AN OVERVIEW AND ORIGINS OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT

Political History – ReformIntellectual History – Newtonian Physics and

ReasonCultural History – IndividualismSocial History – Increased LiteracyEconomic History – Mercantilism to Capitalism

POLITICSBritain – Constitutional MonarchyFrance – AbsolutismPrussia, Habsburg Empire, Austria – Enlightened

DespotismOttoman Empire – Traditional empire

THE ORIGINS OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT

SCIENCENewton’s system was synonymous with the

empirical and the practical

Scientific laws could be expressed as mathematical formulas

Science allowed alternatives to be imagined in all subject areas

THE ORIGINS OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT

RELIGIONAttempting to explain God’s work through his work

in nature and not through biblical referenceSupport for a rational religion free from mysteries,

miracles, and superstitions

Deism – the belief in God (or supreme being) but not in any organized religion. One’s belief was based on nature and reason. God was uninvolved in the daily life of man.

Pantheism – the belief that God and nature are the same. Believed that God’s work was revealed through nature and not through scripture.

ENLIGHTENMENT CHARACTERISTICS

RationalismCosmologySecularismScientific MethodUtilitarianismTolerance

Optimism and Self-Confidence

FreedomEducation of the

MassesLegal ReformConstitutionalismCosmopolitanism

THE PHILOSOPHEThe philosophe was an enlightened individual

who publicized reforms meant to correct the evils of society.

They took advantage of the print culture and the more educated populace to promote their theories.

The philosophes generated the great debate about the foundations of society: Logic and Reason or Traditions and Superstitions.

THE GREAT SOCIETY DEBATE

Logic and Reason vs. Traditions and SuperstitionsRationalism NostalgiaEmpiricism Organized ReligionTolerance IrrationalismSkepticism EmotionalismDeism

HOW SHOULD SOCIETY BE ORGANIZED?

THE GOALS OF ENLIGHTENMENT

“…freedom from arbitrary power, freedom of speech, freedom of trade, freedom to realize one’s talents, freedom of aesthetic response, freedom, in a word, of moral man to make his way in the world.”

Peter Gay - historian

Denis Diderot (1713 – 1784)Diderot published the

Encyclopedia. It was an exercise in freedom of expression and included critical ideas on religion, government, and philosophy.

It also contained practical information about all human knowledge therefore secularizing learning and removing elitist attitudes

MARQUIS DE CONDORCET (1743-1794)

Progress of the Human Mind 1794

*Universal happiness*Reason leads to

indepenedence*Free and equal

education*Equal rights for

women*Constitutionalism

JOHN LOCKE (1632 – 1704)Letter on Toleration,

1689Two Treatises of

Government, 1690Some Thoughts

ConcerningEducation, 1693

The Reasonableness of Christianity, 1695

JOHN LOCKE’S PHILOSOPHIES*Individuals must become rational creatures*Virtue can be learned and practiced*Humans possess free will*Governments owe their power to a contract

with the people*Neither kings or wealth are divinely ordained*Some natural rights are granted by God: Life,

Liberty, and Property*A republic is the best form of government*The “Divine Right” of kings should not exist

IMMANUEL KANT (1724 – 1804)

Critique of Pure Reason, 1781

What is Enlightenment?, 1784

Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science, 1786

KANT’S PHILOSOPHIES*Dare to Know!*He introduced Transcendentalism – to learn by

ways other than empiricism.It is the belief in the existence of non-

rational ways to understand things.*The existence of time and space is determined by

something other than empiricism.They transcend sensory experienceThey are pure and not empirical (similar to

concepts of faith, pre-existence, and life after death)

THOMAS PAINE (1737-1809)

Common Sense, 1776

The Rights of Man, 1791

The American Philosophes

John Adams (1745-1826) Ben Franklin (1706-1790)

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

…Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness…

FRANCOIS MARIE AROUET (1712 – 1778)

Essay on the Customs and Spirit of Nations, 1756

Candide, 1759

Philosophical Dictionary, 1764

VOLTAIRE’S PHILOSOPHIES“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 didn’t exist, it would be necessary to invent him”

“It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong”

“Crush the Infamous Thing” (in reference to the Church)

“Love truth and pardon error”

VOLTAIRE’S PHILOSOPHIES“Judge 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 judgement”

“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”

Jewish Thinkers of the Enlightenment

Baruch Spinoza, in his work Ethics, stated the spiritual and material worlds were almost one and the same. His critics argued that there could be no personal, individual immortality of the human soul after death.

His ideas were close to deism

Even though he lived in the century before enlightenment he seemed to anticipate its coming

Jewish Thinkers of the Enlightenment

Moses Mendelssohn (1729-1786) argued that a Jew could combine loyalty to Judaism with adherence to rational, Enlightenment values.

In Jerusalem; or On Ecclesiastical Power and Judaism (1783) he argued that religious diversity within a nation did not harm loyalty to the government, therefore, governments should be religiously neutral and Jews should enjoy the same civil rights as other subjects.

Cesare Beccaria (1738 – 1794)In his book On Crimes and

Punishments he wanted laws to conform with the rational laws of nature.

He attacked torture and capital punishment and stated that the intent of punishment should be to deter further crime.

The purpose of laws was not to impose the will of God, but to secure the greatest good or happiness for the greatest number

DAVID HUME (1711-1776)The Natural

History of Religion, 1755

The belief in God was dependent on superstition and fear rather than reason.

EDWARD GIBBON (1737-1794)The Decline and

Fall of the Roman Empire (6 volumes) 1787

He pointed out the problems with contemporary England and urged reform

ECONOMICS AND ENLIGHTENMENT

Physiocrats argued against mercantilism

Francois Quesnay (1694-1774) argued that the role of government should be to protect property and permit its owners to use it freely. He believed that a nation’s wealth was measured in its land.

ECONOMICS AND ENLIGHTENMENTAdam Smith argued against

mercantilism and the physiocrats. In Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776) Smith argued that economic growth is achieved when people are free to pursue their own selfish economic interests.

He said governments should practice Laissez-faire politics

The invisible hand motivates all economic decisions

BARON DE MONTESQUIEU (1689-1755)

Persian Letters, 1721On the Spirit of Laws, 1758

MONTESQUIEU’S PHILOSOPHIES

There are three types of governments:MonarchyRepublicDespotism

A separation of powers in government ensures political freedom and personal liberty

JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU (1712-1778)

A Discourse on the Sciences and Arts, 1750

Emile, 1762

The Social Contract, 1762

ROUSSEAU’S PHILOSOPHIESAs civilization progresses the arts and sciences

move away from morality

Science and art raise artificial barriers man and his natural state

Therefore the revival of science and the arts has corrupted social morals, not improved them.

ROUSSEAU’S PHILOSOPHIESVirtue exists in a “state of nature” but is lost in

society.

Government must preserve “virtue” and “liberty”“Man is born free but is everywhere in chains”The “Noble Savage” concept

Liberty, Equality, Fraternity

Invest all rights and liberties into a society

ROUSSEAU’S PHILOSOPHIESIn the Social ContractThe right kind of political order could make

people truly moral and free.Individual moral freedom could be achieved only

by learning to subject one’s individual interest to “The General Will”

Individuals did this by entering into a social contract, not with their ruler but with each other.

The social contract was derived from human nature, not from history, tradition, or the Bible.

ROUSSEAU’S PHILOSOPHIESPeople would be most free and moral under a

republican form of government with a direct democracy.

However, Rousseau offered no legal protections for individual rights.

His theories greatly influenced the revolutionaries of 1789.

THE SPREAD OF ENLIGHTENMENT THOUGHT

Suggestions for social reform came from salons - weekly social gatherings at the private house of an aristocratic lady, at which social, artistic, and scientific questions were discussed.

Suggestions were also popularized in literature

Efforts were made at self-improvement, therefore rates of literature increased (80% men 60% women), manners improved, and people sought to appear to be improving through fancier dress and home furnishings.

Typical rococo style for 18th century France

Typical rococo style for 18th century France

FASHION WAS ALSO TAKEN TO EXTREMES

Typical 18th century French Furnishings

Rococo Architecture

Rococo Architecture

A SALON OF MADAME GEOFFRIN

ROCOCO ART

Artist Francois Boucherpainted many versions of Madame Pompadour.

Rococo art celebrates theleisurely lifestyle of the wealthy

ROCOCO ART

Antoine Watteau

painted The

Pleasures of the Ball

4th Duke of Marlborough and Family by Sir Joshua Reynolds

Rococo Art

Rococo decorations were all about being elaborate and pretty, not utilitarian or very functional