The Enlightenment (a.k.a. Age of Reason) 18 th Century European Thought and the Changes it wrought

1. The Enlightenment(a.k.a. Age of Reason)18th Century European Thought and the Changes it wrought AP European History Kagan, Ch. 17

2. What is Enlightenment? by I. Kant • “Enlightenment is mankind’s exit from its self-incurredimmaturity.” • What is immaturity? • What is self-incurred? • How are we to free ourselves from self-incurred immaturity? • Will it be easy? What obstacles will we face? • Motto of the EnlightenmentSapere aude! • What does it mean?

3. Newtonian thought Lockean thought Political stability and economic prosperity in GB T or F: The long-term influence of the Enlightenment has been the spirit of innovation and improvement that first took root within Western societies T or F: John Locke fully accepted the Christian view of humankind flawed by sin. Influences on the Enlightenment Print Culture Public Opinion Coffeehouses Salons Call for administrative and economic reform in France after wars of Louis XIV

4. Reading in the Enlightenment • Birth of the Novel • Writing of History • Inclusion of political, economic, social, intellectual, cultural happenings over time • Monthly Journals and Magazines; daily newspapers • What is “low literary culture” and what effect did it have on lower-class audiences?

5. What did the philosophes believe? • …that natural science should be used to examine and understand ALL elements of life • Reason over and above faith – everything is critiqued • …that the Scientific method can discover ALL laws of human society AND nature • …in progress: it is POSSIBLE for man to create a bettersociety (hope)

6. Who were the philosophes? • Literary figures, historians, economists • Today many are thought of philosophers • Not an organized group BUT agreed that religion, government/politics, economy and society needed to be reformed for the sake of human liberty • All applied skepticism and rules of reason when questioning the status quo • Followers = commercial class, professional urban class, forward thinking aristocracy • Supported: expansion in trade; improvement in agriculture, transport and industry; enlargement of business and commercial class; transformation of society and economy

7. The PhilosophesVoltaire (Francois Marie Arouet): 1694-1778 • Middle class – prolific writer – died a millionaire • 1717 imprisoned for insulting regent; 1726 exiled to England for barb vs. nobleman (often in exile) • Fed his struggle vs. injustice and unequal treatment • Newton: history’s greatest man --- Glorification of science and reason to better world • Personal friend Frederick the Great – admired him as “enlightened” • Voltaire lived at Sans Souci • Government: • Admired England • “Enlightened” monarch who ruled against ignorance and thereby enlightened the state and people

8. Enlightenment and Religion • Why is organized / institutionalized religion detrimental to human progress and happiness? • T or F: John Toland’sChristianity Not Mysterious became an important defense of medieval Christianity during the Enlightenment • Deist believe • The God exists and that nature itself is proof of God’s existence. God is a rational force b/c nature is organized rationally • There is life after death and it is then that the rewards and punishments for one’s actions will be administered.

9. Enlightenment and Religion • T or F: All philosophes advocated for religious tolerance. • What type(s) of tolerance was encouraged? (see pg. 516) • Tolerance of other Christian religions • Tolerance of other non-Christian religions (BUT how far were they willing to go in their tolerance?) • Radical Critique of Christianity • T/F: Scottish philosophe David Hume believed that the greatest miracle of Christianity was that Christians believed in miracles. • T/F: Edward Gibbon in The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire argued that the supernatural forces of Christianity are what caused Rome to fall. (see handout)

10. Jewish Thinkers in the Age of Enlightenment Baruch Spinoza Moses Mendelsohn • 1632-1677, Netherlands • Secularized Judaism • Pantheism vs. organized religion (which leads away from God) • Jews should separate themselves from their traditional faith communities. • 1729-1786, Germany • Assimilation of Judaism • One can be a practicing Jew (religious community) and a loyal citizen (national community) T/F: Gotthold Lessing’s Nathan the Wise actually called for religious toleration of non-Christians.

11. Islam in Enlightenment Thought Typical Understanding of Islam Lady Mary Wortley Montagu’s opinion • False religion: Muhammad = divine (not true) • Muhammad – impostor and false prophet • Extremely carnal b/c of harem and polygamy • Unable to adapt to changing modern society • Turkish women are very free and well-treated; burka often women security • Praised Ottoman architecture • Encouraged the adoption of smallpox vaccine

12. Encyclopedie: 28 volumes – scientific, technical, historical knowledge (skeptical / critical of society) • Contains all the great philosophes! • Attempted summarization of all human knowledge! • 25,000 sets sold before the French Revolution! • Read by ALL – nobles, clergy, and “Third Estate” The Encyclopedia, 1751-1772 Editors: Denis Diderot, 1713-1784 Jean Le Rond d’Alembert, 1717-1783 17 volumes of text 11 volumes of illustrations What is social science?

13. Beccaria and Criminal Law Reform • CesareBeccaria, On Crime and Punishment, 1764 “Such punishments…ought to be chosen as will make the strongest and most lasting impressions on the minds of others, with the least torment to the body of the criminal.” Imprisonment, physical labor, discipline Rehabilitation Punishment should be better suited to the Crime! Utilitarianism: a doctrine that the useful is the good and that the determining consideration of right conduct should be the usefulness of its consequences; specifically: a theory that the aim of action should be the largest possible balance of pleasure over pain or the greatest happiness of the greatest number

14. Physiocrats (define) Francois Quesnay: royal court physician; economist The Economical Table, 1758 Pierre Dupont de Nemours: associate of Turgot (Dupont of US!) Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot: minister to Louis XVI: Searching for “natural laws” of economics • Land (agriculture) = only true source of wealth • Supply and demand, individual economic self-interest NOT government, should influence economy – (sound familiar?) T/F: Francois Quesnay headed a French mercantile association opposed to physiocratic thought.

15. Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, 1776 • Laissez faire: “let them do as they see fit” • Against government regulations, price controls, mercantilism… • Government should - provide defense, security and reasonable laws (even in area of economy, when needed) • Economic Liberty • “unleash individuals to pursue their own selfish economic interests.” pg. 521 • Natural Resources • Unlimited and should be exploited to the economic advantage of mankind • Education, see pg. 522 T/F: Adam Smith wrote that, “All men are born free, but everywhere they are in chains,” to call attention to the need for laissez-faire economics.

16. Four-Stage Theory of Human Development • Stage One • Hunting and gathering = no settled life • Stage Two • Pastoral herding = nomadic groups with some sense of private property • Stage Three • Agricultural = settled with clearly delineated private property arrangements • Stage Four • Commercial = advanced cities; wide-spread national & international trade; mass consumption of many different types of items; elaborate property agreements

17. Political Thoughts of the philosophes • Montesquieu’s Spirit of the Laws, 1748 • No one right political system for all nations • Monarchical gov’t. regulated by parlements • Division of power within government: executive; legislative; judicial (sound familiar?)

18. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1712-1778 • Sensitive / suspicious – obsessed w/conspiracy vs. him • Committed to “Enlightenment” – but broke away, attacks rationalism / civilization as destroyer of the individual • Basic goodness of man (influences Romanticism) • Do away with elite superiority – all are equal, esp. financially • Sig. contribution to Fr. Rev. --- appeals to the masses • The Social Contract:(not political – but among men - “man is born free, and everywhere he is shackled” • The general will: common interest uniting men - (BUT some must be forced to be free) • Popular sovereignty – (Government is 2ndary to will of the people) • Emile: education of male child – learning by experience – natural (BUT only for boys)

19. Enlightenment Criticism of Empire • Denise Diderot, Immanuel Kant, and Johann Herder • Criticized what they saw as immoral spread of European civilization and ideology at the cost of native population • Different culture/appearance ≠ less humanity or less right to be respected/understood - “culture of man” • What is cultural relativism? • Major opponents of New World slavery

20. And so, with the Enlightenment… “Mankind grew out of its self-inflicted immaturity” (Immanuel Kant) BUT… what about the WOMEN of the Enlightenment !!! Dressing in the 18th Century

21. Suzanne Necker “Fortune does not change men, it unmasks them.” – S.N. • Wife of finance minister to Louis XVI, Jacques Necker; mother of Madame de Staël • Friday afternoons from during the 1770s & 1780s • Necker's NotesThe Marquis de Chastellux was once invited to one of Suzanne Necker's famous dinner parties. Having arrived early, he was left alone in the drawing-room where, snooping around, he found a notebook under Necker's chair. Idly leafing through its pages, he discovered that the book contained snippets of entertaining conversation. The Marquis was later amused, during the course of the meal, to hear Mme Necker reciting word for word everything which he had found written in the book.

22. Julie de Lespinasse • Held salon every evening for 12 years • Met from 5-9pm • “Politics, religion, philosophy, anecdotes, news, nothing was excluded from the conversation, an, thanks to her care, the most trivial little narrative gained, as naturally as possible, the place and notice it deserved.” • Memoir of Baron de Grimm

23. Mary Wollstonecraft, 1759-1797 • Daughter of handkerchief weaver • 1784 opened a school w/ her sister, Eliza and friend, Fanny • Befriended many radical political and religious thinkers and supporters of American independence • 1786 Thoughts on the Education of Girls • 1789 Vindication of the Rights of Man • 1790 Vindication of the Rights of Women • Admired by other radical thinkers, like Tom Paine and William Blake – detested by Edmund Burke

24. Bluestockings • Literary Salons of England • More casual than in France, focused on moral and intellectual training • Primarily women’s group • Traveled, wrote, and studied together • Precursors to feminists of the 19th century The Nine Living Muses of England , by Richard Samuel, 1779. (Left to right) Elizbaeth Carter, Anna Letitia Barbauld, Angelika Kauffmann, Elizabeth Linley, Catharine Macaulay, Elizabeth Montagu, Elizabeth Griffith, Hannah More, and Charlotte Lennox.

25. Rococo1715 – 1774. • Centered in France --> associated with Louis XV. [also Germany and Italy] • Light, elaborate, decorative style. Complex compositions. • A backlash to the darkness of the Baroque --> less formal & grandiose. • Gaiety, lightness, and airiness; use of pastels --> the Rococo style “dances.” • Portrays the carefree life of the aristocracy -- landscapes like fairy tales. • Eventually replaced by Neo-Classicism, the artistic style of the American & French Revolutions.

26. “The Pleasures of the Ball”Jean-Antoine Watteau, 1717

27. “The Pleasures of Life”Jean-Antoine Watteau, 1718

28. “The Swing” Jean Honoré Fragonard 1766

29. “The Stolen Kiss” Jean Honoré Fragonard Late 1780s

30. “La Toilette” – François Boucher, 1742

31. “The Marquis de Pompadour” François Boucher 1756

32. Overview of Neo-Classicism • Art produced in Europe and North America from the mid-18c to the early 19c. • More than just an antique revival  a reaction against the surviving Baroque & Rococo styles. • Linked to contemporary political events: • Revolutions established republics in France and in America. [Neo-Classicism was adapted as the official art style]. • Association with the democracy of Greece and the republicanism of Rome. • Napoleon  used the style for propaganda.

33. Origins of Neo-Classical Art

34. 1. Excavations of the Ruins of Italian Cities Pompeii in 1748. Herculaneum in 1738.

35. 2. Publication of Books on Antiquity James Stuart & Nicholas RevertAntiquities in Athens: 1762-1816.

36. 3. Arrival of the Elgin Marbles Thomas Bruce,7th Lord of ElginBritish Museum, 1806 From the top façade of the Parthenon in Athens.

37. 4. Johann Winckelmann’s Artists Circle Artists should “imitate” the timeless, ideal forms of the classical world. A circle of international artists gathered about him in the 1760s in Rome. German art historian.

38. Characteristics of Neo-Classicism Return to the perceived “purity” of the arts of Rome. Model the “ideal” of the ancient Greek arts and, to a lesser, extent, 16c Renaissance classicism. A conviction that there is a permanent, universal way things are (and should be), which obviously entails fundamental political and ethical commitments. Sometimes considered anti-modern or even reactionary.

39. Neo-Classical Architecture

40. Claude Nicholas Ledoux Rotunde de la Villette, Paris

41. John Wood “The Royal Crescent [Circus]” at Bath, England (1754).

42. The “Empire Style”:Charles Percier & Pierre François Léonard Fontaine Napoleon’s official architects. They remade Paris in the intimidating opulence of Roman imperial architectural style.

43. The “Federal Style” in America • 1780 – 1820. • Thomas Jefferson’s influence. University of VA Monticello, VA U. S. Capitol

44. Neo-Classical Painting

45. “The Oath of Brutus”Gavin Hamilton, 1767 The oath was sworn as a promise of individual revenge against a corrupt monarchy.

46. “The Death of Socrates”Jacques-Louis David, 1787 The death of Socrates was a symbol of republican virtue.

47. “The Oath of the Horatii”Jacques-Louis David, 1784 A depiction of dutiful patriotism.

48. “The Consecration of Napoleon & Josephine”Jacques-Louis David, 1805-1807 A very different theme:The celebration of worldly splendor and power.

49. “The Apotheosis of Homer”Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, 1827 This assembly of great artists and writers of all ages gathered to honor the ancient Greek poet before a classical temple.

50. Neo-Classical Decorative Arts