A History of Modern Europe - From the Renaissance to the Present

Contents ix

PART THREE NEW CULTURAL AND

POLITICAL HORIZONS

Chapter 8 The New Philosophy of Science 287

Changing Views of the Universe 288 Ancient and

Medieval Science • Copernicus Challenges the

Aristotelian View of the Universe • The Universal Laws

of the Human Body • Brahe and Kepler Explore the

Heavens • Francis Bacon and the Scientific Method •

Galileo and Science on Trial

Descartes and Newton: Competing Theories of

Scientific Knowledge 298 Descartes and Deductive

Reasoning • The Newtonian Synthesis

The Culture of Science 302 The Diffusion of the

Scientific Method • The Uses of Science • Science

and Religion

Consequences of the Scientific Revolution 310

Chapter 9 Enlightened Thought and the Republic

of Letters 312

Enlightened Ideas 313 Intellectual Influences on

Enlightened Thought • The Republic of Ideas •

Montesquieu • Voltaire • Diderot • Rousseau

The Diffusion and Expansion of the

Enlightenment 325 Religious Enthusiasm and

Skepticism • Expansion of the Cultural Base • The

Arts • Music • The Spread of Enlightened Ideas

Enlightened Absolutism 336 Reform of

Jurisprudence • Educational Reform • Religious

Toleration • Frederick the Great • Rural Reforms

Currents of the Late Enlightenment 343

Enlightened Thought and Economic Freedom •

German Idealism • The Enlightenment and Public

Opinion • Forbidden Publications and the

Undermining of Authority

Legacy of the Enlightenment 347