1. The Eighteenth Century: An Age of Enlightenment
Chapter 17
The Eighteenth Century:
An Age of Enlightenment

2. The Age of Enlightenment in Europe
©2003 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning™ is a trademark used herein under license.

3. The Enlightenment Paths to Enlightenment
“Dare to know” – Immanual Kant
Scientific method to understand life
Popularization of Science
Bernard de Fontenelle ( ), Plurality of Worlds
A New Skepticism
Attacked superstition, religious intolerance, and dogmatism
Skepticism about religion and growing secularization
The Impact of Travel Literature
Travel books became very popular
Captain James Cook
Literature on China

4. The Legacy of Locke & Newton
reasoning could discover natural laws that govern politics, economics justice, religion, and the arts
Locke, Essay Concerning Human Understanding
knowledge derived from the environment
denied Descartes’ belief in innate ideas

5. The Philosophes and their Ideas
Came from all walks of life
Paris was the “capital”
Desire to change the world
Call for a spirit of rational criticism
3 French Giants: Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Diderot

6. Montesquieu and Political Thought
Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu ( )
Persian Letters, 1721
Attacks traditional religion, advocacy of religious toleration, denunciation of slavery, use of reason
The Spirit of the Laws, 1748; comparative study of government

7. Voltaire and the Enlightenment
Francois-Marie Arouet, Voltaire ( )
Criticism of traditional religion
Treatise on Toleration, 1763
Deism

8. Diderot and the Encyclopedia
Denis Diderot ( )
Encyclopedia, 28 volumes
Attacked religious superstition and advocated toleration
Lowered price helped to spread the ideas of the Enlightenment

9. Toward a New “Science of Man”
Physiocrats and Adam Smith founders of modern economics
François Quesnay ( )
Leader of the Physiocrat – natural economic laws
Rejection of mercantilism
Supply and demand

10. Adam Smith & Laissez-Faire Economics
The Wealth of Nations, 1776
Attack on mercantilism
Advocate of free trade
Government has only three basic functions
Protect society from invasion
Defend individuals from injustice and oppression
Keep up public works

11. The Later Enlightenment
Jean-Jacques Rousseau ( )
Discourse on the Origins of the Inequality of Mankind; Preservation of private property had enslaved
Social Contract, 1762; Tried to harmonize individual liberty with governmental authority
Concept of General Will
Emile, 1762; important work on education

12. The “Woman’s Question” in the Enlightenment
Agree that the nature of women make them inferior
There were some exceptions, for example Diderot
Mary Astell ( )
A Serious Proposal to the Ladies, 1697
Better education and equality in marriage
Mary Wollstonecraft
Vindication of the Rights of Woman, 1792
Subjection of women by men wrong

13. Social Environment of the Philosophes
Salons
The influence of women
Marie-Thérèse de Geoffrin ( )
Marquise du Deffand ( )
Other gathering places

14. Innovations in Art, Music, and Literature
Rococo Art
Characteristics
Antoine Watteau ( )
Fragility and transitory nature of pleasure, love, and life
Baroque-Rococo architectural style
Balthasar Neumann ( )
Secular and spiritual interchangeable
Baroque Music
Johann Sebastian Bach ( )
George Frederick Handel ( )
Franz Joseph Haydn ( )
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart ( )

15. The High & Low Cultures of the Eighteenth Century
Characteristics
Increased readership and publishing
Development of magazines and newspapers for the general public
Festivals, carnivals, and fairs
Gathering places
The gap between high culture and popular culture

16. Crime and Punishment Punishment in the eighteenth century
Cesare Beccaria ( ), On Crimes and Punishments
Punishment should serve only as deterrent
Punishment moved away from spectacle towards rehabilitation

17. Religion and the Churches
The Catholic and Protestant Churches were conservative
Church-State relations
Community activities of the churches
Toleration and Religious Minorities
Toleration and the Jews
Experiences of Ashkenazic Jews
Experiences of Sephardic Jews
Some Enlightenment thinkers favored acceptance of the Jews
Joseph II
Limited reforms toward the Jews

18. Religious Population in Eighteenth-Century Europe
©2003 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning™ is a trademark used herein under license.

19. Popular Religion in the Eighteenth Century
Catholic Piety
Protestant Revivalism
John Wesley ( )
Methodist societies
Brought the Gospel to the people

20. Discussion Questions
What do you see as a possible reason the Enlightenment was centered in France?
Why and when did it emerge?
Do you see any connection between the Enlightenment and religious changes in Europe?
How did the Enlightenment affect the idea of Crime and Punishment?

21. Web Links Immanual Kant Isaac Newton John Locke Adam Smith
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
John Wesley