THE AGE OF REASON
Liberty in England sprang from the quarrels of
tyrants.
- Voltaire
Philosophical Letters on the English 1778
The Man Who Would Be King… …except
that no one really wanted him
James II
r. 1685-88
Limits of Absolutism…
origins of Liberalism & the
Enlightenment
Why did the Stuarts become so unpopular?
We Are Family
Henry VIII
“Bloody Mary”
r. 1553-58
Catholic v. Protestant
Protestant v. Protestant
Elizabeth I
r. 1558-1603
Anglicans v. Puritans
Roundheads in a Square World
1. Calvinists
- anti-hierarchical
- “middle” class
Stuart Kings
1. James I
(& VI)
1603-1625
“Divine Right” / Absolutism
King James Bible (1611)
2. Charles I
1625-49
Short Parliament 1640
English Civil War 1642-1651
1. Culture Wars
King v. Parliament
Absolutism v. Magna Carta
Nobility v. bourgeoisie
Anglican (Catholic) v. Puritan
2.
Oliver Cromwell
Commonwealth (1648-60)
Burgermeister Meisterburger
Which brings us back to James
1.
The Restoration
Charles II
James II
2.
3.
1685
Glorious Revolution 1688-89
Dual Monarchy 1688
- William & Mary
4. Checks & Balances
Rise of Parliament
Toleration Act 1688
Declaration of Rights 1689
Mad dogs and Englishmen
Any single man must judge for himself whether
circumstances warrant obedience or resistance to the
commands of the civil magistrate; we are all qualified,
entitled, and morally obliged to evaluate the conduct of
our rulers.
- John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, 1689
Remembering Hobbes
In the wake of the English Revolution
How do we justify revolution...
without risking anarchy?
John Locke
Natural Law = Natural “Rights”
Two Treatises of Government 1689
- natural rights
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
1690
- tabula rasa
Liberalism
Limited Government
Personal Liberty
Positive Humanism
The Magna Carta 1215
*Sapere aude!
Natural Rights
Legitimacy non-inherent
Society of secular/rational values
*Dare to know!
II. THE ENLIGHTENMENT
My mind is my own church.
- Thomas Paine
A. What Is Enlightenment?
1. Freedom from the past…
look forward, not back
Reform of:
political institutions
prisons / criminal codes
education
economic development
religious toleration
2. The Philosophes 1700s
progress:
- understanding “natural laws”
- overcoming religious “ignorance”
- social / political reform
RATIONALISM, CRITICISM, ACTIVISM
3. Reason and Order
Denis Diderot - Encyclopédie
1766
“All things must be examined, debated, investigated without
exception and without regard for anyone’s feelings…”
- Summarize & promote knowledge
- “Natural Science”
B. The German view
1. Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
Critique of Pure Reason 1781
Sapere aude
the “subjective”
C. Anti-authoritarian
Voltaire - Philosophical Letters Concerning the
English Nation 1734
- Talent vs. tradition
Candide 1759
cynicism
2. David Hume
1711-1776
An Inquiry Concerning Human
Understanding 1748
extreme skepticism
“religion grows out of hope or fear”
Voltaire, Candide
D. Rational Government
1. Locke - Two Treatises…
2. Montesquieu - The Spirit of the Laws
1748
- govt. & civic virtue
- checks / balances
- enlightened despots
E. Democratic rationalism
1. Jean-Jacques Rousseau
The Social Contract 1763
- justice and order
Sovereignty rests with the people
“general will”
2. Thomas Jefferson
Declaration of Independence 1776
Contract nationalism
Right to Revolution
F. Critique of Religion
1.
Thomas Paine
- religion as social control
- radical politics
Age of Reason 1794
“My own mind is my own church”
Baron D’Holbach - “castles in the air”
III. Empire of Reason
The Spirit of ’76
The Great Paradox of American
Slavery
“How is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty from
the drivers of Negroes?”
- Dr. Samuel Johnson
A. Extensive Revolution
1.
Benign neglect
B. Intensive Revolution
1.
Rights of Englishmen
- political / economic stress
2.
Liberty or Equality?
“The spirit of Liberty has spread where it was not intended to go…”
C. The Counter-revolution
1. Constitutional Convention 1787
2. Compromise
- slavery approved
- the Bill of Rights
James Madison
The New Republic
Experiment
liberty = right of free, (white) men to control their
economic, political destiny in lieu of social
equality
"How is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty from the
drivers of Negroes?"
- Samuel Johnson
Paradox
Liberty for some by denying it to others
- radicalism contained
Paradox…
Absolute rulers promoted rationalism (science)…
…but that same rationalism would be a source of antiAbsolutism.