What is Enlightenment? Ideas and the Origins of the French Revolution

What is unique about France in the eighteenth century? What is the “bourgeois revolution” thesis? What is the counterargument? What is unique about France in the eighteenth century? What is the “bourgeois revolution” thesis? What is the counterargument?

Two historiograpical approaches Enlightenment as history of ideas, great books written by philosophes Era framed by lives of first generation Voltaire and Kant Homogeneous: hostility to religion; instead, search for “freedom and “progress” through reason Interpretations advanced by Ernst Cassirer and Peter Gay Enlightenment as history of ideas, great books written by philosophes Era framed by lives of first generation Voltaire and Kant Homogeneous: hostility to religion; instead, search for “freedom and “progress” through reason Interpretations advanced by Ernst Cassirer and Peter Gay Social basis of enlightenment, how ideas used, disseminated, received Enlightenment writers forgotten professional writers Heterogeneous and global, occuring at periphery and in colonies Interpretations advanced by Robert Darnton and Robert Chartier Social basis of enlightenment, how ideas used, disseminated, received Enlightenment writers forgotten professional writers Heterogeneous and global, occuring at periphery and in colonies Interpretations advanced by Robert Darnton and Robert Chartier

What made the Enlightenment? Industrialization (cheap, mass produced consumer goods) Imperialism (colonies as market and as exporter of tea, coffee) Leisure and literacy -- changes in reading practices Sociability and cultural institutions (salons, Masonic lodges, coffee houses, learned academies lending libraries) Industrialization (cheap, mass produced consumer goods) Imperialism (colonies as market and as exporter of tea, coffee) Leisure and literacy -- changes in reading practices Sociability and cultural institutions (salons, Masonic lodges, coffee houses, learned academies lending libraries)

Is Enlightenment good? Two views: Horkheimer and Adorno vs. Habermas

Horkheimer and Adorno vs. Habermas “…fully enlightening the earth radiates disaster triumphant” “Disenchantment of the world” Abandons quest for meaning and exerts power over nature and world, “the administered life” Knowledge commodified, disconnected from wisdom, ethics No agreement on what is rational, leads to political terror “…fully enlightening the earth radiates disaster triumphant” “Disenchantment of the world” Abandons quest for meaning and exerts power over nature and world, “the administered life” Knowledge commodified, disconnected from wisdom, ethics No agreement on what is rational, leads to political terror Like Kant, saw Enlightenment as ongoing process Liberated individuals from particularism to embrace universal humanity Creation of “public sphere” for discussion and transformation of opinion Men participate as equal, autonomous individuals, public opinion arises Like Kant, saw Enlightenment as ongoing process Liberated individuals from particularism to embrace universal humanity Creation of “public sphere” for discussion and transformation of opinion Men participate as equal, autonomous individuals, public opinion arises