Enlightenment and Sentiment
Enlightenment and Sentiment Introduction and Definitions Three Examples: Light, Laws, Reason Joseph Wright of Derby, The Philosopher Giving a Lecture (1766) Montesquieu, Spirit of the Laws (1748) Diderot and D Alembert, eds., The Encyclopédie (1751-1772) Do Books Make Revolutions? Enlightened Absolutism Popular Literacy Sentiment and the Limits of Reason (two examples) Rousseau s works (1751-1780) Joseph Wright of Derby, Experiment (1768) Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, Voltaire, Naked (1776) Enlightenment and Sentiment: Lecture Outline
It is common to say that eighteenth-century Europe was a time of Enlightenment, that it was an Age of Reason and that these new ways of thinking contributed to the outbreak of the cultural-social-political conflict we call the French Revolution. - for instance, you may have learned this in high school Goal for today is to push this analysis, to ask how (if at all) ideas make revolutions. And, in order to do this, we need to think a bit more about what we understand by the word Enlightenment (a term not used in English for this period until the late nineteenth century). In all the most relevant languages (English, French, German) the dominant metaphor is one of light and so we might want to consider how/why that becomes so significant. Enlightenment and Sentiment: Introduction
For instance, while the word Enlightenment was not used in eighteenth-century English, French readers and writers referred to a body of learning and knowledge as les lumières (lights) and those writers associated with those texts as philosophes (this does not mean philosopher in a narrow sense but, as the etymology suggests, lover of knowledge ). Similarly, in German, writers referred to Aufklärung. Key to this was questioning received wisdom: All things must be debated, examined, investigated without exception and without regard for anyone s feelings We must ride rough shod over all our ancient childish fears, we must overturn the barriers that reason never erected, and give back to the arts and sciences the liberty that is so precious to them. Denis Diderot, entry Encyclopedia, in Diderot and D Alembert, eds., Encyclopédie (1751-1772). Each century will add new enlightenment to that of the century preceding it, and this progress, which nothing from now on can stop or suspend, will have no other limits than those of the duration of the universe... Marquis de Condorcet, Perpetual Secretary of the Royal Academy of Sciences (1782). Enlightenment: Introduction and Definitions
Though we often refer to the Enlightenment as if it were a unified movement, it was not. It had no manifesto, no party headquarters, no conventions, no elected or named officials. However, as we saw with Barruel s analysis of Jacobinism, in the context of the French Revolution (and even before) some authors did argue that Enlightenment must have been an organized plot, a conspiracy by Voltaire, Diderot, and a few others to destroy everything that was good (Catholic Church, monarchy) about the Old Regime. Barruel, like the consumers Steve Kaplan studied, found it comforting to think that there was a plot. If the Enlightenment was a plot, then one ought to be able to find the plotters and punish them. But, there was no plot. There was no coherent movement. Rousseau, often mentioned in textbooks as a key Enlightenment thinker was as much an anti-philosophe as anything else. So, since there was no conspiracy, no declaration of enlightenment, how are we to understand what was enlightenment? Let s start by looking at a few examples from the culture of the 1740s-1780s. Such as the painting on the next slide (and analysis of it on the following slide). Enlightenment: Introduction and Definitions
Joseph Wright (of Derby), The Philosopher giving a Lecture on the Orrery (1766)
To understand this painting, need to know that Joseph Wright was from provincial England, but was trying to establish a reputation in London. You also need to know that an orrery is a model of the solar system with a candle in the place of the sun. This painting shows a philosopher (today we might say, scientist ) giving a lecture with the help of this device. The significance of light here is that it does not come from God (who in the Bible, of course, says let there be light ) and it does not come from the Sun King. It comes from a natural phenomenon which the philosopher can explain in rational terms. Enlightenment, we might say is based on reasoning, not on faith. Notice that all his listeners (unlike some students in lectures today) are clearly interested by the model and by what he has to say. The very serious young woman on the far left, the young man taking notes, the little children all are interested. That is because the facts of nature are of universal relevance. Gravity is not optional. Enlightenment reason, textbooks say, was concerned to identify universals. Things that were true in all cases. But is that really the case? Think about the Montesquieu you read two weeks ago. He does describe some laws as universal (the laws of nature). But man-made, social, positive laws are not universal. They vary with time, place, climate.
As we see that the world, formed by the motion of matter and devoid of intelligence, still continues to exist, we learn that its motions must have invariable laws; and if one could imagine another world than this, it would have consistent rules or it would be destroyed Godfrey Kneller, Sir Isaac Newton (1689). cold air contracts the extremities of the body s surface fibers, this increases their spring and favors the return of blood from the extremities to the heart hot air, by contrast, relaxes those extremities Therefore, men are more vigorous in cold climates, where the blood is pushed harder toward the heart Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws, or on the Relation that the Laws Must Have with the Constitution of Each Government, with the People s Customs and Manners, with Climate, with Religion, with Commerce, etc. etc. etc. (first published, 1748). So, here, notice that it s an invariable law that cold air makes men more vigorous bit it is not universal that men are vigorous. They vary with their climate. M says that is why Italian theater audiences are so loud. Enlightenment Example: Laws
In order to reach his conclusions about the effect of hot and cold air, Montesquieu looked at a sheep s tongue under a microscope. And the tastebuds were smaller when the tongue was frozen. From which he concluded that people in cold climates could feel less (which was why you had to really beat servants in Russia to get them to do anything). Montesquieu was re-working a Renaissance and Classical tradition in which southerners (around the Mediterranean) were defined as civilized and northerners (Russians, Scots, Poles) were barbarian (based on whether or not they had been part of the Roman Empire.) For Montesquieu, the difference is overwhelmingly due to climate. So if you took a Russian baby to Rome, s/he could grow up to be civilized. Difference, in other words, is not inherent in people, but is a product of their environment. If you change the environment, you can change the people. This mode of reasoning exempts explanation from history. The Russians are the way they are because of where they are, not because of everything that has happened before.
We can generalize from Montesquieu and the sheep s tongue to say that in this mode of analysis (which we might want to call rational or enlightened or scientific ) claims are made valid by experiment what happens if I heat the sheep s tongue? what if I try a pig s tongue? and by replicable experience. In other words, Montesquieu can have the experience of freezing a sheep s tongue and looking at it, and so can anybody else. Well, anybody with some animal s tongue and a microscope. So his knowledge comes not from divine revelation, or through a great chain of being, but by the observing power of individual humans. If lots of humans observe the same thing and reach the same conclusions, it must be true. The most famous work of the French Enlightenment is, therefore and unsurprisingly, a massive collaborative project, the Encyclopédie (1751-1772). There had been encyclopedias before but none of this scale. Edited by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d Alembert, it was enormous. An on-going collaborative project to translate it into English is here: http://quod.lib.umich.edu/d/did/
Encyclopédie (1751-1772) 71,818 articles; 2,855 plates (pages of illustrations) 28 volumes in-folio (approx. 19 x 12 x 2.5 ) 17 volumes of text (1751-1765); 11 of images (1762-1772) subscriber s cost for the first edition, 980 livres * other folio editions: Geneva reprint of original; contraband versions elsewhere quarto editions (approx. 12 x 9.5 ) published in Geneva, Neufchatel, 1777-79; 36 volumes of text and 3 of images (print run: approx. 8400) ocatavo editions (approx. 9 x 6 ) published in Lausanne, Bern, 1778-1782; TOTAL: approx 23,500 copies Pin Making (iii) from the Encyclopédie * when skilled workers earned 2-5 livres/day and approx. ten pounds of bread could be bought for one livre Enlightenment Examples: The Encyclopédie
Encyclopedism and authorship at least 140 contributors no known author: 40% de Jaucourt: wrote close to 25% of the articles Diderot, abbé Mallet, Boucher d Argis: together responsible for another 20-25% one-third of identified authors wrote only one article Louis Michel van Loo, Portrait of Diderot oil on canvas, 81 cm. x 65 cm. (1767) Louvre (Paris, France) Enlightenment Examples: The Encyclopédie
The Encyclopédie is perhaps best known today because it was banned in 1759 for being irreligious. This was not a response to any particular article, but part of a general crackdown on publishing. In 1758, Helvétius (who was friendly with Diderot and others who contributed articles) published De l esprit (On the Spirit) in which he argued that morality had not advanced as far as sciences and the arts. Why not? He said that while anyone could do scientific research, only special people (the clergy) were allowed to make discoveries in morality but they were hypocrites and intolerant fanatics (remember the Wars of Religion!) who only pretended to be moral. He argued that we should base morality on the basis of our own feelings and experiences. The book s publication increased royal concern about atheism and immorality in wartime at this point, the Seven Years War, 1756-1763, wasgoing very badly for France and resulted in expanded censorship.
The three verbs to ADORE, to honor, and to revere are used for both religious and secular forms of worship. In religious worship one adores God, one honors the saints, and one reveres relics and images. In the secular form of worship, one adores a mistress, one honors decent people, and one reveres illustrious individuals. The manner of adoring the true God must never deviate from the standards of reason, because God is the author of reason and He wanted people to use it even in judging what is suitable to do or not to do regarding Him. Perhaps during the first centuries of the Church the saints were not honored and their images and relics were not revered, as they have been since that time; people than had an aversion to idolatry and maintained a cautious attitude toward the rituals of worship Unknown author, article Adore, Encyclopédie vol. 1, p. 144. The Manufacture of Rosary Beads, Encyclopédie Enlightenment Examples: The Encyclopédie
1745 publishers acquire the privilege (i.e., are licensed) to produce a multi-volume encyclopedia to be edited by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d Alembert 1751 first volume, A-Azymites published 1756 Seven Years War begins 1757 Damiens attempts to kill Louis XV 1758 Helvétius, De l Esprit advocates a material basis for morality 1759 Encyclopédie banned by Paris Parlement; added to the Index of books that Catholics were forbidden to read; Pope Clement XIII told the faithful to have their copies burnt by a priest or be excommunicated 1765 volume 8 ( H-Itzehoa ) published Ut Primum papal encyclical banning the Encyclopédie (September 1759) Enlightenment Examples: The Encyclopédie
SO, from all that, you probably get a sense that the Encyclopédie was revolutionary and that it somehow led to the Revolution. Does that really make sense? DO books make revolutions? Well, let s think about that.
Who supported the philosophes? Voltaire Frederick II (the Great), King of Prussia Diderot Catherine II (the Great), Empress of Russia Turgot Louis XVI, King of France As with attacks on privilege, much support for the Enlightenment (or, rather, the authors we associate with that word) came from kings and queens. Universal laws after all are appealing if you are trying to govern a huge empire. Diderot s voyage to (blue) and from (red) St. Petersburg Do Books Make Revolutions?: Enlightened Absolutism
Who Could Read? How do we know? usually measured by signatures on wedding contracts but being able to sign your name and being able to read are two different things! Literacy in France (average) men women 1686-1690 29% 14% 1786-1790 47% 27% What did they read? How do we know? We know from permissions granted by the Royal Censors Office so that doesn t tell us about the books that could not be published in France but that were published in the Netherlands or Switzerland and imported. Religious works as % of permitted publications: 1700: 50%; 1720s: 33%; 1750s: 20%; 1780s: 10% Prohibited Books: philosophical pornographic scandal/rumor reporting Fragonard, The Love Letter (c.1770). Do Books Make Revolutions?: Popular Literacy
How enlightened was Enlightenment Europe? Even within Montesquieu s universal laws and the ideal of scientific observation, there was the possibility that some could not participate in philosophy because they could not read or could not afford a microscope (or a book). Reason claims to be universal but it is in many ways socially specific. There is also always the possibility of difference based on individual s nerves (what in the eighteenth century would have been called sensibility ). The most famous critic of the philosophes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, based much of what he wrote not on claims about universal reason but on his own sensitivity which he believed and many readers did, too! was much more acute than other people s. And, in fact, his very, very long novel, Julie, was a best seller, but The Social Contract wasn t. Julie, or the New Heloise [note to students: you should go look up Heloise right now] is about a young woman who falls in love with her tutor but then follows her father s wishes and marries a much older man. Which is fine, and they live in a little village in the Alps and where peasants love them and the sheep are happy and the gardens are beautiful, until the tutor comes back and lives with them! So she is sorely tempted but just when she might do something she shouldn t, she instead jumps into a lake to rescue her child and the child is saved but she drowns. (this takes 1200 pages and is all told as letters)
500 eighteenth-century inventories of people s books 185 copies of La Nouvelle Héloïse 1 copy of The Social Contract Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract (1762). In me are united two almost irreconcilable characteristics I have a passionate temperament and headstrong emotions. But my thoughts arise slowly and confusedly, such that they are never ready until it is too late. It is as if my heart and my brain belong to different people. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Confessions (pub. 1780). early edition of La Nouvelle Héloïse, published under the original title, Letters of Two Lovers Living in a little Village at the Foot of the Alps collected by Jean-Jacques Rousseau Enlightenment and Sentiment: Rousseau s works
Joseph Wright (of Derby), Experiment on a Bird in an Air Pump (1768)
And if we look at one more Joseph Wright painting, here is the philosopher again. Now he is demonstrating an air pump this was a device for proving that air actually is something. So you put an apple in the air pump and pump out all the air, and the apple explodes (because there isn t any air pressure to hold it together). And you put a canary in an air pump and you pump out all the air and the bird dies. Isn t science wonderful? What Wright suggests in this painting is that maybe science, reason, Enlightenment isn t for everybody. Notice the girl in the center (pink dress with blue bows) who can t bear to watch. Her sensitive nerves actually prevent her from a scientist. Or notice the couple to the left, who are taking advantage of the darkened room to make lovey-dovey eyes at each other. Maybe enlightenment is universal if the universe consists of adult, white, men.
Image Credits 1. Grand Rue ( Main Street ), Geneva, Switzerland; photo RLSpang 2. Annonces, affiches, et avis divers de la Haute et Basse Normandie (1779); Archives départementales de la Seine Maritime (Rouen); http://www.archivesdepartementales76.net/cles/35-journaux-et-periodiques.html 3. anonymous, Ceremonial Costumes of the Three Orders (1789), watercolor and engraving; photo from www.photo.rmn.fr 4. Hyacinthe Rigaud, Portrait of Samuel Bernard (1726), oil on canvas, 2.65 x1.665 meters; Versailles. François Boucher, The Beautiful Cook (before 1735), oil on wood,.555 x 432 meters; Paris, Musée Cognacq-Jay; photos, http://www.photo.rmn.fr 5. Affiches de Toulouse available at gallica.bnf.fr 6. Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, Voltaire, nu (1776), marble sculpture, 1.5 x.89 x.77 meters; Paris, Louvre Museum; adapted from a photo at http://www.photo.rmn.fr 8. photo from www.derby.gov.uk 9. Godfrey Kneller, Sir Isaac Newton (1689); photo, wikimedia.org 10-13. statistics from Robert Darnton, The Business of Enlightenment: A Publishing History of the Encyclopédie (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1979). 10. http://encyclopedie.uchicago.edu 11. Van Loo, Portrait of Diderot www.photo.rmn.fr 12. http://encyclopedie.uchicago.edu 13. image and full text of encyclical (in Latin) at http://encyclopedie.uchicago.edu/node/117 15. Jean Honoré Fragonard, The Love Letter (1770?), oil on canvas,.83 x.67 meters; New York; Metropolitan Museum of Art; photo. www. photo.rmn.fr; statistics from Roger Chartier, The Cultural Origins of the French Revolution, trans. Lydia Cochrane (Durham: Duke University Press, 1991). 16. Statistics from Daniel Mornet, L Influence de Jean-Jacques Rousseau au xviiie siècle, cited in Robert Darnton, Mesmerism and the End of the Enlightenment (Cambridge: Harvard Univ Press, 1968).