Western Civilization 2: Lesson 80

Writing assignment: Answer three of the following questions. (1) According to Deirdre McCloskey, why do some of the traditional explanations for Western prosperity fail, and what in her view is the major, unique ingredient that accounts for it? Most of the traditional explanations for Western prosperity fail because there are too many cases where, based …

Western Civilization 2: Lesson 75

(1) What, in a nutshell, was the Industrial Revolution? The Industrial Revolution was a general movement away from agriculture and towards manufacturing. As production became more and more efficient thanks to new inventions, more opportunities for work off the farm sprung up. The division of labor was central to the Industrial Revolution. As machines took …

Western Civilization 2: Lesson 70

(1) How does Friedrich Gentz distinguish between the American and French Revolutions? Do you see the influence of Edmund Burke in his thinking? The American Revolution and the French Revolution are often thought of being very similar, but in almost every way, they were polar opposites. When compared to how violent and chaotic the French …

Western Civilization 2: Lesson 60

(1) What was "enlightened absolutism"? Enlightened Absolutism refers to when certain absolutist rulers implement "enlightened" ideas and such into their country. People in favor of this would see just about any expansion of the government as a good thing. In certain instances of enlightened absolutism, the government seized church property and forced it into further …

Western Civilization 2: Lesson 55

(1) Explain the views of the French materialists. The French materialists believed that matter is the only substance that exists. They rejected any ideology that included a spiritual realm or God. Because of this, they also denied the legitimacy of morals. They thought that humans are just machines that no control over their programming that …

Western Civilization 2: Lesson 50

(1) What was the Ptolemaic-Aristotelian view of the universe, and how did Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, and Newton undermine it and institute an alternative? The Ptolemaic-Aristotelian view of the universe held that the earth was at the center of the universe and everything else revolved around it. When Nicolaus Copernicus proposed the heliocentric model, in which …