Chapter 8Chapter 8 The Enlightenment The Enlightenment 1540-17891540-1789
Surpassing the ClassicsProgress and Human Achievements
EnlightenmentEnlightenment1600s and 1700s
The Age of ReasonThe Age of Reason (rationalism)
Literate and Educated Elite Progress and natural rights Questions of human nature
What is a Social
Contract?
Thomas Hobbes vs. John Locke
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)
England
Leviathan 1651
John Locke(1632-1704)
England1690 Two
Treatises of Civil Government
Hobbes Social Contracts Locke
• People are evil and selfish
• Kings keep order in society
• Give up rights in exchange for order
• Rebellion against monarchy is wrong
• “Natural Law”• People are good and
reasonable• Government protects
natural rights• People can rebel
against a bad government
Absolutist
Anti-Absolutist
““The The condition of condition of man... is a man... is a
condition of condition of war of war of
everyone everyone against against
everyone”everyone”
d
““The state of nature The state of nature has a law of nature has a law of nature to govern it, … that to govern it, … that being all equal and being all equal and
independent, no independent, no one ought to harm one ought to harm another in his life, another in his life, health, liberty, or health, liberty, or possessions.” possessions.”
Indicates support for landowners
d
““Men being, as has been said, by nature all free, equal and independent, no one can be put out of this estate, and subjected to the political power of another, without his own consent. The only way whereby anyone divest himself of his natural liberty and puts on the bonds of civil society is by agreeing with other men to join and unite into a community for their comfortable, safe and peaceable living one amongst another, in a secure enjoyment of their properties and a greater security against any that are not of it.” ”
Second Treatise of Civil Government, 1689
Letter on Toleration
(except Catholics and atheists)------------------------------------
Concerning Human
Understanding Tabula Rasa and the
need for more education
“No man's knowledge here can go beyond his experience”
Reading Revolutionindividual readings of multiple works
Marquis de Condorcet(1743-1794)
“I hope to see the bringing together of all the best-educated people of the earth into a worldwide
Congress of Scientists.”
1715Louis XIV is deadFrench PhilosophesPhilosophes became more vocalFrench = international language of the educated
Censorship existed but often challenged
XX XX
SalonsSalonsPrivate Drawing Rooms to Discuss IdeasPrivate Drawing Rooms to Discuss Ideas
Madame Geoffrin’s Paris Salon
VoltaireRousseau Diderot
Geoffrin
Montesquieu
Charles Baron de
Montesquieu(1689-1755)
France Spirit of Laws
1748
Separation of Powers
Constitutionalism
Abolition of Slavery
Checks and
Balances
“Useless laws
weaken the necessary
laws”
“In the infancy of societies, the chiefs of
state shape its institutions;
later the institutions shape the
chiefs of state.”
François-Marie Arouet
Voltaire (1694-1778)
France
Religious Tolerance
Free Speech
“Opinions have caused more ills
than the plague or earthquakes on this little globe of ours.”
“It is dangerous to be right in matters where established men are wrong.”
“Superstition sets the whole world
in flames; philosophy
quenches them.”
“It is better to risk saving a guilty man than to condemn an
innocent one”
“I have never made but one
prayer to God, a very short one: ‘O Lord make my enemies
ridiculous.’ And God granted it.”
“Every man is guilty of the good he did not do.”
“It is forbidden to kill; therefore all
murderers are punished unless they kill in large
numbers and to the sound of trumpets”
“The secret of being a
bore is to tell everything.”
Not a Political RadicalBelieved in
need of “Good” MonarchsNo class equality
“I die adoring God, loving my friends, not hating my enemies, and detesting superstition.”
“To pray to God is to flatter
oneself that with words one
can alter nature. ”
DeismReligious view where
God does not intervene in human life
Promoted by Voltaire, John Locke, Frederick the Great, and others
American DeistsThomas JeffersonBenjamin Franklin
James MadisonAlexander HamiltonGeorge Washington
Thomas PaineAbraham LincolnNeil Armstrong
Jefferson Bible, or The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth 1819
“There will be found remaining the most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man.”
-Thomas Jefferson in a 1813 letter to John Adams
Denis Diderot(1713-1784)
FranceEncyclopedia
The Rational Dictionary of the Sciences, the Arts, and the Crafts
17 Volumes, 1st in 1751
“Change the general way of thinking”
Anti AbsolutismReligious
PowerSuperstition
“If you want me to believe in God,
you must make me touch him”
"Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the
entrails of the last priest"
Baron d’Holbach’s atheist beliefsGood Sense, 1772
“Man has been forced to vegetate in his primitive stupidity: he has been taught nothing but stories
about invisible powers upon whom his happiness was supposed to depend. Occupied solely by his
fears … he has been at the mercy of his priests, who have reserved to
themselves the right of thinking for him…”
David HumeDavid Hume(1711-1776)
ScottishHumans can’t Humans can’t
understand the understand the universe beyond universe beyond
experiencesexperiences A Treatise of Human
Nature (1739)
Religion is fear of the unknown
““Generally speaking, Generally speaking, the errors in religion the errors in religion are dangerous; those are dangerous; those
in philosophy only in philosophy only ridiculous.”ridiculous.”
““Nothing is more Nothing is more surprising than surprising than
the easiness the easiness with which the with which the
many are many are governed by the governed by the
few.”few.”
Jean-Jacques Rousseau(1712-1778)
Swiss
Pro emotion and individual freedoms
Saw reason and civilization as limiting
“Man is born free,
and everywhere
he is in shackles”
1762 Social Contract
General Will(what is “best”)
should run the nation
General Will established by an enlightened minority
Gender Roles
EmileBoys: Exercise,
Craft Skills, Education
Girls: Domestic skills and kept
away from politics and power
Immanuel Kant
(1724-1804)German
Pro-Freedom of the Press
“Dare to know!”
Kant debated balance between enlightenment and
law and order
“Enlightened Absolutism”
Cesare Beccaria(1738-1794)
Italy 1763 On Crimes and
Punishment
No cruel and unusual or capital
punishment
“Happy is the nation without a history.”
“Is the death penalty really useful and necessary for the
security and good order of society? Are torture and torments just…?
What is the best way to prevent crimes?”
Moses Mendelssohn
(1729-1786) Jewish German
Religious Tolerance
andSeparation of
church and state
What form of government is therefore advisable for the
church? None! Who is to be the arbiter if disputes arise over religious matters?...
Neither state nor church is authorized to judge in
religious matters; for the members of society could
not have granted that right to them by any contract
whatsoever.
Women More Involved In
EnlightenmentHosting Salons
WritingDebate
Painting
Madame Gabrielle-Emilie du Chatelet
(1706-1749)Spread Works of Newton and
Voltaire
Mary Wollstonecraft
(1759-1796)England
Women not inferior but
lack access to education
1792 A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
“Till women are more rationally educated, the progress in
human virtue and improvement in knowledge must receive continual
checks.”
Race and the Enlightenment
Study of Racial DifferencesPlaced Into Hierarchies
Judgments and Divisions
Hume and Kant championed the idea of European white racial superiority and “civilization”
The Physiocrats – Economists who advocated for less government
Adam Smith (1723-1790)
Scotland1776 The Wealth of
Nations
Free MarketLaissez-Faire
The “Invisible Hand” of the market
Smith believed this would raise the living standard of working class
Economic Liberalism
People have more freedom and decision
making powerAnti-MercantilismAnti-RegulationsAnti-Monopoly
Government should only… 1. Protect from invasion
2. Defend from injustice
3. Maintain indispensable public works
Enlightenment will expanded from the elite salons into The Public Sphere
What were the key ideas of the Enlightenment?
Enlightened Enlightened DespotismDespotismRulers balance
Enlightenment principles with power and authority
Frederick II“The Great”(1712-1786)
HohenzollernSon of Frederick William I, but did
not share his Father’s total love
of military discipline
The greatest and noblest pleasure which men can
have in this world is to discover new
truths; and the next is to shake off
old prejudices.
A more free press
Abolished Most Torture
Religious Toleration
Efficient and Fair Courts
I have always considered Machiavelli's Prince as one of the most dangerous works ever to be disseminated in the world. It is a book which falls naturally into the hands of princes and of those with a taste for politics. Since it is very easy for an ambitious young man, whose heart and judgment are not
sufficiently developed to distinguish clearly between good
and evil, to be corrupted by maxims which flatter the
impetuosity of his passions, ....
“What may we not expect from the author of so many
masterpieces! … This it is which makes me desire so ardently to
possess all your works. I beg you to send them to me, Sir, and to
communicate them unreservedly. If among your manuscripts there
should be any which, with necessary prudence, you think fit
to hide from the public eye, I promise you to keep it secret and
to content myself with applauding it in private.”
-Letter From Frederick to Voltaire
Promoted arts and music
All religions must be
tolerated... for every man must get to
heaven in his own way.
We have too many Jews in the towns. They are needed on the Polish border
because in these areas Hebrews alone perform trade. As soon as you get away from the frontier, the Jews become a disadvantage, they form
cliques, they deal in contraband and get up to all manner of rascally tricks
which are detrimental to Christian burghers and merchants. I have never
persecuted anyone from this or any other sect; I think, however, it would be prudent to pay attention, so that
their numbers do not increase.
Concern for the serfs, but Concern for the serfs, but did did notnot free them free them
Used war to expand empire
Imperial RussiaAfter Peter 6 weak rulers
Catherine IIGerman princess related to the Romanovs
Tsar Peter III
(1728-1762)
Murdered by his wife
Catherine’s lover and his
brothers
Catherine and her lover Count Orlov
TsarinaCatherine II“The Great” (1729-1796)
Supported westernization,
science, religious
toleration, and the arts
Helped fund Diderot’s
Encyclopedia
Thanks Catherine
Crushed a serf rebellion and expanded noble power
Serfdom Expanded
1768-1772 Invasion
of Poland
Divided with Aust and Prus to balance power
“I shall be an autocrat, that's my trade; and the good Lord will forgive me,
that's his.”
Believed an absolute ruler could help the people
“You philosophers are lucky men. You write on paper and
paper is patient. Unfortunate
Empress that I am, I write on the
susceptible skins of living beings.”
Austrian Habsburgs (and HRE)
This agglomeration which was called
and which still calls itself the Holy
Roman Empire was neither holy,
nor Roman, nor an empire.
Maria Theresa
(1717-1780)Reduced Papal
InfluenceStrengthen govt.
Bureaucracy
Reduced noble influence over serfs
HER and Austrian Emperor Joseph II
(1740-1790)
Legal equalityNo death penalty
No serfdom (cash for labor)
Religious freedoms
“I have made philosophy the lawmaker of my empire…”
Alienated and angered the
Catholic Church and the Nobles
Confused peasantsMany reforms
cancelled after his death
The British and the
Enlightenment• Not absolutist - Bill of Rights and freeish
press• Parliament – Corrupt use of boroughs• Reformers wanted more elections and
more power to the House of Commons• Increased authority over Irish and Indians
ReligionReligionLarge Establishment
vs.Local Churches
Sciencevs.
“Superstitions”
Absolutist Catholic monarchs Absolutist Catholic monarchs competed with Rome for powercompeted with Rome for powerSpain, Austria, and France reduced Spain, Austria, and France reduced
papal influencepapal influence
Kicked out the JesuitsKicked out the Jesuits
Protestant PietismEmotional religious experiences
Priesthood of all believers
Affected all classes
John Wesley(1703-1791)
British
Methodism
Religion = Personal experienceRejected predestination and said
all could be saved
Rococo Art - 1700s “Late Baroque” Soft pastels, ornate interiors, sentimental portraits
Madame de Pompadour
by François Boucher