The Enlightenment
Focus Questions: What intellectual developments led to the emergence of the Enlightenment? In what type of social environment did the philosophes thrive, and what role did women play in that environment? Who were the leading figures of the Enlightenment, and what were their main contributions? What were some effects of the Enlightenment?
THE ENLIGHTENMENT An elite social movement Timeframe = primarily of the 18 th century Also called the Age of Reason or Age of Immanuel Kant
ORIGINS The Enlightenment finds its origins primarily in the insights and of the thinkers of the 16 th /17 th century Scientific Revolution
Newtonian Physics If Isaac Newton could discover the laws regulating the world of nature, philosophes too, by using reason and the scientific method, could find the laws that governed human society This belief in turn led philosophes to hope that they could make progress toward a society than the one they had inherited
John Locke s Epistemology Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690) and the Implications of tabula rasa Good example of
Popular Understanding and the Acceptance of Science Scientific ideas were spread to everwidening circles of educated Europeans not so much by scientists themselves as by Bernard de Fontenelle (1657-1757) and his Plurality of Worlds (1686)
Émilie du (1706-1749) and her translation of and commentary on Newton s Principia (1759) A great man whose only fault was being a woman Voltaire In the frontispiece to their translation of Newton, du Châtelet is depicted as the muse of Voltaire, reflecting Newton's heavenly insights down to Voltaire.
Impact of Travel Literature Print culture as an agent of change Uncertainties about European customs and practices fed cultural The versus civilized Europe Travel literature fed (religious) James Cook Travels Noble Savage
James Cook s Voyages
A New Skepticism of Religion & Tradition Philosophical Continued of European elites Pierre (1647-1706), religious toleration, and the impact of the Historical and Critical Dictionary
Overarching Goal Therefore, the philosophes hoped to apply and the scientific to all aspects of society government, economics, religion, justice, and education
The Philosophes and Their Ideas
What is Enlightenment? Essay published in 1784 Enlightenment is man s emergence from his self-imposed. Immaturity is the inability to use one s understanding without guidance from another. This immaturity is self-imposed when its cause lies not in lack of understanding, but in lack of resolve and courage to use it without guidance from another. Sapere Aude! Have courage to use your own understanding! that is the motto of enlightenment. Immanuel Kant Dare to Know
The Philosophes Very few were actual philosophers Philosophes were literary people, professors, journalists, statesmen, economists, political scientists, and above all, social They came from both the nobility and the middle class, and a few even stemmed from lower origins International and elite movement; dominant role of French and Paris
The Point of Philosophy (Reason) Reason to the philosophes was coequal with the scientific method A spirit of rational criticism ought be applied to every facet of human society the The philosophes wrote and worked in a climate of ; attempts to evade it
SOME KEY PHILOSOPHES
Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755 ) Persian Letters (1721) The Spirit of the Laws (1748)
Voltaire (1694-1778) The most well known and influential philosophe Prolific writer: playwright, poet, novelist, essayist, historian, scientist Champion of Amendment freedoms Philosophic Letters on the English (1733) = critique of French society by praising the English example
Chateau at Ferney
Voltaire (1694-1778) Affair (1762) Treatise on Toleration (1763) Ecrasez l infame = Crush the infamous thing Deism (1759) Lisbon earthquake 1755
Denis Diderot (1713-1784) -volume Encyclopédie (1751) An attempt to change the way of thinking Hoped it would make Europe more cosmopolitan,, humane, and reasonable
Jean d Alembert (1717-1783) of the Encyclopédie Brilliant mathematician and physicist
David Hume (1711-1776) Treatise of Human Nature (1739) The emergence of the science of man or Political science Economics Psychology Sociology Anthropology
Baron Paul d Holbach (1723-1789) System of Nature (1770) Advocated a strict doctrine of and materialism
Marquis Marie-Jean de Condorcet (1743-1794) The Progress of the Human Mind (published posthumously in 1795) Taught the of society with the widespread adoption of the scientific method Europe on the verge of utopia? Excessive?
Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794) On Crimes and Punishments (1764) Championed the treatment of prisoners Critic of torture and public executions, which he considered barbaric
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) Discourse on the Origins of the Inequality of Mankind (1754) The of nature, and the noble savage Like Hobbes and Locke, a
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) The Social Contract (1762) Man is born free but everywhere is in Advocate of democracy The as a prelude to totalitarianism? Émile (1762),, and the origins of Romanticism
François Quesnay (1694-1774) critique of mercantilism Tableau Économique (1758)
Adam Smith (1723-1790)
Basic Argument His argument: in a free economy, the of economics can operate, resulting in goods being produced at the lowest possible price In an economy regulated by government (mercantilism), the natural laws of economics cannot operate, to the of all
The natural law of selfinterest People act for reasons; they produce goods and services and work for their own advantage In pursing economic enlightened self-interest, it as if individuals are guided by an invisible hand because their actions tend to benefit the community as a whole It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own self-interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages.
The natural law of competition In a free market, everyone Competition in a free market among selfinterested individuals and companies results in economic progress because it encourages innovation and And, competition between domestic and foreign industries helps to improve domestic industries Examples
The natural law of supply and demand The amount of goods or services a nation needs and produces will be regulated by the operation of a free market For instance, when the supply exceeds the demand for clothes, manufacturers have to lower their prices to attract more customers; the low price will drive some manufacturers out of business Smith also promoted so as to maximize natural advantages
Labor theory of value Unlike the physiocrats, Smith proposed the theory of value the idea that a nation s labor pool constitutes the true wealth of a nation Impact on Karl Marx
Proper role/functions of government It is important to recognize that even though Smith argued that governments should play a minimal role in the economy, he did clearly spell out its proper as a whole: Governments should protect its citizens from foreign (military) Governments should individual rights and property (police and courts) Governments should support works and infrastructure like roads, canals, and, schools that private individuals could not afford to maintain themselves In sum, governments should be a kind of policeman that stays out of the lives of individuals
WOMEN & THE ENLIGHTENMENT The reforming program of the Enlightenment was not focused on issues
Mary Astell (1666-1731) The Woman Question A Serious Proposal to the Ladies (1697) and the necessity of access to education Women are just as intellectually capable as men Some Reflections upon Marriage (1700) and the equality of the sexes in Patriarchy in marriage was a form of absolutism..if all men are born free, how is that women are born slaves?
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) The mother of European Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) What fails the of reason The Enlightenment is based on the idea that reason is innate in human beings Implications
Some Results of the Enlightenment: Continued the on tradition and authority that had begun in the Scientific Revolution Did women though have an Enlightenment? The Enlightenment continued the of European intellectuals After all, it was a reform movement focused on this world and not the next Emergence of full-blown materialism and atheism
Some Results of the Enlightenment: Because the philosophes were not democrats, they attempted to enact their reform policies by appealing to the monarchs of Europe = monarchy Joseph II, Catherine the Great, Frederick the Great and others The Enlightenment provided the intellectual foundation for the revolts of the late 18 th and early 19 th centuries that would explode in Europe and the New World The core Enlightenment ideas of reason (rationality), progress, and optimism would be fundamentally in the late 19 th and 20 th centuries