776). The Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution. The Liberalism and the Capitalism are fed by Individualism. For instance, a free market requires openness in which people sell and people buy. The free trade is a Liberal idea, an idea of the eighteenth century. The work in the factories changes from collective, as it used to be in the farms and in the villages, into individual. Individualism is a major Icon of the Enlightenment. Technology relates directly to progress, which is another Enlightenment Icon. The Industrial Revolution is technology - from machines to methods to factories. They all show technological progress, higher efficiency and effectiveness. The western man has proved to be capable of better technologies, and has shown the courage to think - Sapere Aude. Bourgeoisie - a French word originally denoting the class of people between the aristocracy and the peasants, or the middle class. In the Industrial Revolution, the word has come to mean those who own the means of production, the wealth and the power. The distinction between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat is fundamental to Marxism Absolutism - a political system that gathers power in the hands of one person or a group of persons who have almost unlimited authority. The notion of absolutism became prominent in Europe during the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries when monarchs were struggling to wrest power from groups such as the church and the nobility and to create national states. Mercantilism - an economic policy of the commercial age preceding the Industrial Revolution. Mercantilists believed that a country's exports were one measure of its strength and that economic success could be judged by the influx of gold, silver, and other precious metals from abroad. Gold and silver could be used to purchase military supplies, which provided a further reason for acquiring them. Liberalism - a political philosophy that emphasizes individual freedom, arose in Europe in ...
