1. The Age of Enlightenment: Eighteenth-Century Thought
Chapter 17
The Age of Enlightenment: Eighteenth-Century Thought

3. The salon of Madame Marie Thérèse Geoffrin (1699–1777) was one of the most important Parisian gathering spots for Enlightenment writers during the middle of the eighteenth century. Well-connected women such as Madame Geoffrin were instrumental in helping the philosophes they patronized to bring their ideas to the attention of influential people in French society and politics.
Chateaux de Malmaison et Bois-Preau, Rueil-Malmaison. Bridgeman-Giraudon/Art Resource, NY

4. The Ideas of Isaac Newton
His law of universal gravitation showed the power of the human mind
Encouraged natural philosophers to approach nature directly
Insisted upon empirical rationalization to check rational explanation

5. Newton -William Blake, 1795
Blake's Newton (1795) demonstrates his opposition to the "single-vision" of scientific materialism: Newton fixes his eye on a compass (recalling Proverbs 8:27, an important passage for Milton) to write upon a scroll which seems to project from his own head.
Blake and Enlightenment Philosophy
Blake had a complex relationship with Enlightenment philosophy. Due to his visionary religious beliefs, Blake opposed the Newtonian view of the universe. This mindset is reflected in an excerpt from Blake's Jerusalem:
Blake's Newton (1795) demonstrates his opposition to the "single-vision" of scientific materialism: Newton fixes his eye on a compass (recalling Proverbs 8:27, an important passage for Milton)[59] to write upon a scroll which seems to project from his own head.[60]
I turn my eyes to the Schools & Universities of Europe
And there behold the Loom of Locke whose Woof rages dire Washd by the Water-wheels of Newton. black the cloth In heavy wreathes folds over every Nation; cruel Works Of many Wheels I view, wheel without wheel, with cogs tyrannic Moving by compulsion each other: not as those in Eden: which Wheel within Wheel in freedom revolve in harmony & peace.[61]
Blake also believed that the paintings of Sir Joshua Reynolds, which depict the naturalistic fall of light upon objects, were products entirely of the "vegetative eye", and he saw Locke and Newton as "the true progenitors of Sir Joshua Reynolds' aesthetic".[62] The popular taste in the England of that time for such paintings was satisfied with mezzotints, prints produced by a process that created an image from thousands of tiny dots upon the page. Blake saw an analogy between this and Newton's particle theory of light.[63] Accordingly, Blake never used the technique, opting rather to develop a method of engraving purely in fluid line, insisting that
a Line or Lineament is not formed by Chance a Line is a Line in its
Minutest Subdivision[s] Strait or Crooked It is Itself & Not Intermeasurable with or by any Thing Else Such is Job.[64]
Despite his opposition to Enlightenment principles, Blake thus arrived at a linear aesthetic that was in many ways more similar to the Neoclassical engravings of John Flaxman than to the works of the Romantics, with whom he is often classified.
Therefore Blake has also been viewed as an enlightenment poet and artist, in the sense that he was in accord with that movement's rejection of received ideas, systems, authorities and traditions. On the other hand, he was critical of what he perceived as the elevation of reason to the status of an oppressive authority. In his criticism of reason, law and uniformity Blake has been taken to be opposed to the enlightenment, but it has also been argued that, in a dialectical sense, he used the enlightenment spirit of rejection of external authority to criticize narrow conceptions of the enlightenment.[65]

6. The Ideas of John Locke
Argued all humans entered the world on a blank page
Argued experience shapes character
Rejected the Christian notion that sin permanently flawed humans
Humans can take charge of their own destiny

7. The Example of British Toleration and Political Stability
Religious toleration except for Unitarians and Roman Catholics
Freedom of speech and press
Limited monarchy
Courts protect citizens from arbitrary government action

8. Print Culture
The volume of printed materials increased; books, journals, magazines, daily newspapers
Religious versus secular – increased number of books that were not religious led to criticism
People of Print
Joseph Addison and Richard Steele - published books on politeness and the value of books
Alexander Pope and Voltaire – become wealthy and famous from their writings
Public opinion – the collective effect on political and social life of views discussed in the home, workplace and places of leisure
Government had to answer to the people
Central European governments in fear censored books, confiscated offending titles and imprisoned authors

9. Printing shops were the productive centers for the book trade and newspaper publishing that spread the ideas of the Enlightenment.
The Granger Collection

10. Communication Technology
For a revolution/rebirth to be successful, knowledge and ideas need to be permanently set down and disseminated
Ex. “Renaissance”
Ex. Protestant Reformation
The transition of communication technology: Oral Culture, Manuscript Culture, Print Culture, and Information Age
United States  Declaration of Independence and Common Sense
The written word has made history recordable and accurate. The printing press, some may argue, is not a part of print culture, but had a substantial impact upon the development of print culture through the times. The printing press brought uniform copies and efficiency in print. It allowed a person to make a living from writing. Most importantly, it spread print throughout society.
The advances made by technology in print also impact anyone using cell phones, laptops, and personal digital organizers. From novels being delivered via a cell phone, the ability to text message and send letters via clients, to having entire libraries stored on PDAs, print is being influenced by devices.

11. What is Progress?

12. The “Great Debate” Traditions Reason & & Superstition Logic
Nostalgia for the past
Irrationalism
Emotionalism
Organized religions
Rationalism
Empiricism
Tolerance
Skepticism
Deism

13. The Philosophes Intellectuals in the 18th century
Focused on real problems in the world
The rallying cry for the philosophes was the concept of progress
Could be found at universities and coffee houses
People who favored change, championed reform, and advocated toleration
Usually supported:
Expansion of trade
Internal improvements (ag. and trans.)
Innovation in manufacturing
Philosophes applied the term to themselves (French for philosophers)
Members of a “grand republic of letters” (was very cosmopolitan, stretched from Philadelphia to London to Paris to St. Petersburg)
pursued a variety of intellectual interests: scientific, mechanical, literary, philosophical, and sociological
Mastering both natural sciences and human sciences, humanity could harness the natural world for its own benefit and learn to live peacefully with one another. This was the ultimate goal, for the philosophes , of rational and intentional progress

14. Don’t forget about me!

15. The Philosophes The central ideas of the philosophe movement were:
Progress: Human history is largely a history of the improvement of humanity in three respects
Developing a knowledge of the natural world and the ability to manipulate the world through technology
Overcoming ignorance bred of superstitions and religions
Overcoming human cruelty and violence through social improvements and government structures
Deism: Deism is a term coined in the philosophe movement and applies to two related ideas
Religion should be reasonable and should result in the highest moral behavior of its adherents
Knowledge of the natural world and the human world has nothing to do whatsoever with religion and should be approached completely free from religious ideas or convictions
Tolerance: The greatest human crimes have been perpetrated in the name of religion and the name of God
A fair, just, and productive society absolutely depends on religious tolerance.
Not merely tolerance of varying Christian sects, but tolerance of non-Christian religions as well

16. Business, science, religion, and politics were discussed in London coffeehouses such
as this.
Permission of the Trustees of the British Museum

17. Two specific philosophical projects:
Statue of Voltaire by Jean-Antoine Houdon (Theatre Francais, Paris).
Musee Lambinet, Versailles/Giraudon/Art Resource, NY
Two specific philosophical projects:
Empiricism, as it was practiced by the English, into French intellectual life
Religious tolerance
Empiricism: Empirical philosophy, which was first systematized by Aristotle in the fourth century BC, was reintroduced into Western culture with a vengeance by English scientists in the seventeenth century. Like Descartes, English philosophers such as Isaac Newton began by doubting everything. Unlike Descartes, who developed a non-empirical philosophy to answer that doubt, Newton and his crew based all human certainty on empirical verification through the senses. Voltaire spat all over the French rationalist tradition and worked tirelessly to develop a French philosophy based on empiricism. Although the French solidly remained rooted in rationalism, much of French empirical science owes its origins to the works of Voltaire.

18. Voltaire First Among the Philosophes
Imprisoned at the Bastille for offending the French
Went into exile in England
Published works
1733 – Letters on the English – praised the British for their freedoms, especially of religion, and criticized the French
1738 – Elements of the Philosophy of Newton – popularized the theories of Newton after his death
1759 – Candide – satire attacking war, religious persecution and unwarranted optimism about the human condition
A Treatise on Tolerance – attacking intolerance of Catholic Church through case of Jean Calas
Jean Calas (1698 – 10 March 1762) was a merchant living in Toulouse, France, famous for having been the victim of a biased trial due to his being a Protestant. In France, he is a symbol of Christian religious intolerance, along with Jean-François de la Barre and Pierre-Paul Sirven.
Calas, along with his wife, was a Protestant. France was then a mostly Catholic country; Catholicism was the state religion. While the harsh oppression of Protestantism initiated by King Louis XIV had largely receded, Protestants were, at best, tolerated. Louis, one of the Calas' sons, converted to Catholicism in On 13–14 October 1761, another of the Calas' sons, Marc-Antoine, was found dead on the ground floor of the family's home. Rumors had it that Jean Calas had killed his son because he, too, intended to convert to Catholicism. The family, interrogated, first claimed that Marc-Antoine had been killed by a murderer. Then they declared that they had found Marc-Antoine dead, hanged; since suicide was then considered a heinous crime against oneself, and the dead bodies of suicides were defiled, they had arranged for their son's suicide to look like a murder.
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
In Connection with the Death of Jean Calas
On 9 March 1762, the parlement (regional legislature that also tried cases) of Toulouse sentenced Jean Calas to death on the wheel. On 10 March, at the age of 64, he died tortured on the wheel, while still very firmly claiming his innocence. Voltaire, contacted about the case, after initial suspicions that Calas was guilty of anti-Catholic fanaticism had subsided, began a campaign to get Calas's sentence overturned. His efforts were successful, and on 9 March 1765 the unfortunate Jean Calas was posthumously exonerated on all charges.

19. A Treatise on Tolerance Voltaire
The most inhuman crimes perpetrated by humanity throughout its entire history have been perpetrated in the name of religion
Mass extermination, torture, infanticide, regicide: behind just about every abominable human crime lay some religious zealotry or passionate religious commitment
The most vicious crimes, though, are those perpetrated by Christians against other Christians who belong to a different sect or church.
The Treatise argues that people should be allowed to practice whatever religion they see fit, particularly if it's a Christian religion
Individual governments should not impose religious systems on an entire state
The ultimate argument of the book is that secular values should take precedence over religious values; until that happens, human history will be marked by viciousness and inhumanity
 A Treatise on Tolerance : Voltaire had written most of his life on religious tolerance and had gained a large audience. In 1762, however, he was fired into action by the execution of an innocent Protestant in Toulouse. This man, Jean Calas, was accused of murdering his son before that son could convert to Catholicism. Like the OJ Simpson case, this murder created a sensation all throughout largely Catholic France. Calas was inhumanly tortured and eventually strangled, but he never confessed to the crime. When Voltaire heard about this gross miscarriage of justice, he made Jean Calas's case his cause and in 1763 he published A Treatise on Tolerance that focused entirely on the Calas case.

20. Candide Voltaire
The main character of the novel, Candide, is set adrift in a hostile world and futilely tries to hold on to his optimistic belief that this "is the best of all possible worlds" as his tutor, Dr. Pangloss, keeps insisting
He travels throughout Europe, South America, and the Middle East, and on the way he encounters terrible natural disasters and even more terrible disasters perpetrated by human beings on their fellow human beings
He learns in the end that the only solution is productive work that benefits those around you
Candide : Voltaire's most famous book, however, is Candide , a novel which he published in Although Voltaire is the most representative philosophe of his time, Candide is a strange book in that it attacks many of the assumptions of the philosophe movement. In particular, the novel makes fun of those who think that human beings can endlessly improve themselves and their environment.

21. Voltaire “Wisdom” 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 “Wisdom”
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
A witty saying proves nothing
{Cited frequently, but possibly spurious}"
The phrase "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it" is widely attributed to Voltaire, but cannot be found in his writings. With good reason. The phrase was invented by a later author as an epitome of his attitude. It appeared in The Friends of Voltaire (1906), written by Evelyn Beatrice Hall under the pseudonym S[tephen] G. Tallentyre. ...

23. The Enlightenment and Religion
The Enlightenment challenged the church and its concepts of “original sin”
The church was not just challenged for its thoughts, but for its practices
Not paying taxes
Being rulers and religious leaders
Literary censorship

24. Deism – religion and reason combined
Tolerant, reasonable, capable of encouraging virtuous living
John Toland - Christianity Not Mysterious (1696) – promoted religion as natural and rational, rather than supernatural and mystical

25. Religious Toleration Literary Works
John Locke – Letter Concerning Toleration (1689) – set forth toleration as prime requisite for a virtuous life
Voltaire – Treatise on Tolerance (1763) – wanted answers to why the Roman Catholic Church executed Huguenot Jean Calas
Gothold Lessing – Nathan the Wise (1779) – called for religious tolerance of all religions not just Christianity

26. Radical Enlightenment Texts
David Hume – Inquiry Into Human Nature (1748)
No empirical evidence that miracles exist
Voltaire – Philosophical Dictionary (1764)
Using humor, pointed out inconsistencies in the Bible and the immoral acts of Biblical heroes
Edward Gibbon – Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776)
Explains the rise of Christianity through natural causes
Immanuel Kant – Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone (1793)
Religion as a humane force through which there can be virtuous living
David Hume  real miracle was that people believed in miracles

27. The Enlightenment and Judaism
Jewish Thinkers
Baruch Spinoza – Ethics – closely identified God with nature and the spiritual to the material world
Theologico-Political Treatise (1670) – called on both Jews and Christians to use reason in religious matters
Excommunicated from his synagogue for his beliefs
Moses Mendelsohn – argued differently from Spinoza that you could combine loyalty to Judaism with rational thought
Jerusalem (1783) – argued for religious toleration and the religious distinction of Jewish communities
Spinoza was before Enlightenment began and Mendelsohn near the end, they spanned the heart of the Enlightenment

28. The Dutch Jewish philosopher Baruch Spinoza was deeply
influenced by the new science of the mid-seventeenth century. In his writings, Spinoza argued for rationality over traditional spiritual beliefs.
Library of Congress

29. Islam in Enlightenment Thought
Christians viewed Islam as a false religion and its founder Muhammad as an imposter
Philosophers Negative toward Islam
Voltaire’s Fanaticism (1742) – cited Islam as one more example of religious fanaticism
Charles de Montesquieu – Spirit of the Law (1748) – stated Islam’s passivity made it subject to political despotism
Philosophers Positive toward Islam
Deists Toland and Gibbon viewed Islam in a positive light
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu – Turkish Embassy Letters ( ) – praised Ottoman society / felt women were freer

30. Few Europeans visited the Ottoman Empire
Few Europeans visited the Ottoman Empire. What little they knew about it came from reports of travelers and from illustrations such as this view of Constantinople, the empire’s capital.
© Historical Picture Archive/CORBIS

31. Diderot Denis Diderot was the heroic
editor of the Encyclopedia published in seventeen volumes of text and eleven of prints between 1751 and Through its pages many of the chief ideas of the Enlightenment reached a broad audience of readers.
Though his work was broad and rigorous, it did not bring him riches. He secured none of the posts that were occasionally given to needy men of letters; he could not even obtain the bare official recognition of merit which was implied by being chosen a member of the Academie francaise. When the time came for him to provide a dowry for his daughter, he saw no alternative than to sell his library. When Catherine II of Russia heard of his financial troubles she commissioned an agent in Paris to buy the library. She then requested that the philosopher retain the books in Paris until she required them, and act as her librarian with a yearly salary. In 1773 and 1774, Diderot spent some months at the empress's court in Saint Petersburg.
Diderot died of gastro-intestinal problems in Paris on July 31, 1784, and was buried in the city's Eglise Saint-Roch. His heirs sent his vast library to Catherine II, who had it deposited at the National Library of Russia.

32. The Encyclopedia Edited by Denis Diderot and Jean Le Rond d’Alembert
Collective work of more than one hundred authors
Had important information about 18th century social and economic life
Between 14,000 and 16,000 copies sold before 1789
Aimed to secularize learning
“All things must be examined, debated, investigated without exception and without regard for anyone’s feelings”
“We will speak against senseless laws until they are reformed; and, while we wait, we will abide by them.”
Diderot: 1713 – 1784
page that translates into English, searchable

33. Title Page
In 1750 an elaborate prospectus announced the project to a delighted public, and in 1751 the first volume was published. This work was very unorthodox and had many forward-thinking ideas for the time. Diderot stated within this work, "An encyclopedia ought to make good the failure to execute such a project hitherto, and should encompass not only the fields already covered by the academies, but each and every branch of human knowledge." Upon encompassing every branch of knowledge this will give, "the power to change men's common way of thinking." This idea was profound and intriguing, as it was one of the first works during the Enlightenment. Diderot wanted to give all people the ability to further their knowledge and, in a sense, allow every person to have any knowledge they sought of the world. The work, implementing not only the expertise of scholars and Academies in their respective fields but that of the common man in their proficiencies in their trades, sought to bring together all knowledge of the time and condense this information for all to use. These people would amalgamate and work under a society to perform such a project. They would work alone in order to shed societal conformities, and build a multitude of information on a desired subject with varying view points, methods, or philosophies. He emphasized the vast abundance of knowledge held within each subject with intricacies and details to provide the greatest amount of knowledge to be gained from the subject. All people would benefit from these insights into different subjects as a means of betterment; bettering society as a whole and individuals alike.

34.   Bernard Picart : Electing the Pope, from the Encyclopedia by Denis Diderot 1713-84, published c.1770

35. Epinglier (pin making) Diderot, Encyclopedie (1762)

36. Radel : Glassmaking, from the Encyclopedia
, engraved by Robert Benard b.1734, published c.1770

37. "Anatomie"

38. Denis Diderot in the Encyclopedia included illustrations of machinery and working people from across the globe. Diderot was also deeply
hostile to slavery. This engraving illustrated a sugar mill and sugar boiling house run with slave labor in the New World. The sugar produced in such mills was used in the
European coffee houses where the ideas of the philosophes were often discussed.
University of Virginia Library

39. What is the purpose of prison?

40. Becarria and Reform of Criminal Law
Becarria wrote On Crimes and Punishment (1764)
State protected the rights of its citizens
Equality before the law
Even those accused of crimes had to be protected
Innocent until proven guilty
Speedy trials
Against torture and capital punishment
Punishment should not be linked to religious sin, rather determined by damage to society
Death penalty only in cases that threatened the state with anarchy
“It is better to prevent crimes than to punish them”
Purpose of punishment should be to deter further crimes
Cesare, Marquis of Beccaria-Bonesana ( )
Italian  Jesuit education
Cesare Bonesana, the marquis of Beccaria
Beccaria reflected the origins of utilitarianism
Opposed torture to extract confessions or as punishment; believed that barbarous punishment led to more disrespect for the law and more awful crimes
He openly condemned the death penalty on two grounds: first, because the state does not possess the right to take lives; and
secondly, because capital punishment is neither a useful nor a necessary form of punishment.
Beccaria developed in his treatise a number of innovative and influential principles:
Beccaria developed in his treatise a number of innovative and influential principles: punishment had a preventative (deterrent), not a retributive function
punishment should be proportionate to the crime committed
the certainty of punishment, not its severity, would achieve the preventative effect
procedures of criminal convictions should be public
in order to be effective, punishment should be prompt
*Purpose of laws is to guarantee happiness for as many human beings as possible

41. Economic Theory Mercantilism Physiocracy Classical Economics
Mercantilism: 15th-18th centuries; favorable balance of trade was key
Physiocracy immediately preceded the first modern school, classical economics, which began with the publication of Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations in 1776.
Classical Economics

42. The Physiocrats and Economic Freedom
Physiocrats were economic reformers in France
Leaders
Francois Quesnay, Pierre Dupont de Nemours, and Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot
The Physiocrats (from the Greek for "Government of Nature") were a group of economists who believed that the wealth of nations was derived solely from the value of land agriculture or land development. Their theories originated in France and were most popular during the second half of the 18th century. They called themselves économistes, but are generally referred to as physiocrats in order to distinguish them from the many schools of economic thought that followed them.
The most significant contribution of the physiocrats was their emphasis on productive work as the source of national wealth. This is in contrast to earlier schools, in particular mercantilism, which often focused on the ruler's wealth, accumulation of gold or the balance of trade. A chief weakness from the viewpoint of modern economics is that they only considered agricultural labor to be valuable. Physiocrats viewed the production of goods and services as consumption of the agricultural surplus, while modern economists consider these to be productive activities which add to national income.
"The Physiocrats damned cities for their artificiality and praised more natural styles of living. They celebrated farmers.” historian David Danbom

43. Physiocrats Core Beliefs: Individualism and laissez-faire
Private Property
Diminishing Returns
Investment Capital
*Primary role of government was to protect property and to permit its owners to use it freely
Individualism and laissez faire
The Physiocrats, especially Turgot, believed that self-interest was the motivating reason for each segment of the economy to play its role. Each individual was best suited to determine what goods he wanted and what work would provide him with what he wanted out of life. While a person might labor for the benefit of others, he will work harder for the benefit of himself; however, each person’s needs are being supplied by many other people. The system works best when there is a complementary relationship between one person’s needs and another person’s desires, and trade restrictions place an unnatural barrier to achieving one’s goals.
Private property
None of the theories concerning the value of land could work without strong legal support for the ownership of private property. Combined with the strong sense of individualism, private property becomes a critical component of the Tableau's functioning.
Diminishing returns
Turgot was one of the first to recognize that “successive applications of the variable input will cause the product to grow, first at an increasing rate, later at a diminishing rate until it reaches a maximum.”[5] This was a recognition that the productivity gains required to increase national wealth had an ultimate limit, and, therefore, wealth was not infinite.
Investment capital
Both Quesnay and Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune recognized that capital was needed by farmers to start the production process, and both were proponents of using some of each year’s profits to increase productivity. Capital was also needed to sustain the laborers while they produced their product. Turgot recognizes that there is opportunity cost and risk involved in using capital for something other than land ownership, and he promotes interest as serving a “strategic function in the economy.”[6]

44. Adam Smith
Wrote An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776)
Argued best way to economic growth is for people to pursue their own (selfish) self-interests
Founder of laissez-faire economic thought – a limited role of the government in the economy
Four-stage theory – human societies classified as the following
hunting and gathering
pastoral or herding
agricultural
commercial – society at its highest level
Wealth of Nations  Most famous work of the Enlightenment : reason why he is known as the “Father of (modern) Economics
The Theory of Moral Sentiments 
Adam Smith  Scottish

46. Political Thought of the Philosophers
Most thought came from France
Proposed solutions included; aristocratic reform, democracy, absolute monarchy

47. Montesquieu and Spirit of Laws (1748)
Concluded that no single set of political laws could apply to all people, at all times, in all places
Best government for a country depended on country’s size, population, social and religious customs, economic structure, traditions and climate
Believed in separation of powers so one part of the government would not be completely in control

48. Among the philosophes of the Enlightenment Jean Jacques Rousseau set forth the most democratic and egalitarian political ideas. This bust was created by the French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon after Rousseau's death mask.
Réunion des Musées Nationaux/Art Resource, NY

49. Jean Jacques Rousseau: A Radical Critique of Modern Society
His written works
Discourse on the Moral Effects of the Arts and Sciences (1750) – contended that the process of civilization and the Enlightenment had corrupted human nature
Discourse on the Origin of Inequality (1755) – blamed much of the evil in the world on the uneven distribution of property
The Social Contract (1762) – society is more important than its individual members and each person can maintain individual freedom while being a loyal member of a larger community
His philosophies later influence the French and American Revolution
They wrote on subjects ranging from current affairs to art criticism, and they wrote in every conceivable format. The Swiss philosophe Jean-Jacques Rousseau, for example, wrote a political tract, a treatise on education, a constitution for Poland, an analysis of the effects of the theater on public morals, a best-selling novel, an opera, and a notorious autobiography.

50. Enlightened Critics of European Empires
A few philosophers of the Enlightenment criticized the Europeans on moral grounds
Conquest of the Americas
Treatment of the Native Americans
Enslavement of Africans
Three Ideas from the Critics
(1) “human beings deserve some modicum of moral and political respect simply because they are human beings”
(2) different cultures should have been respected and understood, not destroyed
(3) human beings may develop distinct cultures possessing intrinsic values that cannot be compared because each culture possesses deep inner social and linguistic complexities that make any simple comparison impossible

51. Hobbes
Hobbes has a rather negative view about human nature, in that without an ‘absolute sovereign’ to control our desires we will live in a constant ‘State of War’, which is ‘solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short’
Rosseau believed that Hobbes was correct in his state of nature, but how man had got there he was wrong

52. Women in the Thought and Practice of the Enlightenment
Montesquieu believed in equality of the sexes by had a traditional view of family and marriage
The Encyclopedia suggested ways to improve women’s lives, but did not suggest reform
Rousseau – felt women should be subordinate to men
Mary Wollstonecraft – A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) – defended equality of women with men based on human reason

53. Mary Wollstonecraft in her
Vindication of the Rights of Woman defended equality of
women with men on the grounds of men and women sharing the capacity of human reason.
CORBIS/Bettmann

55. Rococo and Neoclassical Styles in Eighteenth-Century Art
Rococo style of art embraced lavish decoration with pastel colors
became style of French aristocracy
famous artists included Jean-Antoine Watteau, Francois Boucher, and Jean-Honore Fragonard
Neo-classical style art went back to the ancient world
concerned with public life more than the intimate families of rococo
famous artists included Jacques-Louis David and Jean Antoine Houdon

56. Roger de Piles Composition Drawing Color Expression
Sometimes spied for Louis XIV while traveling to study art collections
-spent several years in prison after being arrested with fake papers
0-16 scale
His important contribution to aesthetic theory rests on his Dialogue sur le coloris ("Dialogue on colours"), in which he initiated his famous defence of Rubens in the argument started in 1671 by Philippe de Champaigne on the relative merits of drawing and color in the work of Titian (in a lecture to the Académie de peinture et de sculpture on Titian's Virgin and Child with St John.)
The argument is most fascinating as an early debate on classic vs modern in painting; in essence on the mathematics of proportion and perspective in drawing—the classic approach— as opposed to the colored brush stroke—the approach of the moderns. In his detailed study of the argument, Roger de Piles et les débats sur le coloris au siècle de Louis XIV (1965), B. Teyssèdre gives a touching account of the bohème of the "modern" réfusés in seventeenth century Paris, a history that was to repeat itself with the Impressionists.
In the course of the argument Roger de Piles introduced the term "clair-obscur" (Chiaroscuro) to highlight the effect of color in accentuating the tension between light and dark in a painting.
Composition
Drawing
Color
Expression

57. Le Dejeuner / The Breakfast 1739
François Boucher. Le Dejeuner / The Breakfast   81.5 x 65.5 cm. Louvre, Paris, France.

58. Pilgrimage on the Isle of Cythera
Antoinne Watteau 1717, Louvre. Many commentators note that it depicts a departure from the island of Cythera, the birthplace of Venus, thus symbolizing the brevity of love.

59. The Swing Jean-Honore Fragonard Oil on Canvas 1766
The Wallace Collection, London

60. The Death of Socrates Jacques-Louis David:
Oil on Canvas, 51" x 77 1/4"
1787
Metropolitan Museum of Art

61. Princesse de Broglie
1851–53 Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (French, 1780–1867) Oil on canvas 47 3/4 x 35 3/4 in. (121.3 x 90.8 cm) Robert Lehman Collection, 1975 ( ) Metropolitan Museum of Art

62. The Triumph of Aemilius Paulus
1789 Carle Vernet (Antoine Charles Horace) (French, 1758–1836) Oil on canvas 51 1/8 x 172 1/2 in. (129.9 x cm) Gift of Darius O. Mills, 1906 (06.144) Metropolitan Museum of Art

63. Ancient Rome
1757 Giovanni Paolo Panini (Italian, Roman, 1691–1765) Oil on canvas 67 3/4 x 90 1/2 in. (172.1 x cm) Gwynne Andrews Fund, 1952 ( ) Metropolitan Museum of Art

64. Antoine Watteau, “Embarkation for Cythera,” (1717).
Oil on canvas. 129 × 194 cm. Louvre, Paris, France/Giraudon-Bridgeman Art Library

65. The color, the light, and the elaborate decorative details associated with rococo style is
splendidly exemplified in the Imperial Hall (Kaisarsaal) built in Würzburg, Bavaria according to the design of Balthasar Neumann (1687–1753).
Dorothea Zwicker-Berberich

66. An Eighteenth-Century Artist Appeals to the Ancient World Jacques Louis David completed The Oath of the Horatii in Like many of his other works, it used themes from the supposedly morally austere ancient Roman Republic to criticize the political
life of his own day. David intended the painting to contrast ancient civic virtue with the luxurious aristocratic culture of contemporary France.
Jacques-Louis David, “Oath of the Horatii.” 1784–85. © Reunion des Musees Nationaux, Paris, France/Art Resource, NY

67. The Pantheon in Paris (construction commencing 1758) embodied the neoclassical style used for a Jesuit Church. After the French Revolution it became a national monument where famous figures of the Enlightenment and Revolution were buried. The bodies of both Voltaire and Rousseau were transferred there during the 1790s.
Jacques Germain Soufflot ( ), Facade of the Pantheon (formerly Church of Ste. Genevieve), Pantheon, Paris, France.
© Bridgeman-Giraudon/Art Resource, NY

68. Enlightened Absolutism
Monarchial government in which the central absolutist administration was strengthened at cost of lesser centers of power
Church, parliament, or diets…
“Enlightened” Monarchs
Frederick II of Prussia
Joseph II of Austria
Catherine II of Russia
Philosophes were not opposed to power, they wanted to use it to rationalize economic and political structures and to liberate intellectual life (many had personal/complicated ties to monarchs)
Monarchs were also motivated to strengthen their political and military power in the post-Seven Years’ War Europe (needed diplomacy, balance of power…)

69. Jurisprudence Beccaria  On Crimes and Punishment
State protected the rights of its citizens
Even those accused of crimes had to be protected
Equality before the law
Innocent until proven guilty
Punishment should not be linked to religious sin, rather determined by damage to society
Death penalty only in cases that threatened the state with anarchy
“It is better to prevent crimes than to punish them”
Cesare Bonesana, the marquis of Beccaria
Beccaria reflected the origins of utilitarianism
Opposed torture to extract confessions or as punishment; believed that barbarous punishment led to more disrespect for the law and more awful crimes
He openly condemned the death penalty on two grounds: first, because the state does not possess the right to take lives; and
secondly, because capital punishment is neither a useful nor a necessary form of punishment.
Beccaria developed in his treatise a number of innovative and influential principles:
Beccaria developed in his treatise a number of innovative and influential principles: punishment had a preventative (deterrent), not a retributive function
punishment should be proportionate to the crime committed
the certainty of punishment, not its severity, would achieve the preventative effect
procedures of criminal convictions should be public
in order to be effective, punishment should be prompt

70. Becarria and Reform of Criminal Law
Becarria wrote On Crimes and Punishment (1764)
State protected the rights of its citizens
Equality before the law
Even those accused of crimes had to be protected
Innocent until proven guilty
Speedy trials
Against torture and capital punishment
Punishment should not be linked to religious sin, rather determined by damage to society
Death penalty only in cases that threatened the state with anarchy
“It is better to prevent crimes than to punish them”
Purpose of punishment should be to deter further crimes
Cesare, Marquis of Beccaria-Bonesana ( )
Italian  Jesuit education
Cesare Bonesana, the marquis of Beccaria
Beccaria reflected the origins of utilitarianism
Opposed torture to extract confessions or as punishment; believed that barbarous punishment led to more disrespect for the law and more awful crimes
He openly condemned the death penalty on two grounds: first, because the state does not possess the right to take lives; and
secondly, because capital punishment is neither a useful nor a necessary form of punishment.
Beccaria developed in his treatise a number of innovative and influential principles:
Beccaria developed in his treatise a number of innovative and influential principles: punishment had a preventative (deterrent), not a retributive function
punishment should be proportionate to the crime committed
the certainty of punishment, not its severity, would achieve the preventative effect
procedures of criminal convictions should be public
in order to be effective, punishment should be prompt
*Purpose of laws is to guarantee happiness for as many human beings as possible

71. Education “To instruct a nation is to civilize it”
Diderot
Enlightened Monarchs believed in central role of education to the Enlightenment
Also provided able civil servants
Catherine was born a German princess and was contemptuous of Russian culture. She preferred to speak French

72. Religious Toleration 18th century relative religious peace
Still discrimination
English Catholics excluded from public office
French protestants had no civil rights
Marriages only official if Catholic priest registered it
Forced migration of Protestants in Austria
Widespread discrimination in employment, civics, etc for Jews across Europe
Jesuits expelled from many states
1728 Bishop of Salzburg gave 20,000 Protestants 3 days to leave their homes
3 million Jews in Europe in 18th century
1762 pogrom in Ukraine led to the death of 20,000 Jews
-rumors such as Jews were sacrificing Christian children during Passover found credulous ears
Was relative religious peace a result of enlightened thought or because periodic rebellions took state funds to put down?
1759 Portugal expelled Jesuits  they (and the Pope/Church) were a threat to monarchs; used a false claim that Jesuits were plotting to assassinate King John V

73. Frederick the Great of Prussia
Promotion through merit – work and education rather than birth would decide ruled Prussia
Religious Toleration
Except for Jews
Freed serfs from royal domains
Administrative and Economic Reforms – legal reform included limiting number of capital crimes
Banned torture
Frederick II (ruled )
Influence of philosophes and Enlightenment  it is said the language least spoken at the court of Frederick the Great was German! French was the language of high culture in 18th century Europe
German states were most fertile ground for enlightened absolutism it seems
Though
Immanuel Kant  the Enlightenment meant liberation of the individual intellectually and morally, but not politically or socially. The individual should think critically, but also obey
Put Prussia on path toward greater freedoms despite his motives

74. Flute Playing “Philosopher-King”
Frederick was flute playing “philosopher-king”
Sans Souci, rococo cathedral in Potsdam
Voltaire was a centerpiece of Frederick’s palace, but Voltaire wore out his welcome
Voltaire said Frederick transformed “ a sad Sparta into a brilliant Athens”
Voltaire became disillusioned when Frederick invaded Silesia during the first year of his reign*
Voltaire lampooned a royal favorite  Frederick ordered the hangman to burn the offending tract publicly, Voltaire took the hint and left Potsdam in 1752

75. “First Servant” of the People?
Frederick II of Prussia became known as Frederick the Great after his victories in the Seven Years Wars. This portrait of l763 shows him at the time of those triumphs when he had permanently secured the position of Prussia as a major Europe power. He was equally interested in the economic development of Prussia.
Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY
“I well know that the rich have many advocates, but the poor have only one, and that is I.”
Main goal was a more efficient, powerful state but he did put in place reforms (complete religious freedom was granted eight years after he died in the Prussian Code)

76. Joseph II of Austria
Centralization of Authority – aimed to extend the empire at the expense of Poland, Bavaria, and the Ottoman Empire
Ecclesiastical Policies – religious toleration and bringing the Roman Catholic Church under royal control
Economic and Agrarian Reform
improved transportation and trade
abolished serfdom
land taxation
Centralized education system
Banned torture
Brother was Leopold II of Tuscany  enlightened monarch as well
Structured education system from primary school to university:
ex. Joseph doubled the number of elementary schools
textbooks in local languages (German, Croation, Slovak…”

77. Catherine the Great of Russia
Limited administrative reform – local control of the nobility
Economic growth – opened up trade and favored the expansion of the urban middle class
Territorial expansion – to warm weather ports along the Baltic and Black Seas
Authorized printing of more books
Still censorship
Banned torture
Voltaire  “Peter was born, and Russia was formed” (Peter the Great)
Subsidized Diderot  bought his library when he needed money, after his death library was moved to Russia (her “personal librarian”)
Book publication went from a few dozen titles being published each year to almost 400 per year under Catherine, though there was still censorship
She established a school for the daughters of nobles

78. Catherine the Great ascended to the Russian throne after the murder
of her husband. She tried initially to enact major reforms, but she never intended to abandon absolutism. She assured nobles of their rights and by the end of her reign had imposed press censorship.
The Granger Collection

79. Enlightened Hypocrisy?
People should be ruled by law, not rulers
Separation of powers to disperse power
Popular sovereignty
Responsibility of rulers to look after the welfare of the people
Philosophes believed that the success of any state depended on the degree of freedom and happiness it was able to assure its people
David Hume  a state is justified by the good that is done in its name
Example of conflicts for philosophes: Voltaire was against war but he praised Catherine the Great’s military expansion as spreading civilization. Was this a conflict of interest based on his close ties (and desire to stay close) to Catherine?
Voltaire and Diderot believed strongly in “enlightened absolutism” but Rousseau believed that absolutism and enlightened thinking were incompatible

80. The Partition of Poland
land split by Russia, Austria, and Prussia
proved that without a strong bureaucracy, monarchy and army, a nation could not survive

81. Map 17–1 EXPANSION OF RUSSIA, 1689–1796 The overriding territorial aim of the two most powerful Russian monarchs of the 18th century, Peter the Great (in the first quarter of the century) and Catherine the Great (in the last half of the century) was to secure navigable outlets to the sea in both the north and the south for Russia’s vast empire; hence Peter’s push to the Baltic Sea and Catherine’s
to the Black Sea. Russia also expanded into Central Asia and Siberia during this time period.

82. Map 17–2 PARTITIONS OF POLAND, 1772, 1793, AND 1795
Map 17–2 PARTITIONS OF POLAND, 1772, 1793, AND The callous eradication of Poland from the map displayed 18th-century power politics at its most extreme. Poland, without a strong central government, fell victim to the strong absolute monarchies of central and eastern Europe.

83. The End of the Eighteenth Century in Central and Eastern Europe
nations became more conservative and politically more repressive
fading monarchs
Frederick the Great of Prussia – grew remote with age and left the aristocracy to fill government posts
Joseph II of Austria – in response to criticism turns to censorship and the secret police
Catherine the Great of Russia – peasant uprisings lead to fears of social and political upheaval

85. What is the Enlightenment?
“Dare to know! Have the courage to make use of your own understanding.”
Immanuel Kant

86. Legacy of Enlightenment