Abstract
The Age of Enlightenment is a natural sequel to the Age of Exploration. Our problem-solving ancestors began, in the Renaissance, to understand the world around them in a more modern, scientific sense. As this understanding developed and grew, they began to explore more widely, solving problems that were not only physiological and basic, but increasingly driven by more sophisticated needs.
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Notes
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First attributed to Roman poet Horace, in his First Book of Letters (20 bce), the phrase was also used by German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) in his essay Answering the Question: What is Enlightenment? (1784) and became a catchcry of the Enlightenment period.
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In weaving warp threads or yarns run the length of the fabric, while weft threads/yarns are inserted under and over the warp. Structural wefts hold the fabric together, while non-structural wefts are ornamental.
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Image Credit: Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Public Domain.
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Drapers were wholesalers or retailers of cloth, usually used for the purpose of making clothing (as opposed to making sails, for example).
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Ceramics include earthenware, porcelain, and brick.
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Image Credit: Wikimedia, Public Domain.
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Image Credit: Metropolitan Museum of Art, Costume Institute. Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
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Although inventions could be patented in the US after 1790, in practice, women could not own property at this time. Inventions are intellectual property, which meant that until laws began to change, starting in around 1821 (the state of Maine passed a law allowing women to own and manage property in their own name during the incapacity of their spouse) either a female inventor had to get a man to seek the patent in his name, or simply give up!
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Cropley, D.H. (2020). The Age of Enlightenment (1685–1815): Commercialising Innovation. In: Femina Problematis Solvendis—Problem solving Woman. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3967-1_8
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