The age of_enlightenment_2012

The age of
Enlightenment.
Eighteenth Century France

The objectives of this slide show are:
• In what ways was the enlightenment and outgrowth of the
Scientific Revolution?
• What were some of the new fads of thought that also
occurred during the enlightenment?
• Indentify the importance of the Encyclopedia.
• Assess the importance of Montesquieu’s ideas on the
American Revolution.
• You will know the main targets of the criticisms of
Voltaire and Rousseau.
• You will learn how the Calas case was a case for the
freedom of all mankind against despotic government.

The
Enlightenment
was an
extension of
the Scientific
Revolution

POP QUIZ???
• While the makers of the scientific Revolution
had used their intellectual powers to discover
the natural laws that governed the operation of
the physical universe, the thinkers of the
Enlightenment sought through reasoning to
discover the natural laws that governed the affairs
of human begins and human society.

It took place against the backdrop
of the various European Wars,
including:
• The War of Spanish Succession
• The War of Austrian Succession
• The Seven Years War

The Philosophes
• While The Enlightenment was an
international movement, most of
the leading thinkers were French.
• Philosophe=French word
meaning philosopher
– Developed new ideas about
government, economics and
religion
– Ideas which would improve the
human condition and reform
society

Their audience was the informed public
from all classes. They had a lot to say
about the flaws of society.

This was different than the prior belief
that the times of the Ancients, Greece,
Rome, and Biblical times had never and
would never be surpassed

Science had
helped to
end
Witchcraft
and
superstition

Perhaps God was not so personal.
Perhaps he was an intelligent human
being who wound up the watch and let
events unfold.

Perhaps God was not so personal. Perhaps he
wound up the watch and let events unfold.
God as a “Watchmaker”—who wound the watch
up and let it run…this was called deism.

..leaving human beings the
freedom to govern themselves.

That God was governed by the natural
laws that Newton laid down.

Two cultures
collided with
this belief—the
popular and the
elite.

During this exciting time, some tried
a greater commitment to religion. In
England, Handel wrote his great
Messiah…

and John Wesley
founded the
Methodists. He
preached in
America. This
religious agitation
was part of the
Great Awakening.

The elite in society were not part of
these upsets—they aligned themselves
with the official churches: Anglican,
Lutheran or Catholic.

At the same time, strange ideas also
arose…these ideas were “fads” or areas
of mystery.

The ideas of Freemasonry took form in
England and Colonial America.

The masons met secretly, had rituals,
and, some said, had secret knowledge
about ancient rites.

The Masons were very popular among all walks of life. Even
though they were a “secret” society, they met to discuss many
enlightenment concepts.

A German offset of
the Masons were
the Illuminati.

And women provided the meeting
places in their elegant salons.

The salons were legendary…intelligent women
provided a setting for the philosophes to meet
and discuss the challenges of the day.

In the salons,
talent and
creativity
counted more
than noble
lineage.

Many
revolutionary
ideas would
find their
roots in these
discussions.

Condorcet and “Progress”
• Marquis de Condorcet-
“Progress of the Human Mind”
– Traced development of human
history through nine eras,
contending that in the 10th era peace,
virtue and justice would prevail

John Locke (1632-1704)
Knowledge from experience
• Provided a vigorous
defense of England’s
Glorious Revolution
of 1688
• “Essays Concerning
Human
Understanding” –
Tabula Rasa

John Locke (1632-1704)
Social Contract and Natural Rights
• “Second Treatise of
Government”
• SOCIAL CONTRACT
THEORY
– Mutual Consent
– Life, Liberty and Property
– Right to Rebel
– Constitutional Government

Social Contract
Thomas Hobbes John Locke
•Humans are naturally cruel,
greedy and selfish.
•To escape this “brutish” life people
entered into a social contract.
•Only a powerful government
could ensure an orderly society.
•Believed only an absolute
monarchy could keep a society
completely orderly.
•Humans are naturally reasonable,
moral and good
•Humans have natural rights: life
liberty and property
•People form governments to
protect natural rights
•Best government was one with
limited power
•If a government violates people’s
natural rights, people have the
right to overthrow government

The most
famous
achievement
of the
Enlightenment
was the
Encyclopedia.

The Encyclopedia came to be a set of
17 very large volumes published
between 1751 and 1772.

The publisher
was a Denis
Diderot.

People paid to have a volume of
the Encyclopedia.

The Encyclopedia had articles on
everything from philosophy to bone-
setting to making gears!

The goal of the Encyclopedia was to
make available all the current up-to-
date technological, cultural, and
philosophical knowledge of the day.

It was unique because it was purchased
by people from all over Europe. Even
small towns had at least one copy.

The information was shared, improved
upon, and widely discussed: People
were enlightened by its knowledge.

Voltaire, Montesquieu
and Rousseau.

Voltaire (1694-1778)
One of the greatest minds of all
time…

Voltaire lived a long time,
traveled a lot, wrote a lot,
and was very influential.

Voltaire was
the great
champion of
freedom of
thought.

As a young man he spent time in the
Bastille for his criticism of Louis XV’s
regent, the Duke of Orleans.

Voltaire and Politics
• Letters on the English (1733)

He was a courtier of Madame de Pompadour, Louis
XV and spent two years in Frederick the Great’s court.

He believed in religious toleration.

One of his most famous quotes about
religion was “Ecrasez l’infame!” which
translated means “crush the infamous
thing.” He was referring to the Catholic
church.

He took on the defense of many who
were victims of despotic power.

His most famous case was the Calas
case.
Calas was a Protestant who was accused of killing his
mentally ill son, who was converting to be a Catholic.
In reality, the son had committed suicide.The local
authorities (the local parlement) ordered that Calas be
executed.

The elder Calas was broken at the wheel in a
brutal, public execution.

Voltaire was excited
about the case, and saw
it as a very public
chance to exonerate, and
publicize the injustices
inherent in France.
Treatise on Tolerance
(1763)

The Calas family was fully vindicated.
This was a victory for liberty and a
blow against injustice.
This victory was the talk of Europe, and
Voltaire was on the lips of all who
loved freedom.

In this Satire he attacked religion
persecution.

As an aristocrat, Voltaire was a believer in
liberty—for “his kind”—that is the enlightened
classes.

He didn’t think that the common
folk..those of lower class origin, were
the ones that should be ruling France.

Montesquieu (1689-1755)
He developed important ideas that have a direct
bearing on our American Society:

His revolutionary
idea was the
separation and
balance of powers.
Power should be
divided between the
King and the People.
He admired the English
constitution.

This would have a strong influence on
the Americans when they debated and
wrote their constitution.

• Montesquieu’s ideas greatly influenced the
founding fathers. They incorporated the idea
of separation of powers into the constitution.
Montesquieu is the “unknown” father of our
country.

Unlike Voltaire,
Rosseau did not
come from the
upper classes. He
was neglected as a
child, a runaway
at 16, and was
largely self-
taught.

He attacked society as
artificial and corrupt.

He argued that much of civilization was
evil and corrupt.

Natural Education
• “State of nature”
• “Emile” 1762

Rousseau’s most important
book was the Social Contract.

The contract was among
the people themselves.
This contract was the
General Will.
Individuals, though they
had their own liberty,
must surrender to the
liberty of the masses—the
General Will.

The founding fathers of America thought
this idea of General Will was a bit
strange…

This idea would be
exploited in the French
Revolution, to justify
the use of widespread
executions. It was the
“General Will” that
such atrocities happen.

Both totalitarians (dictators) and democrats
have said that Rousseau’s General Will was
part of their ideology.

Rousseau is also considered the “Father” of
the Romantic movement.

His novels were widely read. They fostered a
love of common things, common people. He
said that women should nurse their own babies,
and that people should clothe themselves in
natural, loose clothing.

Voltaire thought Rousseau to be a joke—he
said “After I’ve read Rousseau, I feel like I
have to get down on all fours.”

This return to nature influenced literature
and fostered a few fads…

Some, like the French Queen Marie Antoinette,
built fake “peasant’ villages where they could
play like they were a milk maid!

The upper classes began to see their lives as artificial and shallow.

Voltaire and Rousseau were Enlightenment
thinkers who influenced ideas of liberty.

LAW AND JUSTICE
• Essay on Crimes and Punishment (1764)
– Cesare Beccaria

Economic Thought/Theorgy
• Physiocrats=economic philospophes
– “Laissez-Faire, laissez passer” (Let do, let pass)

Economic Thought/Theorgy
• Francois Quesnay (1694-1774)
– Leading French Physiocrat
• Adam Smith (1723-1790)
– Scottish economist
– “Wealth of Nations” (1776)
• Free market/ “Invisible Hand”

The objectives of this slide show
were:
• In what ways was the enlightenment and outgrowth of the
Scientific Revolution?
• What were some of the new fads of thought that also
occurred during the enlightenment?
• Indentify the importance of the Encyclopedia
• Assess the importance of Montesquieu on the American
Revolution.
• You will know the main targets of the criticisms of
Voltaire and Rousseau.
• You will learn how the Callas case was a case for the
freedom of all mankind against despotic government.

BIG PICTURE
• Thinkers of the Enlightenment proposed a broad
program for the reform of government and
society.
• Although they often tended to oversimplify
human nature and to exaggerate the supremacy of
reason in human affairs, they offered forthright
and often courageous criticisms of the
inadequacies of the Old Regime.
• Ideas changed thought and action of the makers
of the American and French Revolutions and on
advocates of reform generally in the Western
World.

Heritage of the Enlightenment
• Today the Enlightenment is
often viewed as a historical
anomaly – a brief moment
when a number of thinkers
infatuated with reason vainly
supposed that the perfect
society could be built on
common sense and tolerance, a
fantasy which collapsed amid
the Terror of the French
Revolution and the triumphal
sweep of Romanticism.

Heritage of the Enlightenment (2)
• Religious thinkers repeatedly
proclaim the Enlightenment
dead.
• Marxists denounce it for
promoting the ideals and power
of the bourgeoisie at the expense
of the working classes.
• Postcolonial critics reject its
idealization of specifically
European notions as universal
truths.

Heritage of the Enlightenment (3)
• Yet in many ways, the
Enlightenment has never
been more alive.
• It formed the consensus
of international ideals by
which modern states are
judged.
– Human rights
– Religious tolerance
– Self-government

The age of_enlightenment_2012

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