Age of Enlightenment

Age of Enlightenment Literature and Philosophy

The Enlightenment • Application of the scientific method to social problems • Parallel to the scientific awakening • Foundation of Classical art and music • The world behaves according to patterns and these ought to be obeyed

Basic Premises • Scientific method can answer fundamental questions about society • Human race can be educated and all people are important • Emergence of the middle class • Belief in God based on reason

Growth of Deism • Intellectuals believe in God but see him as a "watchmaker" • Deists skeptical of organized religion • Catholic church was attacked • Deists struggle with personal standards • Denial of providence (Voltaire) disputed by others (Pope, Rousseau) • Denial of evil

Thomas Hobbes • Empiricism "All that is real is material, and what is not material is not real." – Hobbes

Thomas Hobbes • Government "[Early man was] solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short... [and in a constant state of] warre, [living in] continual fear and danger of violent death.“ – Leviathan • Absolute monarchy sent by God to help mankind • Hobbes' concepts used to justify colonialization

“The facts recovered by ethnographers and archeologists indicate unequivocally that primitive and prehistoric warfare was just as terrible and effective as the historic and civilized version. War is hell whether it is fought with wooden spears or napalm. Peaceful pre-state societies were very rare; warfare between them was very frequent, and most adult men in such groups saw combat repeatedly in a lifetime. As we have seen, the very deadly raids, ambushes, and surprise attacks on settlements were the forms of combat preferred by tribal warriors to the less deadly but much more complicated battles so important in civilized warfare. In fact, primitive warfare was much more deadly than that conducted between civilized states because of the greater frequency of combat and the more merciless way it was conducted....Primitive war was not a puerile or deficient form of warfare, but war reduced to its essentials: killing enemies with a minimum of risk, denying them the means of life via vandalism and theft (even the means of reproduction by the kidnapping of their women and children), terrorizing them into either yielding territory or desisting from their encroachments and aggressions. – Lawrence Keeley from War Before Civilization

John Locke • The forefather of our forefathers • Attacked by Charles II • Friend of Newton • Influential in American revolution

John Locke • Government • Second treatise of Civil Government • Chaos without government • God gave mankind natural rights • Life, liberty, pursuit of property • Innate goodness of mankind led to formation of governments • Governments, which were formed by the people, must guarantee the rights of the people • People have a right to rebel against tyrannies

"For God having given man an understanding to direct his actions, has allowed him a freedom of will, and liberty of acting, as properly belonging thereunto, within the bounds of that law he is under." – John Locke, Two Treatises of Government

"Wherever therefore any number of men are so united into one society, as to quit every one his executive power of the law of nature, and to resign it to the public, there and there only is a political, or civil society... For hereby he authorizes the society, or which is all one, the legislative thereof to make laws for him as the public good of the society shall require;... And this puts men out of a state of nature into that of a commonwealth." – John Locke, Two Treatises of Government

"For law, in its true notion, is not so much the limitation as the direction of a free and intelligent agent to his proper interest, and prescribes no further than is for the general good of those under that law... So that, however it may be mistaken, the end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom: for in all the states of created beings capable of laws, where there is no law, there is no freedom. For liberty is to be free from restraint and violence from others which cannot be, where there is no law: but freedom is not, as we are told, 'a liberty for every man to do what he lists': (for who could be free, when every other man's humour might domineer over him?) But a liberty to dispose, and order, as he lists, his person, actions, possessions, and his whole property, within the allowance of those laws under which he is; and therein not to be subject to the arbitrary will of another, but freely follow his own." – John Locke, Two Treatises of Government

"A child is free by his father's title, by his father's understanding, which is to govern him, till he hath it of his own… To turn him loose to an unrestrained liberty, before he has reason to guide him, is not allowing him the privilege of his nature, to be free; but to thrust him out amongst brutes, and abandon him to a state as wretched, and as much beneath that of a man, as theirs... God hath made it their [parents'] business to employ this care on their offspring, and hath placed in them suitable inclinations of tenderness and concern to temper this power, to apply it as his wisdom designed it, to the children's good, as long as they should need to be under it.“ – John Locke, Two Treatises of Government

"The legislative power is put into the hands of diverse persons who duly assembled, have by themselves, or jointly with others, a power to make laws, which when they have done, being separated again, they are themselves subject to the laws, they have made; ... but because the laws, that are at once, and in a short time made, have a constant and lasting force, and need a perpetual execution, or an attendance thereunto: therefore 'tis necessary there should be a power always in being, which should see to the execution of the laws that are made, and remain in force. And thus the legislative and executive power come often to be separated." – John Locke, Two Treatises of Government

John Locke • Theory of Knowledge • Essay Concerning Human Understanding • Reasoning puts man above animals • Rejected concept that ideas are innate • Tabula rasa • Outer ideas from experience • Inner ideas from contemplation • Mankind can attain all knowledge

"The English people believe itself to be free; it is gravely mistaken; it is only free during election of members of parliament; as soon as members are elected, the people are enslaved; it is nothing. In the brief moment of its freedom, the English people makes such a use of that freedom that it deserves to lose it." – Rousseau

"Absolute arbitrary power, or governing without settled standing laws, can neither of them consist with the ends of society and government, which men would not quit the freedom of the state of nature for, and tie themselves up under, were it not to preserve their lives, liberties and fortunes; and by stated rules of right and property to secure their peace and quiet." – John Locke, Two Treatises of Government

"Men being, as has been said, by nature, all free, equal and independent, no one can be put out of this estate, and subjected to the political power of another, without his own consent. The only way whereby anyone divests himself of his natural liberty, and puts on the bonds of civil society is by agreeing with other men to join and unite into a community, for their comfortable, safe, and peaceable living one amongst another, in a secure enjoyment of their properties, and a greater security against any that are not of it. This any number of men may do, because it injures not the freedom of the rest; they are left as they were in the liberty of their state of nature. When any number of men have so consented to make one community or government, they are thereby presently incorporated, and make one body politic, wherein the majority have a right to act and conclude the rest.“ – John Locke, Two Treatises of Government

"These are the bounds which the trust that is put in them by the society, and the law of God and nature, have set to the legislative power of every commonwealth, in all forms of government. First, they are to govern by promulgated established laws, not to be varied in particular cases, but to have one rule for rich and poor, for the favourite at court, and the countryman at plough. Secondly, these laws also ought to be designed for no other end ultimately than the good of the people. Thirdly, they must not raise taxes on the property of the people, without the consent of the people, given by themselves, or their deputies... Fourthly, the legislative neither must not can transfer the power of making laws to anybody else, or place it anywhere but where the people have." – John Locke, Two Treatises of Government

Alexander Pope • English Poet • Contributed to political thought and love of language • Believed that God was in control of the earth and that all things were ultimately for our good • Essay on Man • Essay on Criticism • Many famous sayings came from these books

All Nature is but art unknown to thee All chance, direction, which thou canst not see; All discord, harmony not understood; All partial evil, universal good: And, spite of pride, in erring reason’s spite, One truth is clear, Whatever is, is right. – Alexander Pope from Essay on Man

Yet cry, If man’s unhappy, god’s unjust; If man alone engross not Heaven’s high care, Alone made perfect here, immortal there: Snatch from His hand the balance and the rod, Re-judge His justice, be the god of God. In pride, in reas’ning pride, our error lies; All quit their sphere and rush into the skies. – Alexander Pope from Essay on Man

What future bliss, He gives not thee to know, But gives that hope to be thy blessing now. Hope springs eternal in the human breast: Man never Is, but always to be blest. The soul, uneasy, and confined from home, Rests and expatiates in a life to come. – Alexander Pope from Essay on Man

“Know this truth (enough for man to know), ‘Virtue alone is happiness below.’” – Alexander Pope from Essay on Man

“We think our fathers fools, so wise we grow; Our wiser sons, no doubt, will think us so.” – Alexander Pope from An Essay on Criticism

Jonathan Swift • Hated injustice • Politically active • Satirist • Gulliver’s Travels • A Modest Proposal…

“For of what use is freedom of thought if it does not produce freedom of action?” • Swift, “On Abolishing Christianity” (1708) [Quoted in Barzun, From Dawn to Decadence, 2000, p.273]

The Scientists “The Knowledge I had in Mathematicks gave me great Assistance in acquiring their Phraseology, which depended much upon that Science and Musick; and in the latter I was not unskilled. Their Ideas are perpetually conversant in Lines and Figures. If they would, for Example, praise the Beauty of a Woman, or any other Animal, they describe it by Rhombs, Circles, Parallelograms, Ellipses, and other Geometrical Terms; or by Words of Art drawn from Musick, needless here to repeat.” - Jonathan Swift: Gulliver’s Travels (Laputa)

The Scientists “Their Houses are very ill built, the Walls bevil without one right Angle in any Apartment; and this Defect ariseth from the Contempt they bear to practical Geometry; which they despise as vulgar and mechanick, those Instructions they give being too refined for the Intellectuals of their Workmen; which occasions perpetual Mistakes. And although they are dextrous enough upon a Piece of Paper in the Management of the Rule, the Pencil, and the Divider, yet in the common Actions and Behaviour of Life, I have not seen a more clumsy, awkward, and unhandy People, nor so slow and perplexed in their Conceptions upon all other Subjects, except those of Mathematicks and Musick. They are very bad Reasoners, and vehemently given to Opposition, unless when they happen to be of the right Opinion, which is seldom their Case. Imagination, Fancy, and Invention, they are wholly Strangers to, nor have any Words in their Language by which those Ideas can be expressed; the whole Compass of their Thoughts and Mind, being shut up within the two forementioned Sciences. ” - Jonathan Swift: Gulliver’s Travels (Laputa)

The Lawyers I said there was a Society of Men among us, bred up from their Youth in the Art of proving by Words multiplied for the Pleasure, that White is Black, and Black is White, according as they are paid. To this Society all the rest of the People are Slaves. For Example, if my Neighbor hath a Mind to my Cow, he hires a Lawyer to prove that he ought to have my Cow from me. I must then hire another to defend my Right, it being against all Rules of Law that any Man should be allowed to speak for himself. Now in this Case, I who am the right Owner lie under two great Disadvantages. First, my Lawyer being practiced almost from his Cradle in defending Falsehood; is quite out of his Element when he would be an Advocate for Justice, which as an Office unnatural, he always attempts with great Awkwardness if not with Ill-will. The second Disadvantage is, that my Lawyer must proceed with great Caution: Or else he will be reprimanded by the Judges, and abhorred by his Brethren, as one that would lessen the Practice of the Law. (continued)

The Lawyers (cont.) And therefore I have but two Methods to preserve my Cow. The first is, to gain over my Adversary's Lawyer with a double Fee; who will then betray his Client by insinuating that he hath Justice on his Side. The second way is for my Lawyer to make my Cause appear as unjust as he can; by the Cow to belong to my Adversary; and this, if it be skilfully done, will certainly bespeak the Favour of the Bench. It is a Maxim among these Lawyers, that whatever hath been done before, may legally be done again: And therefore they take special Care to record all the Decisions formerly made against common Justice and the general Reason of Mankind. These, under the Name of Precedents, they produce as Authorities to justify the most iniquitous Opinions; and the Judges never fail of decreeing accordingly. - Jonathan Swift: Gulliver’s Travels (Houyhnhnms)

A Modest Proposal “It think it is agreed by all parties that this prodigious number of children in the arms, or on the backs, or at the heels of their mothers, and frequently of their fathers, is in the present deplorable state of the kingdom a very great additional grievance; and therefore whoever could find out a fair, cheap, and easy method of making these children sound, useful members of the commonwealth would deserve so well of the public as to have his statue set up for a preserver of the nation…. - Jonathan Swift: A Modest Proposal…

Philosophe • French name for philosopher • Enlightenment reached height in France

Voltaire • Pen name • Critical of Catholic church • Influenced others by letters • Denied writings to avoid problems • Exiled to England for a while • Returned to live on Swiss border • Candide • Led by Pangloss ("All Talk") who believed that all is right in God's world • Lisbon earthquake and fatalism (drowning) • "Let us all tend our garden"

“The individual who persecutes another because he is not of the same opinion is nothing less than a monster.” • Voltaire

“I do not agree with a word you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” • Voltaire

Jean-Jacques Rousseau • Contest: "Does progress in the arts and sciences correspond with progress in morality?" • No! • As civilizations progress, they move away from morality • Examples: Romans, Greeks, Egyptians • Civilization itself leads away from true fundamentals • Technology and art give false desires • Social Contract • “Noble Savage”

Jean-Jacques Rousseau • Influence on French and American revolutions • "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" • Invest all rights and liberties into a society • Compare to a corporation

“Man is born free, yet everywhere he is in chains.” • Rousseau

Summary of Rousseau's Teachings

Denis Diderot • Encyclopedia • Teach people how to think critically • Solicited articles from many experts • Controversial articles brought criticism • Overall, moved forward the ideas of Enlightenment

"The good of the people must be the great purpose of government. By the laws of nature and of reason, the governors are invested with power to that end. And the greatest good of the people is liberty. It is to the state what health is to the individual." - Diderot in L'Encyclopedie: Article on Government, quoted in Barzun, Jacques, From Dawn to Decadence, Perennial, 2000, p370.

Immanuel Kant • From Germany • Strict habits • The Critique of Pure Reason and …Practical Reason • Weakness of Empiricism • Transcendentalism • Empiricism and other knowledge • Ex: infinity • Categorical Imperative

"You should behave with only those types of behavior that are dictated by the absolute nature of the basic principle on which the act is based." "Act as if your actions would become a moral maxim (principle or model) for all others and at all times." – From Immanuel Kant's Categorical Imperative

David Hume • Scottish philosopher • Leader of empiricism movement • Grew to distrust all

Adam Smith • Scottish professor • Wealth of Nation • Devised capitalism • Laissez Faire la nature

Edward Gibbon • Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire • Urged reform in England • Anti-religious bias

Application of Probability “Jacob Bernoulli’s contribution to the problem of developing probabilities from limited amounts of real-life information was twofold. First, he defined the problem in this fashion before anyone else had even recognized the need for a definition. Second, he suggested a solution that demands only one requirement. We must assume that ‘under similar conditions, the occurrence (or non-occurrence) of an event in the future will follow the same pattern as was observed in the past.’ This is a giant assumption. Jacob may have complained that in real life there are too few cases in which the information is so complete that we can use the simple rules of probability to predict the outcome. But he admits that an estimate of probabilities after the fact also is impossible unless we can assume that the past is a reliable guide to the future.” – Peter L. Bernstein, Against the Gods, 1996, 121

“At about the same time [1738], the author of the Port-Royal Logic had blended measurement and subjective beliefs when he wrote, ‘Fear of harm ought to be proportional not merely to the gravity of the harm, but also to the probability of the event.’” – Peter L. Bernstein, Against the Gods, 1996, 99 Application of Probability

Thank You

Age of Enlightenment