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The Enlightenment

The Enlightenment. 1700-1789. DEMOGRAPHICS. “Turning point”– population from 120 Million in 1700 to 190 Million in 1790 Due to declining death rate Higher birth rate Better transportation Better food supply, weather, end of plague Still very unsanitary. THE FAMILY.

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The Enlightenment

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  1. The Enlightenment 1700-1789

  2. DEMOGRAPHICS • “Turning point”– population from 120 Million in 1700 to 190 Million in 1790 • Due to declining death rate • Higher birth rate • Better transportation • Better food supply, weather, end of plague • Still very unsanitary

  3. THE FAMILY • Family was still the core of social organization • The nuclear family was the norm in western Europe • Children worked in urban and rural families (“Family economy) • Late marriages still common (Father often selected mate) • After 1750 illegitimacy increased • Birth control was in use to limit # of children (Coitus Interruptus)

  4. NEW VIEWS ON CHILDHOOD • In the second half of the eighteenth century, traditional views on childhood changed • Rousseau’s book, Emile, and increasing survival rates of infants led to the view of childhood as a phase in human development

  5. CHILDREN VIEWED AS KIDS • Part of the new view included an increase in breast-feeding, a change in children’s clothing, a rise in games, puzzles, and toys • For most Europeans however (peasants), children were still a source of anxiety • Infanticide still practiced and foundling homes were overcrowded

  6. THE AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION • During this period, food production increased due to four factors: more cultivated land, increased yield, healthier and more plentiful livestock, and a better climate • Jethro Tull realized hoeing allowed plants to grow better; he also developed a seed drill Who is this? JETHRO TULL UTILIZED THE HOE TO AIR-RATE PLANTS

  7. AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION • As a result of the Columbian Exchange maize and potatoes were introduced • Enclosure resulted when a landowner bought up smaller farms and combined them into one larger property • Land replenished by nitrogen rich crops like alfalfa, turnips, clover (No more fallow land) • England led the way

  8. THE SOCIAL ORDER • Grand Tour: A trip through Europe for educational purposes, undertaken by the sons of the nobility • Poverty was still rampant, with as much as 15-20% of Venice suspected as beggars • It was now argued that charity to beggars merely encouraged them • Guilds still played a large role in city industry THE GRAND TOUR WAS PART OF THE EDUCATION OF THE ELITE

  9. THE SOCIAL STRUCTURE • Still hierarchy and “estates” (France) • Critique by philosophes but distrust of masses • Economic developments provide impetus for future changes • Resurgence of aristocracy and slow rise of middle class

  10. ARISTOCRACY • Privileges and exemptions (wealth varied) • Strongest in Eastern Europe • Economic activities • The “country house” (England) • Development of public/private areas

  11. 85% of population Free and unfree Tithes, taxes, duties, labor Eastern Europe and great estates Villages--center of life Parasitic relation with town Diet of peasants Rebellions--Pugachev Revolt PEASANTS

  12. TOWNS AND BOURGEOISIE • More important in Western Europe • Huge growth of cities • Migration from countryside to urban areas • Patrician oligarchies • Middle class diversity • Petty bourgeoisie • Artisans & guilds • Unskilled laborers • Unhealthy conditions • Poverty and begging

  13. EDUCATION • “Stale” universities--Greek and Latin were considered old-fashioned by philosophes • “Elitist” secondary schools reinforced hierarchy • Realschule were more practical centers for education

  14. EDUCATION • Grammar schools and government sponsorship--Volkschule (Protestant. v. Catholic) • University of Gottingen and Univ. of Edinburgh were exceptional schools PRIMARY EDUCATION WAS ENCOURAGED AFTER 1750

  15. Crime and Punishment • Decline in violent crime rate • More property crimes • Public executions, torture, exile • Legal and penal reforms • Cesare Beccaria: anti-death penalty reformer • Humanitarianism

  16. MEDICINE AND HEALTH • Professionalization of medicine finally arrives • Physicians more clinical, e.g., at University of Leiden • Below the physicans were surgeons, separate from barbers but still bleed--Royal College of Surgeons licensed doctors

  17. OTHER MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS • Other practitioners included apothecaries, faith healers, and midwives who primarily served commoners especially in rural areas • Hospital “reform” and hygiene remained in its infancy – most hospitals were filthy • Folk medicine, faith healers, midwives were still active

  18. POPULAR CULTURE • Festivals & Carnival were group activities • Eating, drinking, sex, aggression -- excess • “World turned upside down” • Reinforce hierarchy but violence • Taverns—vodka (Russia) & gin (England) CARNIVALS WERE IMPORTANT SOCIAL RITUALS

  19. WHEN ELITE & POP MERGE • Divergence of elite and popular • However, “Commercialization of leisure” brought elite and popular culture together • Bloodsports; bullbaiting & bearbaiting, cockfighting • Chapbooks (cheap books- crude satires & adventure stories) & almanacs BEARBAITING

  20. PUBLISHING AND LITERACY • More books, magazines, newspapers • Spectator & female audiences • Increase in literacy • Development of public opinion • Popularization of New Science among middle class • Coffeehouses

  21. THE PHILOSOPHES As a result of religious warfare and conflict, philosophes took a skeptical stance toward religion, rejecting traditional Christianity. Enlightenment: a movement to understand and improve society based on the principles of the Scientific Revolution.

  22. PHILOSOPHES LOOK INWARD The realization, through travel literature, that there were advanced civilizations besides their own, forced Europeans to turn a critical eye to their civilization. Locke and Newton served as inspirations for the Enlightenment.

  23. JOHN LOCKE (1632-1704) • Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690)—tabula rasa • Some Thoughts Concerning Education (1689)--childhood • Two Treatises on Government (1690)—individual rights, limited government • Empiricist, defender of natural rights & revolution, beginner of the Enlightenment

  24. LOCKEAN QUESTIONS • What qualities of an object would appear the same and appear to different to everyone? • What is meant by sensation and reflection? • How can natural law be used to justify individual rights? • What are the social implications of tabula rasa?

  25. DAVID HUME (1711-1776) • Scottish Enlightenment • Radical empiricist—Treatise on Human Nature (1748) • Agnostic—On Miracles • A beloved and tolerant skeptic • “Reason is and ought to be a slave to the passions…” • Hume’s Fork: “you can’t get an ‘ought’ from an ‘is’…”

  26. HUMEAN QUESTIONS • How can we be sure that we have a continuous personal identity? • Do humans really experience natural laws, such as cause and effect? • Would it be reasonable to “prefer the scratching of one’s nose to the destruction of the world”?

  27. THE GENIUS OF KANT(1724-1804) • Life of an orderly bachelor • What is Enlightenment? (1784)—”dare know & think for yourself!” • Critique of Pure Reason—constructivism • Combines empiricism with “categories of understanding” (our perceptive glasses) • Deontological ethics and “categorical imperative”

  28. KANTIAN QUESTIONS • Can I experience anything outside of time and space? Can I know objects in themselves? • How would I act if I willed my actions to become a universal law? • Was the 18th century an “enlightened age”? Is today? Why or why not?

  29. THE “SMILE OF REASON” VOLTAIRE 1694-1778 • Man of wit, charm, satire • Deist and hater of organized religion—Calas Affair (1762) • Philosophical Dictionary, Candide, History of Louis XIV • Prison, exile, risk-taking, shifting reputation

  30. ENLIGHTENMENT PRINCIPLES • 1. Society is governed by natural laws. • 2. These laws can be discovered through reason. • 3. Society can turn from traditional and authoritarian forms and customs to a more perfect government and society based on reason.

  31. MONTESQUIEU AND POLI SCI 101 • Protestant judge in parlement—wanted to limit absolutism • Persian Letters (1721) • Spirit of the Laws (1748) • “checks and balances”—influence on U.S. Constitution • NOT a democrat!

  32. CESARE BECCARIA AND HUMANITARIANISM 1738-1794 • Legal scholar and Italian jurist • On Crimes and Punishments • Called for legal and penal reform • What was the traditional function of laws and punishment? • Which works better: vengeance or rehabilitation?

  33. ADAM SMITH: FATHER OF CAPITALISM (1723-1790) • Influence of Quesnay and Physiocrats • Theory of Moral Sentiments • Wealth of Nations (1776) • Supply and demand, invisible hand, free trade, laissez-faire, attack on mercantilism

  34. J.J. ROUSSEAU ROCKS THE HOUSE (1712-1778) • Lower-middle class, broken family, barmaid wife, abandoned children • “Noble Savage,” “cult of sentiment,” morality • Social Contract, Emile, La Nouvelle Heloise,The Confessions • Persona non grata • Attitude toward women

  35. ROUSSEAN QUESTIONS • Are humans corrupted by society? • Did the Enlightenment overuse reason? • How might Rousseau have influenced the French Revolution? • Was Rousseau a hypocrite?

  36. MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT AND MODERN FEMINISM • A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1791)—feminist manifesto • On the Education of Girls • Married to radical William Godwin • Mother of Mary Shelley (Frankenstein) WOLLSTONECRAFT 1759-1797

  37. FEMINIST QUESTIONS • How does an equal education for girls help society? • How does equality change the household, society, and politics?

  38. RADICAL ENLIGHTENMENT • Baron d’Holbach (1723-89)—determinism and materialism • Marquis de Condorcet (1743-94)—theory of history as progressive change, died during Reign of Terror (ordering omelet)

  39. ENLIGHTENED DESPOTISM? • Frederick II, “the Great” of Prussia (174-86) • Catherine I, “the Great” of Russia (1762-96) • Joseph II of Austria (1765-90) • Maria Theresa? (1740-80) • How enlightened were they? • What kinds of policies did they pursue?

  40. FRANKLIN’S WISDOM • “A stitch in time saves nine.” • “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” • “Little strokes fell great oaks.” • “A penny saved is a penny earned.” • “God helps those that help themselves.” • “He is ill-clothed who is bare of virtue.” • “The heart of the fool is in his mouth; but the mouth of the wise man is in his heart.”

  41. THE AMERICAN ENLIGHTENMENT • Benjamin Franklin & a “useful life”—Autobiography & retirement • Accomplishments—Albany Plan, fire company, post office, U. of Penn., hospital, Junto, magazine, T. of Paris, Dec. of Indep., Constit. Conv., electricity, inventions • Jefferson, Paine (deism), and others

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