1. I already feel smarter…
The Enlightenment
I already feel smarter…

2. What is “Enlightenment?”
Reason & Logic
Traditions and Superstitions
rationalism
empiricism
tolerance
skepticism
Deism
nostalgia for the past
organized religions
irrationalism
emotionalism
Immanuel Kant –-- DARE TO KNOW!

3. The Enlightenment Scientific Revolution paved the way
France mid 1700’s
Philosophes in salons:
Reason and Truth
Nature
Happiness
Progress
Liberty

4. A Parisian Salon

5. A Parisian Salon

6. The Philosophe polymathic --– broad knowledge
autonomous –-- beholden to no one.
sociable –-- worked with other philosophes.
moral obligation –-- improve society find the most just and efficient “systems.” (economic, political, social)

7. The “Republic of Letters”
URBAN –-- gathering of elites in the cities. (salons)
URBANE --– cosmopolitan, worldly music, art, literature, politics read newspapers & the latest books.
POLITENESS –-- proper behavior self-governed.

8. Centers of the Enlightenment

9. Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) Critique of Pure Reason, 1781
“What is Enlightenment?”, 1784
Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science, 1786

10. Thomas Hobbes(1588-1679) Leviathan in 1651 Absolutism is the best
Scared by the English Civil War
State of Nature
Social Contract

12. John Locke (1632-1704) Letter on Toleration, 1689
Two Treatises of Government, 1690
Some Thoughts Concerning Education, 1693
The Reasonableness of Christianity, 1695

13. John Locke’s Philosophy (I)
The individual must become a “rational creature.”
Virtue can be learned and practiced- Tabula rasa
Human beings possess free will they should be prepared for freedom obedience should be out of conviction, not out of fear.
Legislators owe their power to a contract with the people.
Neither kings nor wealth are divinely ordained.

14. John Locke’s Philosophy (II)
There are certain natural rights that are endowed by God to all human beings life, liberty, property!
The doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings was nonsense.
Constitutional Monarchy

15. The Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755)
Persian Letters,
On the Spirit of Laws, 1748

16. Rousseau
“Man is born free, but everywhere is in chains.”

17. Jean Jacques Rousseau Technology and government made us slaves
State of Nature
General Will and Social Contract

18. Cesare Beccaria On Crimes and Punishments- 1764 Speedy trial
No cruel and unusual punishment

19. Voltaire (1694-1778) Essay on the Customs and Spirit of Nations, 1756
Candide, 1759
Philosophical Dictionary,

20. Voltaire Targeted the Church Favored religious toleration
Lived with Frederick the Great
Deism

21. Voltaire’s “Wisdom” (I)
Every man is guilty of all the good he didn’t do.
God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.
If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.
It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
Love truth and pardon error.

22. Voltaire’s “Wisdom” (II)
Judge of a man by his questions rather than by his answers.
Men are equal; it is not birth, but virtue that makes the difference.
Prejudice is opinion without judgment.
The way to become boring is to say everything.
I may not agree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.

23. Denis Diderot ( )

24. Diderot’s Encyclopédie

25. The Encyclopédie
Complete cycle of knowledge…………...… change the general way of thinking.
28 volumes.
Alphabetical, cross-referenced, illustrated.
First published in 1751.
1500 livres a set.

26. Subscriptions to Diderot’s Encyclopedie

27. Reading During the Enlightenment
Literacy: % for men; 60% women.
Books were expensive (one day’s wages.)
Many readers for each book (20 : 1) novels, plays & other literature journals, memoirs, “private lives.” philosophy, history, theology newspapers, political pamphlets.

28. An Increase in Reading

29. The Physiocrats: A Celebration of the Farmer
An economic theory which considered that the wealth of nations was derived solely from agriculture.
They strongly opposed mercantilism, because they pictured the peasant society as the economic foundation of a nation’s wealth.

30. Challenging the Physiocrats
Adam Smith – The Wealth of Nations
Profit motive.
Division of labor.
Private ownership of property.
Law of Supply & Demand.
Law of Competition.
Free trade.

31. Adam Smith Laissez-faire Gov has four jobs
Protect society from invasion
Open dangerous trade routes
Defend against injustice
Public works

32. Women in the Enlightenment
Ran the Salons
Madame de Pompadour
Better Education
Encyclopedia and women

33. Mary Wollstonecraft ( 1759-1797)
A Vindication of the Rights of Women.

34. BIG DEBATE: Religion v. Reason
The Enlightenment did NOT banish religion and superstition.
They existed side by side –-- one often provided justification for the other.
Clergy played an important role in the training of scientists & philosophers. (many were active in the field themselves!)
Voltaire fought for those accused of heresy.
The Encyclopedie used covert topic headings to address religion critically.

35. Religion in the Enlightenment
physico-theology –-- an attempt inspired by science to explain God’s providence by reference to his work in nature & not primarily through his biblical Word.
support of a “rational” religion, free from mysteries, miracles, and superstitions.

36. God, Who?
Pantheism The belief that God and nature are one and the same.
Gradually, highly educated Prots. & Caths. thought more about God’s work as revealed through science, than through the Scriptures.

37. Oh, that God Deism Jean Calas- 1761 Natural Disasters
Which religion is right?

39. Impact of the Enlightenment
Changed ideas about society
Challenged divine Right
Challenged religion
Set in motion American and French Revolutions