1. The Enlightenment --- Age of Reason
Movie Clip

2. What was it?
Emerged out of the Scientific Revolution and ended in the French Revolution
Spokesmen = Rising Middle Class
Paris = Center of Enlightenment
Search for new laws/ways to govern humans

3. Key Ideas Distrust of Tradition and Religion
Scientific method could be applied to society as well
Man is naturally good

4. The World of the Old Regime
Built on tradition
World of hierarchy, privilege and inequality
Allied with the Church
Challenged by supporters of the Enlightenment

5. Conflict with the Capitalistic Middle Class
Size and increasing power of the Middle Class
New notion of wealth w/mercantilism
Tension and discord created by the Middle Class

6. The Philosophes (Philosophers)
18th century French intellectuals
Truth through reason
Natural laws – natural is good and reasonable
Happiness – belief in natural laws leads to happiness
Progress – for society (can be perfected)
Liberties – people should be free

7. The Problem of Censorship
The attempt of the Old Regime to control new thinking
Publishers and writers hounded by censors
Over 1000 booksellers and authors imprisoned in the Bastille in the early 1700’s

8. Famous Enlightenment Thinkers

9. Thomas Hobbes (1588 –1679) Wrote Leviathan (1651)
Convinced that all humans are wicked and evil
Humans exist in a primitive state and give consent to the government for self-protection
Belief: Absolute monarchies

10. John Locke (1632-1704) People learn from experience
Favored self-gov’t, people rule
Natural rights: life, liberty, property
gov’t protects these rights and if not, people overthrow gov’t
Wrote Two Treaties on Government (1690)
Inspired American Revolution

11. Francois Arouet Voltaire (1694-1778)
Wrote Candide
Govt. to protect people’s freedom & tolerance
There should be separation of church and state
“Ecrasez l’infame” – “Crush the evil thing”

12. Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755)
The Spirit of the Laws (1748)
“Power should be a check to power” – this is beginnings of separation of powers
Influence in the US – legislative, executive, judicial

13. Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)
Individual freedom
“Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.”
Belief: Direct democracy
1762- Wrote The Social Contract in which he stated that Gov’t is a contract b/w people and rulers

14. The Role of the Salon – Spreading Ideas
Wealthy women of Paris hosted social gatherings known as salons
Philosophers, writers, artists, scientists gathered to share ideas
Madame Geoffrin – most influential salon hostess

15. Diderot’s Encyclopedia
Encyclopedia (28 volumes)
Collected articles regarding all topics: science, politics, economics, slavery, human rights, religion, etc.
Critics were outraged & Pope threatened to excommunicate Catholics who read it!
Translations helped spread enlightenment ideas across Europe

16. Art and Literature
Enlightenment is reflected in the arts – music, literature, painting, and architecture
Baroque – grand and ornate TO
Neoclassical – simple and elegant, Classical music – Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven
Development of novels

17. Enlightened Despotism
The manner of political reform – monarchs who embraced new ideas& reforms
Frederick the Great of Prussia
Catherine the Great of Russia
Joseph II of Austria

18. Impact of Enlightenment
Ideas led to people challenging long held ideas about society
Political philosophies of the Enlightenment inspired American and French revolutions in the 1700s & 1800s