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The Enlightenment

The Enlightenment. An Overview of the 18 th Century. Political History  >>> Reform Intellectual History  Newtonian Physics  Reason Cultural History  Individualism Social History  Increased Literacy  Age of Aristocracy

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The Enlightenment

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  1. The Enlightenment

  2. An Overview of the 18th Century • Political History >>> Reform • Intellectual History Newtonian Physics Reason • Cultural History Individualism • Social History  Increased Literacy  Age of Aristocracy • Economic History > Mercantilism to Capitalism

  3. 18th Century Politics • BRITAIN– Constitutional Monarchy • FRANCE Royal Absolutism (cultural and religious unity) • PRUSSIA, HABSBURG EMPIRE, RUSSIA “Enlightened Despotism” • OTTOMAN EMPIRE – traditional empire

  4. Centers of the Enlightenment

  5. The Characteristics of the Enlightenment Rationalism  reason is the arbiter of all things. Cosmology  a new concept of man, his existence on earth, & the place of the earth in the universe. Secularism  application of the methods of science to religion & philosophy.

  6. The Characteristics of the Enlightenment • Scientific Method • Mathematical analysis • Experimentation • Inductive reasoning. • Utilitarianism  the greatest good for the greatest number. • Tolerance  No opinion is worth burning your neighbor for.

  7. The Characteristics of the Enlightenment • Optimism & Self-Confidence • The belief that man is intrinsically good. • The belief in social progress. • Freedom • Of thought and expression. • Bring liberty to all men (modern battle against absolutism). • Education of the Masses

  8. The Characteristics of the Enlightenment • Legal Reforms • Justice, kindness, and charity  no torture or indiscriminant incarceration. • Due process of law. • Constitutionalism • Written constitutions  listing citizens, rights. • Cosmopolitanism.

  9. The “Great Debate” Reason& Logic TraditionsandSuperstitions • rationalism • empiricism • tolerance • skepticism • Deism • nostalgia for the past • organized religions • irrationalism • emotionalism

  10. John Locke (1632-1704) • Letter on Toleration, 1689 • Two Treatises ofGovernment, 1690 • Some ThoughtsConcerningEducation, 1693 • The Reasonablenessof Christianity, 1695

  11. John Locke’s Philosophy (I) • The individual must become a “rationalcreature.” • Virtue can be learned and practiced. • Human beings possess free will. • they should be prepared for freedom. • obedience should be out of conviction,not out of fear. • Legislators owe their power to a contract with the people. • Neither kings nor wealth are divinely ordained.

  12. John Locke’s Philosophy (II) • There are certain natural rights that are endowed by God to all human beings. • life, liberty, property! • The doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings was nonsense. • He favored a republic as the best form of government.

  13. Bernard Fontenelle 1657-1757 • Brought scientific matters to non-scientists. • Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds liberal work-humans can make progress/ marvels at the progress already made.

  14. Skepticism and Pierre Bayle 1647-1706 • Historical and Critical Dictionary makes skepticism popular • About past religion and persecution. • Concluded that there is basis for doubt in absolutely everything. • Increased travel makes skepticism reasonable

  15. Baruch Spinoza 1632-1677 • Son of a Jewish merchant in Holland. • His Ethics claimed that God was in all things. • This was very controversial. Often thought of as an atheist. • Baruch Spinoza equated God and nature and believed in an impersonal mechanical universe. He also denied free will

  16. Blaise Pascal 1623-1662 • Jansenist who detested Jesuits • Jansenists believed that reason brought you closer to God • Incredible French mathematician from early age • Has crisis of conscious – turns more to faith than reason. Writes Pensees. • Says man is inherently evil and that God can only save an elect few. • Cautioned against false optimism and stressed religious conviction

  17. Baron de Montesquieu 1689-1755 • In the Spirit of the Laws he recommends a mixed government. • Discussed what conditions were favorable to liberty, and greatly admired the English government. • Also published the Persian Letters, a satire on the current European society.

  18. Voltaire 1694-1778 • Flees France after trouble • Becomes anglophile and returns to France • Deist and very tolerant • In youth believed in Progress through universal reason. In old age he backs off of this • In Essays he writes a cultural history (first of its kind) • Age of Louis XIV - Voltaire wrote that monarchy was the best form of government because he didn’t trust people to rule themselves.

  19. Voltaire’s “Wisdom” (I) • Every man is guilty of all the good he didn’t do. • God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh. • If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him. • It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong. • Love truth and pardon error.

  20. Voltaire’s “Wisdom” (II) • Judge of a man by his questions rather than by his answers. • Men are equal; it is not birth, but virtue that makes the difference. • Prejudice is opinion without judgment. • The way to become boring is to say everything. • I may not agree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.

  21. Denis Diderot 1713-1784 • Edited the Encyclopedia, • Attempted to collect all knowledge • Wanted to teach people to think critically and objectively • Many articles on controversial issues like atheism as well as the mundane like laughing • Encouraged the best minds of the time to make entries

  22. Paul D’Holbach 1723-1789 • Wrote System of Nature • People are machines controlled by outside forces • Free will, God, immortality were myths. • Seen as dogmatic and intolerant due to rigid atheism. It broke the unity of the Enlightenment by dividing thinkers (optimists vs. pessimists or realists vs. utopians, etc)

  23. David Hume 1711-1776 • Scotsman who emphasized limitations of human reasoning • the human is a bundle of impressions. • Later he became dogmatic skeptic who undermined Enlightenment • BFF to Adam Smith • Challenged the idea of causation --Necessary Connection

  24. Marquis de Condorcet 1743-1794 • In Progress of the Human Mind stated that human progress would lead to its perfection • 10 stages of the mind, 9 have occurred, the 10th will lead to perfection • Against gradual, hard won progress - wanted immediate change • Committed suicide to avoid the guillotine of the French Revolution.

  25. Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) • A Discourse on the Sciences and Arts, 1750 • Emile, 1762. • The Social Contract, 1762.

  26. Rousseau’s Philosophy (I) • Virtue exists in the ”state of nature,” but lost in “society.” • Government must preserve “virtue” and ”liberty.” • Man is born free, yet everywhere he is in chains. • The concept of the ”Noble Savage.” • Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. • Civil liberty  invest ALL rights and liberties into a society.

  27. Rousseau’s Philosophy (II) • Question Does progress in the arts and sciences correspond with progress in morality? • As civilizations progress, they move away from morality. • Civilization itself leads away from true fundamentals. • Technology and art create false desires. NO!

  28. Rousseau’s Philosophy (III) • Concept of the “General Will.” • Only those who make their own laws are free. • Virtuous citizens will agree, become one. • Not merely a consensus or the majority. • A discussion among the virtuous will yield unity. • Dissenters are “forced to be free.” • General Will = law + freedom!

  29. Giambattista Vico 1668-1744 • Largely unknown in his time • Revolts against the idea that reason is supreme • Writes New Science and says man makes his own history (this was heresy) and develops in stages • Barbarism to civilization to second barbarism • The second barbarism is worse as these barbarians have no virtues (this was shocking)

  30. A Look Ahead • Enlightenment ideas strengthened liberalism and foreshadowed the coming of more radical ideas like Communism. • Vico’s theory of nations rising and falling and the Marquis de Condorcet belief in the perfection of humanity gave basis to Marxian philosophy

  31. Mary Wollstonecraft 1759-1797 • First modern feminist • Defender of the declaration of the rights of men and wrote a Vindication of the Declaration of the Rights of Man. • Daughter was Mary Shelley • Believed marriage was legalized prostitution.

  32. Immanuel Kant 1724-1804 • Thought that freedom of the press would result in an enlightenment. • Separated science and morality into separate branches of knowledge • Science could describe natural phenomena of material world but could not provide a guide for morality • Critique of Reason states that man is not a tabula rasa but instead actively assimilates the world into recognizable patterns

  33. Gottfried Wilhem von Leibniz 1646-1716 • Wanted an international language of ideas built on numbers • Tried to unite mind and matter by making the monad the atom of the mind and injecting God into the equation • Use of God did not fit with the Gestalt and he was given little fame

  34. Adam Smith 1723-1790 • The Wealth of Nations • Mercantilism = BAD • Free market economics • Laissez-Faire / “Invisible Hand” – S& D • Thought free trade would limit government to three duties- defense, civil order, public institutions

  35. Popularizing the Enlightenment

  36. A Parisian Salon

  37. Madame Geoffrin’s Salon

  38. The Salonnieres Madame Geoffrin(1699-1777) MadameSuzanne Necker(1739-1794) MademoiselleJulie de Lespinasse(1732*-1776)

  39. Denis Diderot (1713-1784)

  40. Diderot’s Encyclopédie

  41. The Encyclopédie • Complete cycle of knowledge…………...…change the general way of thinking. • 28 volumes. • Alphabetical, cross-referenced,illustrated. • First published in 1751. • 1500 livres a set.

  42. Subscriptions to Diderot’s Encyclopedie

  43. Pages from Diderot’s Encyclopedie

  44. Pages from Diderot’s Encyclopedie

  45. Pages from Diderot’s Encyclopedie

  46. Reading During the Enlightenment • Literacy: • 80% for men; 60% women. • Books were expensive (one day’s wages). • Many readers for each book (20 : 1) • novels, plays & other literature. • journals, memoirs, “private lives.” • philosophy, history, theology. • newspapers, political pamphlets.

  47. An Increase in Reading

  48. Questions to Consider • Bayle made skepticism popular but what Renaissance writer wrote introspective essays famous for the skepticism? • What were some of the major intellectual changes that led to the Enlightenment? • How did the Enlightenment influence the growing popularity of history? • Identify the major beliefs of deism.  What was the hope of the deists in regard to Christianity?

  49. The Results of the Enlightenment • Enlightened despotism • American and French Revolutions • Educational reform • Development of laissez faire capitalism • Individual primacy over primacy of the state • Propagation of liberal ideas • Reading revolution

  50. “Must Read” Books of the Time

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