relied on experimentation to confirm his most important ideas
b. rested on the basic premise that “I think, therefore I am"
c. argued that the scientific method could not prove the existence of God
d. argued that thought and tangible objects are of the same essence

9. Scientific societies
a. preserved the individualism of scientific research
b. were opposed by governments
c. encouraged cooperative efforts in research
d. symbolized the trend toward decentralization in governments during the seventeenth century

10. As the discoveries of the new science spread throughout Europe,
a. governments played no role in fostering scientific knowledge
b. Pascal gained a circle of wealthy followers skeptical that science would improve the human spirit
c. ideas of order and regularity affected architecture and landscape design
d. members of the wealthy classes ignored the new discoveries as uninteresting and not entertaining

11. Mannerist art was characterized by
a. formality, balance, restraint
b. distorted human figures and unnatural lighting effects
c. extravagant use of bright colors and abstract design
d. emphasis on decorative design
e. simplicity in human figures similar to Gothic sculpture

12. The work of these two contemporaries, Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare shares
a. an underlying concern about human helplessness in the face of uncontrollable change
b. a buoyant sense of optimism about the future
c. the aspirations of common people for greater social opportunity
d. a curious lack of energy, as though profound human questions are too difficult to address
e. at a desire to overthrow established governments

13. Baroque art is seen as the visual manifestation of
a. the revival of interest in Greece and Rome
b. the scientific outlook
c. the Counter Reformation
d. increasing secularism
e. the Dutch Reformed church

14. The artistic work associated with seventeenth-century Classicism
a. gave free expression to intense emotion
b. required dramatists to confine their settings to ancient Greece and Rome
c. frowned upon portraiture as a suitable subject for great art
d. found notable patrons in the Habsburg courts
e. embraced formal rules and structure

15. One reason why European population grew slowly or not at all in the seventeenth century was because
a. only three in four children reached adulthood
b. tens of thousands were emigrating to the New World
c. couples tended to marry young, then find themselves unable to support a family
d. warfare and economic depression may have reduced Europe’s population by 5 million
16. In the seventeenth century, social mobility was
a. accepted as a desirable goal for all individuals
b. easily available to peasants as opportunities to buy land increased
c. closed to wealthy commoners because there was no way to enter the nobility
d. increased somewhat by the need of expanding bureaucracies for educated officials

17. Which of the following was not usually a method by which the poor coped with their insecurity or discontent?
a. charivari
b. joining the army
c. petitions to Parliament
d. witch hunts
e. consultation with clever men or wise women

18. Traditional village life in the seventeenth century witnessed
a. increasing isolation and lack of central governmental control
b. increasing impoverishment of all villagers
c. a breakdown in the relationship between peasants and landowners
d. the emergence of a greater sense of community in the face of extreme hardship

19. Why were witchcraft accusations directed primarily at old women, especially widows, during the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries?
a. there was hostility to women who appeared to be challenging their traditional subordinate status
b. in looking for scapegoats for events that were not explicable, society usually chose those on its margins
c. it was believed that women were so lustful that the devil could make them his slaves
d. elderly widows were resented by their neighbors as burdens
e. all of the above

20. Cases of witchcraft declined after the middle of the seventeenth century because
a. authorities feared that such actions threatened their own authority
b. ordinary people embraced scientific explanations of natural events
c. people living in urban environments felt less vulnerable to mysterious forces
d. a and c
e. all of the above

ESSAY QUESTIONS

21. What were the origins of the scientific revolution. Why did it occur when it did? How did it alter Europeans’ views of their place in the natural world and in the universe?
22. Why was the new science of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries regarded by church and state as a threat to the established religious and political order?
23. Discuss the impact that the social and economic tensions of the seventeenth century had on European towns and villages. How did people deal with these tensions?
24. What obstacles would a seventeenth-century peasant have faced in trying to improve his or her position in society?
25. With the growth of larger political states and the discoveries of the new science, were seventeenth-century Europeans losing their faith in the Christian God? What evidence do you find that this was, or was not, the case?
26. How can we explain the European witch craze of the seventeenth century by placing it in its historical context? Consider issues of gender, politics, economics, and religion in your response.
27. What religious, political, and social ramifications did the heliocentric model of the universe pose?
28. How does the new certainty and confidence in science reflect the increased order of European states? What did that certainty imply about the relationship between the state of political development/stability and science/culture?
29. Why were philosophers, astronomers, anatomists, and other scientific thinkers hesitant to dispute and displace the ideas of ancient thinkers?
30. How did the founding of government sponsored scientific societies reflect the consolidation and centralization of political authority?
31. Compare and contrast the similarities and differences in the methodology of Descartes and Isaac Newton.
32. How do the works of Cervantes and Shakespeare reflect the tensions of their times?

CRITICAL THINKING

Evaluating Evidence
33. How did the scientific interest in human anatomy exemplified in the Engraving Illustrating the Structure of the Human Body on page 554 demonstrate the continued influence of Renaissance art?

34. How did Galileo's Moon on page 556 overturn the Ptolemaic concept of the universe?

35. Do you think the portrait of Isaac Newton on page 561 is an accurate rendition of the man or is the intensity of his gaze a case of artistic interpretation?

36. Consider Maps 16.1 and 16.3. Where did the greatest improvements in communications occur? How did those improvements build upon political stability and urban growth?

37. Consider the paintings on pages 568-571. What makes these paintings extraordinary examples of the Baroque style?

38. How are women portrayed in the woodcut on page 584?

Critical Analysis
Galileo and Kepler on Copernicus
39. Kepler distinguishes between scholars and mathematicians. Who are these scholars and what disciplines do they represent?

40. Why did Galileo hesitate to publish his work in Italy? Why did Germany appear a more favorable environment at the time?

41. Judging from this letter, do you think Kepler had already published his work? If no, why not and why is he then urging Galileo to publish first?

A Witness Analyzes the Witch Craze
42. What, according to Linden, motivated the persecution of witches? Does his opinion surprise you given the fact that he himself was a clergyman?

43. What does Linden’s perspective reveal about the breakdown in social order that plagued seventeenth century society in Europe?

Identifications

44. alchemy
The process by which base metals are transformed into gold (or sometimes silver and gems).
45. Vesalius
Brahe (1546 - 1601)
Tycho Brahe lived in the same period as Galileo, although he initially studied law. As a teenage boy Brahe witnessed an eclipse of the moon after which he decided to dedicate his life to astronomy. In 1572 he witnessed a nova (an old star exploding). This shook up the view of the sky at the time which was that the heavens were perfect and unchanged. He spent his life collecting incredibly accurate astronomical data without the aid of a telescope. Near the end of his life he taught a student by the name of Kepler who helped him collect his astronomical data.

46. Kepler (1571 - 1630)
Kepler was Brahe's student. He subsequently took Brahe's data and formulated the laws of planetary motion known as Kepler's Laws. Kepler was able to show that the planets moved in eliptical paths around the sun and not in circular paths as previously thought. In a similar way to Brahe he was inspired by a supernova which occured in 1604, which was much larger than the one that Brahe witnessed. The stage was now set for Newton to describe a more general law that governs gravitational forces.
47. laws of planetary motion
48. Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton was basically orphaned by the age of three. His father had passed away and his mother remarried and moved away, leaving him to be raised by an uncle.

Did he really get hit by an apple?
http://www.anthroposophie.net/bibliothek/nawi/physik/newton/bib_newton.htm

His most important innovation was the concept of gravity, the attraction between bodies in space that holds planets, moons and comets in orbit, and draws falling objects toward the earth. His theory of gravity, however, remained incomplete and unverifiable; it would not be published for two decades.

Newton's research was organized into a three-volume book, the Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica ("Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy"), known to posterity as the Principia. It set forth Newton's three laws of motion, and proceeded to set forth the theory of gravitation, and back it up with rigorous mathematical proofs. Although the theory had many detractors at first, the scientific community would ultimately embrace it, and the Newtonian world-view would dominate physics until the 20th century.

Principia made Newton an English celebrity. He was elected to Parliament, appointed warden and master of the mint, and he was elected president of the Royal Society (the leading English scientific society), and was knighted As his fame grew, he worked to buttress his own reputation, bringing the Society under his tight control and carrying on a feud with the German mathematician Leibniz over the issue of who had developed calculus first. Newton most likely deserves the credit. Interestingly, Newton never married, and surprising to us as moderns and largely secular in our thinking, is to consider that Newton was tremendously pious: he dedicated his later years to the interpretation of scripture, and a mighty effort to understand the relationship between biblical prophecy and history. His scientific endeavors are motivated by his thirst to know God.

When he died in 1727, he was buried with great honors in Westminster Abbey.

49. scientific method

Science is best defined as a careful, disciplined, logical search for knowledge about any and all aspects of the universe, obtained by examination of the best available evidence and always subject to correction and improvement upon discovery of better evidence. What's left is magic. And it doesn't work. -- James Randi

It took a long while to determine how is the world better investigated. One way is to just talk about it (for example Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, stated that males and females have different number of teeth, without bothering to check; he then provided long arguments as to why this is the way things ought to be). This method is unreliable: arguments cannot determine whether a statement is correct, this requires proofs.

A better approach is to do experiments and perform careful observations. The results of this approach are universal in the sense that they can be reproduced by any skeptic. It is from these ideas that the scientific method was developed. Most of science is based on this procedure for studying Nature.

What is the "scientific method''?

The scientific method is the best way yet discovered for winnowing the truth from lies and delusion. The simple version looks something like this:
• 1. Observe some aspect of the universe.
• 2. Invent a tentative description, called a hypothesis, that is consistent with what you have observed.
• 3. Use the hypothesis to make predictions.
• 4. Test those predictions by experiments or further observations and modify the hypothesis in the light of your results.
• 5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until there are no discrepancies between theory and experiment and/or observation.
When consistency is obtained the hypothesis becomes a theory and provides a coherent set of propositions which explain a class of phenomena. A theory is then a framework within which observations are explained and predictions are made.

50. René Descartes
Meditations on First Philosophy
Summary
The Meditator reflects that he has often found himself to be mistaken with regard to matters that he formerly thought were certain, and resolves to sweep away all his pre-conceptions, rebuilding his knowledge from the ground up, and accepting as true only those claims which are absolutely certain. All he had previously thought he knew came to him through the senses. Through a process of methodological doubt, he withdraws completely from the senses. At any moment he could be dreaming, or his senses could be deceived either by God or by some evil demon, so he concludes that he cannot trust his senses about anything.

Ultimately, however, he realizes that he cannot doubt his own existence. In order to doubt or to think, there must be someone doing the doubting or thinking. Deceived as he may be about other things, he cannot help but conclude that he exists. Since his existence follows from the fact that he is thinking, he concludes that he knows at least that he is a thing that thinks. He further reasons that he comes to know this fact by means of his intellect, and that the mind is far better known to him than the body.

Popularly, Descartes insights can be expressed in his famous dictum: cogito ergo sum (I think, therefore I am). This is where his philosophy begins.

The Meditator's certainty as to his own existence comes through a clear and distinct perception. He wonders what else he might be able to know by means of this sure method.
He reasons that the idea of God in his mind cannot be created by him since it is far more perfect than he is. Only a being as perfect as God could cause an idea so perfect. Thus, the Meditator concludes, God does exist. And because he is perfect, he would not deceive the Meditator about anything. Error arises not because the Meditator is deceived but because the will often passes judgment on matters that the limited intellect does not understand clearly and distinctly.

Descartes desires a knowledge of God as well, although, it appears as though, at first glance, that his philosophy is totally secular. While he is pointing toward the modern period, where knowledge of God is of lesser importance, he still considers God important to contemplate.
The essence of body and the essence of mind is thought, the Meditator concludes that the two are completely distinct. He decides also that while he can clearly and distinctly perceive the primary qualities of material things, he has only a confused and obscure perception of secondary qualities. This is because the senses are meant to help him get around in the world, not to lead him to the truth.

Context
René Descartes (1596 - 1650) was born in France receiving a Jesuit education in law. He developed a passion for mathematics and philosophy. In mathematics, he invented analytic geometry and the coordinate system that bears his name ("Cartesian"). His great achievement, however, is the Meditations, published in 1641, and generally considered the starting point for modern Western philosophy. Descartes accepted an appointment as tutor for the Queen (Christina) of Sweden. She demanded that her lessons take place at five o'clock in the morning, and the strain of rising early coupled with the unbearable cold of Sweden gave Descartes pneumonia and killed him within a year.

Descartes was writing at a time when a new physics was being developed by Galileo and others. This new physics could be understood as a mathematization of nature. Galileo and others began understanding the processes of movement and change in the universe as being formalized in a small number of mathematical relationships. This led to an understanding of the universe as being governed by a very few, simple, abstract, mathematical principles. The metaphysics developed in the Meditations is meant to serve as an underpinning for the new physics being developed at the time.

Descartes himself was raised in the Jesuit tradition, and the Meditations in many ways resemble St. Ignatius of Loyola's Spiritual Exercises. Both are framed in a meditational form meant to span six days' meditation. Descartes also imitates Loyola's three stages of purgation (skeptical doubt), illumination (proof of the existence of the self, of God), and union (linking this knowledge to the material world). In imitating Loyola's style, and opening the Meditations with a very Aristotelian outlook, Descartes hoped to seduce the conservative thinkers of his day into following his line of reasoning. After having witnessed Galileo's fate, he had every reason to be cautious. This method also makes Descartes far more accessible to the largely Jesuit audience that he is addressing.

Overall Analysis and Themes
Most important, he draws a very sharp distinction between mind and body. Mind is essentially thinking and body is essentially extended, so the two have nothing at all in common. Ever since, philosophers have striven to understand how mind and body can interact and relate with one another.

Skepticism and mind-body dualism have combined to create an understanding of the human mind as being locked away inside a body and separated off from the world. How this mind can come to know anything at all about the world is a mystery, and the certainty of this knowledge is sharply questioned. This conception of mind is so natural to us that it is sometimes difficult to understand that the pre- Cartesian world had a far less skeptical outlook toward knowledge and sensory perception.

Descartes locates himself firmly in the rationalist camp, as opposed to the empiricism of Aristotle or his contemporary, John Locke.

Descartes makes a fascinating subject for study since we can see a modern worldview emerging as he writes.

51. mechanism
52. Royal Society of London
53. El Greco
54. Neostoicism
55. Shakespeare
56. Caravaggio
57. Velázquez
58. Classicism
59. Rembrandt
60. seigneurial reaction
61. witch craze
62. cabala
63. Copernicus
64. Galileo

Galileo (1564 - 1642)
Galileo was an Italian mathematician, astronomer and physicist. He was one of the first scientists to agree with the Copernicun view that the earth orbited around the sun. This was a revolutionary thought at the time because the established view held from ancient times was that the earth was the centre of the universe and the planets and stars revolved about it.
Galileo's new ideas led to his trial at the Inquisition of Rome, where he was sentenced to house arrest. He remained under house arrest for 8 years until his death. Galileo is considered to be the founder of mechanics and experimental physics. He is also credited with the invention of the telescope, through which he discovered lunar craters, moons around Jupiter the rings of Saturn and sunspots amongst other things.

65. inertia
66. Principia
67. Francis Bacon
68. principle of doubt
69. Pascal
What is Pascal’s wager?

70. Mannerism
71. Michel d Montaigne
72. Cervantes
73. Baroque
74. Rubens
75. Bernini
76. Poussin
77. Corneille
78. charivari
79. disenchantment

Francis Bacon
Reputation and Cultural Legacy

If anyone deserves the title “universal genius” or “Renaissance man” (accolades traditionally reserved for those who make significant, original contributions to more than one professional discipline or area of learning), Bacon clearly merits the designation. Like Leonardo and Goethe, he produced important work in both the arts and sciences. Like Cicero, Marcus Aurelius, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson, he combined wide and ample intellectual and literary interests (from practical rhetoric and the study of nature to moral philosophy and educational reform) with a substantial political career. Like his near contemporary Machiavelli, he excelled in a variety of literary genres – from learned treatises to light entertainments – though, also like the great Florentine writer, he thought of himself mainly as a political statesman and practical visionary: a man whose primary goal was less to obtain literary laurels for himself than to mold the agendas and guide the policy decisions of powerful nobles and heads of state.

In our own era Bacon would be acclaimed as a “public intellectual,” though his personal record of service and authorship would certainly dwarf the achievements of most academic and political leaders today. Like nearly all public figures, he was controversial. His chaplain and first biographer William Rawley declared him “the glory of his age and nation” and portrayed him as an angel of enlightenment and social vision. His admirers in the Royal Society (an organization that traced its own inspiration and lineage to the Lord Chancellor’s writings) viewed him as nothing less than the daring originator of a new intellectual era. The poet Abraham Cowley called him a “Moses” and portrayed him as an exalted leader who virtually all by himself had set learning on a bold, firm, and entirely new path.

Similarly adulatory if more prosaic assessments were offered by learned contemporaries or near contemporaries from Descartes and Gassendi to Robert Hooke and Robert Boyle. Leibniz was particularly generous and observed that, compared to Bacon’s philosophical range and lofty vision, even a great genius like Descartes “creeps on the ground.” On the other hand, Spinoza, another close contemporary, dismissed Bacon’s work (especially his inductive theories) completely and in effect denied that the supposedly grand philosophical revolution decreed by Bacon, and welcomed by his partisans, had ever occurred.

The French encyclopedists Jean d’Alembert and Denis Diderot sounded the keynote of this 18th-century re-assessment, essentially hailing Bacon as a founding father of the modern era and emblazoning his name on the front page of the Encyclopedia. In a similar gesture, Kant dedicated his Critique of Pure Reason to Bacon and likewise saluted him as an early architect of modernity. Hegel, on the other hand, took a dimmer view. In his “Lectures on the History of Philosophy” he congratulated Bacon on his worldly sophistication and shrewdness of mind, but ultimately judged him to be a person of depraved character and a mere “coiner of mottoes.” In his view, the Lord Chancellor was a decidedly low-minded (read typically English and utilitarian) philosopher whose instruction was fit mainly for “civil servants and shopkeepers.”

Bacon’s reputation and legacy remain controversial even today. While no historian of science or philosophy doubts his immense importance both as a proselytizer on behalf of the empirical method and as an advocate of sweeping intellectual reform, opinion varies widely as to the actual social value and moral significance of the ideas that he represented and effectively bequeathed to us. The issue basically comes down to one’s estimate of or sympathy for the entire Enlightenment/Utilitarian project. Those who for the most part share Bacon’s view that nature exists mainly for human use and benefit, and who furthermore endorse his opinion that scientific inquiry should aim first and foremost at the amelioration of the human condition and the “relief of man’s estate,” generally applaud him as a great social visionary. On the other hand, those who view nature as an entity in its own right, a higher-order estate of which the human community is only a part, tend to perceive him as a kind of arch-villain – the evil originator of the idea of science as the instrument of global imperialism and technological conquest.

On the one side, then, we have figures like the anthropologist and science writer Loren Eiseley, who portrays Bacon (whom he calls “the man who saw through time”) as a kind of Promethean culture hero. He praises Bacon as the great inventor of the idea of science as both a communal enterprise and a practical discipline in the service of humanity. On the other side, we have writers, from Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, and Lewis Mumford to, more recently, Jeremy Rifkin and eco-feminist Carolyn Merchant, who have represented him as one of the main culprits behind what they perceive as western science’s continuing legacy of alienation, exploitation, and ecological oppression.

Clearly somewhere in between this ardent Baconolotry on the one hand and strident demonization of Bacon on the other lies the real Lord Chancellor: a Colossus with feet of clay. He was by no means a great system-builder (indeed his Magna Instauratio turned out to be less of a “grand edifice” than a magnificent heap) but rather, as he more modestly portrayed himself, a great spokesman for the reform of learning and a champion of modern science. In the end we can say that he was one of the giant figures of intellectual history – and as brilliant, and flawed, a philosopher as he was a statesman.

http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/b/bacon.htm

Around the turn of the century in Berlin, Max Planck was undermining traditional views of physics--views that had stood since the time of Descartes and Newton in the 17th and 18th centuries--with his study of heat radiation and the development of quantum theory. Albert Einstein, famous for developing these ideas into his theories of relativity, acknowledged that a fundamental crisis in physics was under way at the turn of the century. This crisis was to have a profound effect on scientific developments as the century progressed. Although Einstein's theories were proven to be correct, Einstein himself was later shocked to see the way his ideas concerning relativity were misinterpreted and confused with moral relativism, thus contributing toward a hastening moral decline.

Other ideas that were to develop, progress and dominate thinking throughout the 20th century--questionable ideas that would dramatically transform society, arguably for the worse--had already been proposed. The dark side of mankind's nature was much in evidence.

http://www.vision.org/jrnl/9901/20cent.html

Criticism of Newton

Inertial mass is the resistance an object offers to being accelerated when it is subjected to a force. In Newton's equation of motion, when the application of a force ceases, the acceleration goes to zero, and the object remains in uniform motion. Objects are assumed to resist acceleration, because that resistance is an innate property of matter.

But try as he might, Newton could not explain the origin of inertia. Imagine, he suggested, that the universe is empty except for a bucket partly filled with water. Furthermore, imagine the shape of the surface of the water: Is it flat? Then the water must be at rest. Is it curved, shaped in cross section like a parabolic reflector? Then the water must be rotating. But rotating with respect to what? That was the profound dilemma that Newton identified. If the universe were truly empty, as his thought experiment required, there would be no background against which the rotation could be measured. But because the shape of the water surface signals whether a rotation is taking place, Newton concluded that there is a fundamental spatial frame of reference, an "absolute space."

I'll answer #26

I will try to answer #25.

Oyindamola
25. With the growth of larger political states and the discoveries of the new science, were seventeenth-century Europeans losing their faith in the Christian God? What evidence do you find that this was, or was not, the case?
Julianne
26. How can we explain the European witch craze of the seventeenth century by placing it in its historical context? Consider issues of gender, politics, economics, and religion in your response.

Chapter 16 Essay Question 21
The origins of the scientific revolution stemmed from the Ancient Greek scientists Aristotle, Ptolemy, and Galen. Aristotle’s study of physics led him to believe that all objects in a natural state are at rest. Later in the 16th century, it became clear that this did not answer many questions about physics such as why an arrow kept flying after it left the bow. Ptolemy’s study of astronomy led him to believe that in the heavens (universe) above the earth actually revolved around the earth. 16th century observers could not use Ptolemy’s findings to explain the motion of some planets which appeared to be moving backwards. Galen’s anatomical theories in medicine were often disproved by 16th century human dissections. The new findings by 16th and 17th century “natural philosophers” allowed for the scientific revolution because of the humanists’ rediscovery of previously unknown ancient scientists who did not always agree with the once accepted theories of Aristotle and Ptolemy. The Europeans now began to think that the earth revolved around the sun due to Galileo’s discovery of the telescope. Galileo’s study of motion disproved Aristotle’s theories of physics leading to Sir Isaac Newtown perfecting Galileo’s physics theories.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
THE EMERGENCE OF THE EUROPEAN STATE SYSTEM
LECTURE AND DISCUSSION TOPICS

1. Investigate court life at Versailles during the reign of Louis XIV. How did the king use attendance at court to consolidate his own power?
2. Compare and contrast the lives of Maria Theresa and Catherine the Great. How did each overcome the prejudices against female rulers?
3. Compare the power of the nobility in several European countries. Were nobles able to check the centralizing and absolutist tendencies of monarchs anywhere?
4. Research Peter the Great’s fascination with western advances. Did the influence of western Europe, as brought to bear upon Russian society by Peter, improve the lives of ordinary Russians?
5. Describe navies in the eighteenth century, their capabilities, use in battle, and function in national policy.
6. How did religious strife continue to plague English politics and royal succession?
7. Assign students passages from Hobbes Leviathan and Locke’s Second Treatise of Civil Government. What assumptions about human nature did these writers share? What kinds of relationships between the sovereign and the people did they propose?
8. Explore the global nature of the Seven Years’ War.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS

1. In his relations with the French nobility, Louis XIV
a. eliminated their privileged status
b. cultivated their support in exchange for his patronage
c. kept them at Versailles so they would not question his policies
d. b and c

2. The concept and policies of absolute monarchy did not involve which of the following?
a. the glorification of the king and his life style
b. the idea that all political authority flowed from the king
c. the creation of a bureaucracy that would make the king’s will law
d. the idea that the king was accountable to his people if he broke God’s law

3. In their relations with the fine arts, absolute monarchs like Louis XIV
a. promoted artistic freedom to demonstrate their own advanced taste
b. encouraged works that flattered the nobility
c. shunned comedy as being insufficiently elevated
d. promoted works that enhanced the gravity and dignity of the monarch
e. all of the above

4. Which was a lasting achievement of Louis XIV’s foreign policy?
a. he gained considerable territory on France’s northwest border from the Holy Roman empire
b. he created a union of Spain and France under the French monarchy
c. he kept the British isolated from the Continent
d. he re-established close relations between France and the Holy Roman empire

5. Under Louis XIV’s successors,
a. the Huguenots were highly regarded by the government because of their contributions to the French economy
b. the government took a more active role in promoting social welfare
c. France experienced unprecedented economic and demographic growth
d. b and c
e. a and c

6. Emperor Leopold I can be considered less successful as an absolute monarch than Louis XIV because he
a. relied on a small group of leading nobles to help him run the government
b. used foreigners in key administrative positions
c. failed to overcome the autonomous power of the aristocracy in many of the lands under his rule
d. all of the above

7. The main enemies of the Austrian Habsburgs in the late seventeenth century were
a. the French and the Prussians
b. the French and the Italians
c. the Turks and the French
d. the Turks and the Russians

8. Compared to other absolute monarchs, the rulers of Brandenburg-Prussia
a. fostered a close relationship between the military and state administration
b. consulted the Diet (representative assembly) more frequently
c. broke the power bases of the great nobles
d. worked to free the peasantry from obligations of serfdom

9. Which of the following is not true of the nobility of Brandenburg-Prussia during the reign of Frederick William?
a. they were able to consolidate their land holdings and make them highly profitable
b. the reimposition of serfdom increased the profitability of their holdings
c. they engaged in commerce in agricultural produce
d. royal tax policies were advantageous to them
e. they resisted royal absolutism

10. The Junkers
a. refused to cooperate with Prussian rulers
b. fiercely resisted Frederick William’s efforts to undermine the Diet
c. were economically inefficient
d. cooperated with Prussian leaders by staffing the army and bureaucracy

11. Frederick William I
a. used conscription to fill the ranks of his army
b. recruited mercenaries to serve in his army
c. maintained a personal regiment
d. all of the above

12. Frederick II gained a reputation for enlightened absolutism by
a. making education compulsory
b. founding an agency that oversaw all government functions except justice, education, and religion
c. encouraging religious toleration and judicial reform
d. expanding Prussian territory

13. The Pragmatic Sanction
a. was a Prussian document
b. declared that Habsburg dominions could be inherited by a female heir
c. laid the foundations for the Habsburg army
d. declared war on the province of Silesia

14. Maria Theresa
a. exempted clergymen from taxes
b. failed to obtain new tax revenues from local diets
c. alienated nobles in the far reaches of her domains
d. reformed the Church as testimony to her piousness

15. Peter the Great, who came to power in Russia after a long period of royal weakness, was able to establish himself as absolute ruler by
a. working cooperatively with the independent Russian Orthodox church
b. reducing the inefficient bureaucracy
c. improving the conditions of the Russian peasants
d. forcing the nobility into royal service

16. The English gentry in the seventeenth century were different from nobles in most of Europe because
a. they had ultimate control over national policy
b. they constituted a much larger portion of the population than did the nobility in other places
c. the great majority of them dissented from the official church
d. all of the above

17. The Act of Toleration
a. ended persecution for religious belief in England
b. stated that a catholic could become ruler of England
c. allowed members of any religion to sit in parliament
d. allowed members of any religion to attend a university
e. all of the above

18. The so-called Glorious Revolution
a. brought a foreign dynasty to the English throne
b. led to the establishment of a standing army in England
c. gave the new king greater authority, in order to stabilize the country
d. confirmed that the gentry controlled England
e. a and d

19. The great naval power of the eighteenth century was
a. France
b. the Netherlands
c. Spain
d. England

20. In the late seventeenth century the United Provinces
a. succumbed to the absolutism of the Stadholder
b. was crippled by having to maintain both land and naval power
c. had one of the most powerful landed aristocracies in Europe
d. b and c

21. Thomas Hobbes believed that
a. all political authority must reside in an absolute and sovereign power in order to restrain the natural warlike impulses of human beings
b. the natural rights of all human beings include freedom of expression
c. the will of the state may be exercised only with the approval of the majority
d. the natural state of human beings is one of freedom, equality, and peace

22. A major difference between the ideas of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke is that
a. Locke rejects the idea of a social contract
b. Locke thinks that humans live peacefully in the state of nature
c. Hobbes believes that the ruled have no right to rebel against the sovereign
d. Hobbes rejects private property

23. In the Seven Years’ War the main lines of conflict were
a. Austria vs Britain, and France vs Prussia
b. Austria vs Russia, and Prussia vs France
c. Austria vs Prussia, and Britain vs France
d. Austria vs France, and Britain vs Russia

24. The terms of Peace at Hubertusburg
a. punished Prussia severely
b. allowed Prussia to keep Silesia
c. returned Silesia to Austria
d. returned Saxony to Prussia

ESSAYS

25. Compare the policies and activities of Louis XIV, Peter the Great, and the “Great Elector.” What similarities do you find in the actions of absolute monarchs?
26. Compare the role of the Russian, Prussian, French, and English aristocracies in their respective states and societies. How do their powers and privileges differ? In what ways were they similar? What were the major issues of concern to eighteenth-century aristocrats?
27. How similar were the United Provinces and England when William III of the United Provinces became the king of England? What were these similarities? How did the situations in the two countries differ?
28. Compare the ideas of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke on the origins and purposes of government. How were their works responses to the political conditions of their time?
29. Describe the nature of eighteenth-century warfare. Why did kings and diplomats not hesitate to resort to war as an instrument of national policy?
30. Explain the conditions that prompted the nobilities of England and France to assist rather than prevent the centralization of the state. How did the nobilities and aristocracies of Sweden and Poland prevent the formation of a centralized state?
31. What conditions in Prussia led to the militarism and absolutism for which Prussia, rightly or wrongly, is well known for?
32. What institutions (and their functions) characterize the strong central governments of Europe in the seventeen and eighteenth centuries?
33. How did Frderick II use security as a justification for absolutism? Do you think his argument was valid?
34. Discuss the role of economics and commerce in the development of the more democratic states of England and the United Provinces.
35. Explain how the gentry surpassed the nobility in assuming a greater role and responsibility in the governance of England.
36. Discuss the role of conflicts over succession in the development of the English Parliament in particular and other European states in general.

CRITICAL THINKING

Evaluating Evidence
37. What did paintings such as Louis XIV and His Family (page 588), Fête in the Park (page 593), Maria Theresa and Her Family (page 609), and Lady Smith and her Children (page 616) tell us about the lives of the upper classes in the eighteenth century?

38. What can be surmised from New Gallows at the Old Bailey on page 620 about the crime rate in mid-eighteenth century England?

39. Compare the depictions of Louis XV on page 600 and Frederick II on page 607. How did these depictions differ in their representation of absolutism?

40. How did the military academy, as represented on page 627, demonstrate the fusion of political and intellectual developments during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries?

41. What historical circumstances may have provoked William Hogarth to portray the polling process as corrupt and disorganized in the painting on page 619?

42. Consider Map 17.5. Why did Prussian expansionism draw much of Europe into the Seven Years’ War?

Critical Analysis
Louis XIV on Kingship
43. What obligations and responsibilities does Louis XIV recognize for the absolute monarch? What were the limitations of those obligations and responsibilities?

44. Is Louis justifying poor government? What personal characteristics does Louis imply are crucial for a good king?

45. What is the source of the king’s power and prestige?
Two Views of Louis XIV
46. What factors might explain the two very different assessments that these historians make of Louis XIV?

47. Are these views of Louis XIV incompatible? Can you find a way to reconcile these views?

Locke on the Origins of Government
48. How did the personal backgrounds of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke likely influence their opinions of human nature?

49. How does Locke represent the position of the gentry? How do you think Locke defines the common good?

50. What is the “state of nature” Locke refers to in this passage?

Maria Theresa in a Vehement Mood
51. What does this passage reveal about the durability and purpose of treaties during the eighteenth century?

52. How does Maria Theresa explain her decision to ally with France? Why does that decision require explanation?

IDENTIFICATIONS


53. absolutism
54. Versailles
55. Louvois
56. Grand Alliance
57. Louis XV
58. vingtième
59. Prince Eugène
60. Frederick William
61. Junkers
62. Pragmatic Sanction
63. War of Austrian Succession
64. Peter the Great
65. William III
66. Glorious Revolution
67. Act of Toleration
68. Tories
69. Bank of England
70. workhouses
71. Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes
Context

Life is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short,” Hobbes

Thomas Hobbes lived with fear. In his autobiography, Hobbes recounted that on the day of his birth in 1588, his mother learned that the Spanish Armada had set sail to attack England. This news so terrified Hobbes's mother that she went into labor prematurely, and thus, writes Hobbes, "fear and I were born twins together." Fear is a significant theme in Hobbes's writing, structuring both his written accounts of his life and the Hobbesian philosophical system.

Leviathan, Hobbes's most important work and one of the most influential philosophical texts produced during the seventeenth century, was written partly as a response to the fear Hobbes experienced during the political turmoil of the English Civil Wars. As a Royalist, he fled to France and composed Leviathan there.

Leviathan's argument for the necessity of absolute sovereignty emerged in the politically unstable years after the Civil Wars, when many sought to justify regicide (killing of the king).

Hobbes's materialist philosophy was based upon a mechanistic view of the universe, holding that all phenomena were explainable purely in terms of matter and motion, and rejecting concepts such as incorporeal spirits or disembodied souls. Consequently, many critics labeled Hobbes an atheist (although he was not, in the strict sense). Associated with both atheism and the many deliberately terrifying images of Leviathan, Hobbes became known as the "Monster of Malmsbury (where is was born)" and the "Bug-bear of the Nation." In 1666, Hobbes's books were burned at Oxford (where Hobbes had graduated from Magdalen College in 1608), and the resulting conflagration was even blamed in Parliament for having started the Great Fire of London. The chaotic atmosphere of England in the aftermath of the Civil Wars ensured that Hobbes's daring propositions met with a lively reaction.

Hobbes knew that Leviathan would be controversial, for not only did the text advocate restoration of monarchy when the English republic was at its strongest (Oliver Cromwell was in power, but Hobbes's book also challenged the very basis of philosophical and political knowledge. Hobbes claimed that traditional philosophy had never arrived at irrefutable conclusions, that it had instead offered only useless sophistries and insubstantial rhetoric; he thus called for a reform of philosophy that would enable secure truth--claims with which everyone could agree. Consequently, Hobbesian philosophy would prevent disagreements about the fundamental aspects of human nature, society, and proper government.

Furthermore, because Hobbes believed that civil war resulted from disagreements in the philosophical foundations of political knowledge, his plan for a reformed philosophy to end divisiveness would also end the conditions of war. For Hobbes, civil war was the ultimate terror, the definition of fear itself. He thus wanted to reform philosophy in order to reform the nation and thereby vanquish fear.

Earlier in the seventeenth century, Francis Bacon--for whom Hobbes had served as secretary in his youth--had also proposed a reform of philosophy. Bacon's program was an inductive philosophy based upon the observation of natural facts ("inductive" reasoning derives general principles from observing particular instances or facts); the experimental manipulation of nature of Bacon's scheme was very influential for the development of the historical period commonly called the Scientific Revolution. For Bacon, one experiments and thus observes particular instances, and then, draws general principles. But Hobbes argued that the experimentalist program was unsuccessful in providing secure, indisputable knowledge. Hobbes therefore rejected the Baconian system and argued vehemently against it. Hobbes's own deductive scientific philosophy was not experimental--in "deductive" reasoning, a conclusion follows necessarily from the stated premises. Hobbes postulated or stated his premises, and then drew his conclusions from his premises.

Leviathan attempted to create controversy in politics and in science, radically challenging both contemporary government and philosophy itself; yet, despite its very invocation of controversy, Leviathan sought ultimately to annihilate controversy for good. Hobbes's philosophical method claimed to provide indisputable conclusions, and its depiction of the Leviathan of society suggested that the Hobbesian method could put an end Leviathan plays an essential role in the development of the modern political thinking.

Summary

State of Nature - The "natural condition of mankind" is what would exist if there were no government, no civilization, no laws, and no common power to restrain human nature. The state of nature is a "war of all against all," in which human beings constantly seek to destroy each other in an incessant pursuit for power. Life in the state of nature is "nasty, brutish and short."

Leviathan rigorously argues that civil peace and social unity are best achieved by the establishment of a commonwealth through social contract. Hobbes's ideal commonwealth is ruled by a sovereign power responsible for protecting the security of the commonwealth and granted absolute authority to ensure the common defense. In his introduction, Hobbes describes this commonwealth as an "artificial person" and as a body politic that mimics the human body. The frontispiece to the first edition of Leviathan, which Hobbes helped design, portrays the commonwealth as a gigantic human form built out of the bodies of its citizens, the sovereign as its head. Hobbes calls this figure the "Leviathan," a word derived from the Hebrew for "sea monster" and the name of a monstrous sea creature appearing in the Bible; the image constitutes the definitive metaphor for Hobbes's perfect government. His text attempts to prove the necessity of the Leviathan for preserving peace and preventing civil war.

Hobbes argues that every aspect of human nature can be deduced from materialist principles. Hobbes depicts the natural condition of mankind--known as the state of nature--as inherently violent and awash with fear. The state of nature is the "war of every man against every man," in which people constantly seek to destroy one another. This state is so horrible that human beings naturally seek peace, and the best way to achieve peace is to construct the Leviathan through social contract.

The Leviathanic state is necessary to achieve a secure Christian commonwealth.

Hobbes's philosophical method in Leviathan is modeled after a geometric proof, founded upon first principles and established definitions, and in which each step of argument makes conclusions based upon the previous step. Hobbes decided to create a philosophical method similar to the geometric proof of Galileo whom he met. Observing that the conclusions derived by geometry are indisputable because each of constituent steps is indisputable in itself, Hobbes attempted to work out a similarly irrefutable philosophy in his writing of Leviathan.

http://www.sparknotes.com

72. Locke
73. balance of power
74. Louis XIV
75. Colbert
76. War of Spanish Succession
77. Jansenism
78. Fleury
79. Leopold I
80. Hohenzollerns
81. Great Elector
82. Frederick II
83. Maria Theresa
84. Silesia
85. St. Petersburg
86. Charles II
87. Bill of Rights
88. Whigs
89. Queen Anne
90. poor relief
91. Walpole
92. Leviathan
93. Second Treatise of Civil Government
94. Seven Years’ War

Final Announcement

On Tuesday, the 27th, you will receive part 1 of the Final. Part 1 consists of one take-home essay which you will receive on Tuesay. The essay (typed, double-spaced, 12 point font) is due on Thursday, the 29th.

Part 2 of the Final will be on the following Tuesday, 4 May. In class on the 4th, you will need to answer 75 multiple guess/choice questions that have been posted on the chapters since the Mid-Term up through Chapter 17. The Final is not cumulative.

Part 1 of the Final is worth 25 points; Part 2 is worth 75 points for a total possible score of 100 points.