Enlightenment

WHAT IS ENLIGHTENMENT ?It is a philosophical movement of the 18th century that emphasized the use of reason to scrutinize previously accepted doctrines and traditions and that brought about many humanitarian reforms.

- the Enlightenment was also a period of great optimism and expectation that the world and humanity were entering upon a new era of reason, of enlightenment and of knowledge.

There were major sources of ideas underlying the Enlightenment outlook:it owed a great deal to the Renaissance and the recovery and revival of Classical learning; this tradition emphasised human reason and rationality

as a path to knowledge and as a way of life It focused upon deductive logic and reasoning; there was a new emphasis upon being human and upon developing and honouring both the human mind and the human body.

Much of earlier Christianity had tried to strive to be less human and more saint like or like the angels.

The Beginnig of the enlightenment came from theology. This Theology of Maimonides, Thomas, and Calvin, enabled philosophers to think systematically.

How did enlightenment Start ?

A Lot of scholars, Christians and Jews, came to Europe. In 1648 the 30 years war ended in Europe and religious wars ended. Also after so many Christians had been killing Christians, interest in Christianity declined.

In England Francis Bacon proposed the idea that Science could solve a number of problems that had never previously been solved. His thinking would influence the Enlightenment

Thomas Hobbes came up with his ideas on materialism and law. They would have an influence. Then John Locke stepped into the void. With his ideas, the enlightenment began.

David Hume continued it. In France, it influenced Voltaire and Rousseau. As people involved in the Enlightenment visited other nations, it spread there.

Then in France it turned into the French Revolution. The Romantic Movement was a reaction against the Enlightenment.

How did enlightenment spread ?

Ideas of the Enlightenment period were printed in newspapers, pamphlets, and in protest songs. However the Church and French government did their best to stop these ideas from spreading.

Art, literature, and politics in this Age explain Enlightenment ideas.

The Arts1. Denis Diderot : spread enlightened thinking inall areas by publishing the Encyclopedia

2. Franz Joseph Haydn :broke from traditionally ornatemusical forms and developedthe sonata and symphony

3.Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: set a new standard for eleganceand originality with his variedand numerous musical compositions

4. Ludwig van Beethoven : exhibited great range in hisworks; moved from the classicalstyle of Mozart to begin newtrend that carried music into the Age of Romanticism

5. Samuel Richardson : wrote Pamela, the first English novel

Government:6. Frederick the Great : committed himself to the goal of reforming and strengthening his country; granted many religious freedoms,reduced censorship ,improved education and the justice system, and abolished torture; considered that the king should be “first servant of thestate”

7. Joseph II : abolished serfdom, initiated legal reforms, introduced freedom of the press, supported freedom of religion

8. Catherine the Great :tried to modernize and reform Russia according to the writings of the philosophes; accomplished limited reforms

• 1. Joseph II : abolished serfdom• 2. Franz Joseph Haydn,

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven : composed classical music

The Spread of Enlightenment Ideas

• 3. : ruled Russia as an enlightened despot• 4. Frederick the Great : ruled

Prussia as an enlightened despot• 5. Joseph II : ruled Austria as an

enlightened despot

• 6. Denis Diderot :edited and published the Encyclopedia• 7. Catherine the Great :brutally

crushed a massive uprising of serfs• 8. Catherine the Great: gave the

nobility absolute power over the serfs

• 9. Samuel Richardson, Henry Fielding, and Daniel Defoe : developed many of the features of the modern novel• 10. Marie-Thérèse Geoffrin ran

the most influential of Paris salons during the Enlightenment

It ended about 50 years ago when philosophers began to understand that you cannot "prove" anything. You cannot prove that the universe

Why did it end ?

didn't pop into existence 5 minutes ago and that all your memories aren't fake. You cannot prove that you are not just a brain in a nutrient-filled vat plugged into a computer program that you perceive as "reality."

The only people who think in that old 18th century way any more are atheists and evolutionists, arrogant uneducated fools who don't realize their "faith" is already on history's scrap pile.

Everything everyone believes, we believe by faith. Everything. Everyone. Let's get used to it.