2. What was the Enlightenment? ► Intellectual & Cultural Movement in the 18 th c. ► Proponents argued that society & its laws should be based on human reason rather than custom or tradition ► Diverse movement – spread across countries, disciplines & political lines

4. The Inspiration: The Inspiration: René DescartesIsaac Newton John Locke

5. Origins of the Enlightenment? Origins of the Enlightenment? ► Writers popularized new science w/ books written for the general public opinion.  Bernard de Fontenelle, Plurality of Worlds ► Writers expressed skepticism about religion & attacked priests as reactionary thinkers  Pierre Bayle, Religious and Critical Dictionary (1697) ► Europeans read travel accounts about Asia, Africa & the Americas  Written by traders, missionaries & explorers  Exposed great variety of human behaviors & beliefs

6. Three Key Ideas of the Enlightenment: Three Key Ideas of the Enlightenment: ► RATIONALISM  All Truths must be arrived at through logical, critical thinking. (Reason)  Nothing should be accepted on faith or authority alone ► SCIENCE  Scientific methods could be used to understand the human world; natural laws also applied to society (“Social Science”) ► PROGRESS  Humans could use scientific research to find ways to improve life & advance humanity

7. The Philosophes

8. The Enlightened Individual The “ Philosophe ” The Enlightened Individual  The “ Philosophe ” ► Not really original thinkers as a whole, but were great publicists of the new thinking  CHANGE & PROGRESS! ► They were students of society who analyzed its evils and advanced reforms

9. The Great French Philosophes : The Great French Philosophes : Marquis de Condorcet Voltaire Baron de Montesquieu Denis Diderot

10. Great Philosophes Outside of France: Great Philosophes Outside of France: Adam Smith David Hume Jean-Jacques Rousseau Immanuel Kant

11. Female Philosophes : Female Philosophes : Mary Wollstonecraft Emilie du Châtelet Mary Astell

12. American “Philosophes”: American “Philosophes”: John Adams (1745- 1826) Ben Franklin (1706-1790) Thomas Jefferson (1743- 1826) …...…life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness…………...

13. Where were the philosophes ?

15. The Spread of Enlightenment Ideas

16. A Parisian Salon

17. Madame Geoffrin’s Salon

18. Madame Geoffrin (1699-1777) Mademoiselle Julie de Lespinasse (1732*-1776) Madame Suzanne Necker (1739-1794) The Salonniéres:

19. ► Wealthy Jewish women created nine of the fourteen salons in Berlin. ► In Warsaw, Princess Zofia Czartoryska gathered around her the reform leaders of Poland-Lithuania. ► Middle-class women in London used their salons to raise money to publish women’s writings. Salons were not only in Paris:

20. Coffeehouses:

21. Reading during the Enlightenment:

22. A Reading Revolution?:  across all social classes ► Literacy rates rose dramatically in Europe  across all social classes ► Reading became a private & silent activity ► 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.

23. “Must Read” Books of the Time

24. The Impact of the Enlightenment

25. Legacy of the Enlightenment 1. Enlightenment ideas helped spur the democratic revolutions, begun in America in 1776 and Paris in the late 1780s, that put all Western governments on the defensive. 2. Reform, democracy, and republicanism had been placed irrevocably on the Western agenda. 3. New forms of civil society arose –-- clubs, salons, fraternals, private academies, lending libraries, and professional/scientific organizations. 4. It established a materialistic tradition based on an ethical system derived solely from a naturalistic account of the human condition (the “Religion of Nature”)

26. Legacy of the Enlightenment (cont.): 1. Theoretically endowed with full civil and legal rights, the individual had come into existence as a political and social force to be reckoned with. 2. Europeans began to define themselves as culturally & racially superior to non-European cultures  justified slavery & colonialism 3. 19 c conservatives blamed it for the modern “egalitarian disease” (once reformers began to criticize established institutions, they didn’t know where and when to stop!)