THE PHILOSOPHES. Rousseau

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1 THE PHILOSOPHES Voltaire Montesquieu Rousseau

2 Philosophes - public intellectuals dedicated to solving the problems of the World - wrote for a broad, educated public audience - fought to eradicate bigotry, religious fanaticism, superstition - promoted Natural Rights - intellectual freedom, freedom of the press and religion, human progress - spread their ideas through books, essays, letters pamphlets

3 PHILOSOPHES - Paris was headquarters - they met in salons and coffee houses to share ideas -Mme. de Geoffrin - famous hostess of such a salon - she provided a platform to promote discussion, spread of Enlightenment ideals Denis Diderot - edited Encyclopedia- a 17-volume collection of Enlightenment literature

4 Conflicts w/ Church and State David Hume - Scottish, atheist philos. - The Natural History of Religion - argued the belief in God rested on superstition rather than on reason. Deists - believed in a benevolent God who put the world in motion, but did not intercede in daily life - Philos. campaigned against judicial use of torture - attacked the Church & state for its support of colonization and slavery

5 Views on colonies, slavery, natives, lower classes - Raynal - French clergyman who wrote about the horrors of colonization and slavery natives - seen by some Philosophes as primitive & innocent, or as violent and savage by others - slavery - widely condemned by Philosophes -Abolitionists began to petition gov ts to ban slavery Philosophes - saw lower classes as ignorant, violent, superstitious - pinned hopes on elite, enlightened rulers

6 MONTISQUIEU - Attacked Absolutism - called it despotism - promoted idea of Separation of Powers to prevent abuses in government - admired English Constitutionalism -SPIRIT OF THE LAWS - opposed divine right of kings and absolutism

7 VOLTAIRE AKA -Francois-Marie Arouet - a deist Philosophical Dictionary - attacked organized Christianity as a source of fanaticism and brutality among humans - champion of religious toleration & free speech - His motto - Crush the infamous thing! (the thing was bigotry and ignorance)

8 The Individual and Society - shift from theological focus to secular study of society & the individual - 2 major results of secular focus: a. secularization of political life b. foundation for the social sciences of the modern era Enlightenment = origin of modernity - the belief that human reason, rather than theological doctrine, should be set the patterns of social & political life

9 Adam Smith vs. Jean-Jacques Rousseau - views on the individual & society differed Smith - the best expression opportunity for the individual lay in free-market capitalism (founder of modern economics) Rousseau - emphasized needs of community over those of the individual - his work led to both democracy and communism

10 PHYSIOCRATS - Early political economists - sought to explain the relationship between commerce and people and gov t - Adam Smith - English economist who promoted capitalism - laissez-faire - leave alone - gov t should not interfere in business - wrote Wealth of Nations

11 ROUSSEAU - a social misfit, he both disdained and was supported by wealthy patrons - said man was prone to good, but civilization was a source of human evil - gov t should submit to the general will of the people The Social Contract (1762) - promoted a conscious, calculated nationalism that made all people feel like they belonged - an early Romantic

12 BACKLASH: - reason and secular science viewed as soulless - some sought inner enlightenment of the spirit - Pietism -German Lutheran movement - John Wesley - Anglican revivalist - Great Awakening -American colonial religious revival of the 1740 s (George Whitfield) - birth of Romanticism, which would mature in the early 19th century

13 John Wesley - Anglican itinerant preacher - preached to the masses in England George Whitfield - itinerant preacher - stressed individualism in spiritual matters

The Enlightenment. Main Ideas. Key Terms

The Enlightenment. Main Ideas. Key Terms The Enlightenment Main Ideas Eighteenth-century intellectuals used the ideas of the Scientific Revolution to reexamine all aspects of life. People gathered in salons to discuss the ideas of the philosophes.