The Enlightenment
1689 to 1789
The Enlightenment
• Applied reason to the human
world, not just the natural
world
• Stimulated religious tolerance
• Fueled democratic revolutions
around the world
Four Principles of the
Enlightenment-Philosophes
• Reason: proof of beliefs.
• Nature: The idea that natural law
governed the affairs of men.
• Progress: Society could be perfect
through reason and science.
• Liberty: Get rid of Absolutism and
instill Democracy
Enlightenment Thinkers and
Their Ideas
• Thomas Hobbes: wrote Leviathan:
He supported absolute monarchy
• John Locke: wrote Two Treatises on
Government. Idea that people are
sovereign (can make decisions) and
monarchs are to rule by consent of
the governed, not be chosen by God
Enlightenment Thinkers and
Their Ideas
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau: wrote The
Social Contract. Idea that
government is a contract between
rulers and the people.
• Montesquieu: wrote The Spirit of the
Law. Idea that the best form of
government includes separation of
powers between branches
(example, executive, legislative and
judicial)
Enlightenment Ideas and
Thinkers
• Voltaire: Wrote Candide.
Believed in separation of
Church and State
Mary Wollstonecraft
• Wrote A Vindication of the
Rights of Women
• Believed women needed more
education in order to rise to
virtue and usefulness
• Women should be nurses and
involved in politics
Influence of the
Enlightenment
• Political philosophies of the
Enlightenment fueled revolution in
the Americas and in France
• Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of
Independence used Enlightenment
ideas
• The Constitution of the United
States of America and the American
Bill of Rights incorporated
Enlightenment ideas
Spread of the Enlightenment
• Philosophes’ views often got
them in trouble
• 1700’s- Paris was cultural and
intellectual capital of Europe
• Young people from Europe
and the Americas came to
study and learn
• Enlightenment ideas circulated
Salons
• Wealthy women held Salons
• Social gathering where
philosophers, writers, artists,
scientists and other great
intellects met to discuss ideas
and enjoy artistic performances
Diderot’s Encyclopedia
• Madame Geoffrin helped finance
project by a philosophe named
Denis Diderot
• Imagined large set of books where
intellects would provide articles and
essays
• Diderot: created Encyclopedia of
writings from Enlightenment
thinkers
• Salons and Encyclopedia allowed
Enlightenment ideas to spread
quickly
Art and Literature
• Under influence of Enlightenment,
styles began to change
• Reflected emphasis of order and
balance
• Artists and architects worked in a
simple and elegant style
• Inspired by Greece and Rome
• Late 1700’s: known as neoclassical
(“new classical”)
Artists
• Johann Sebastian BachComposer
• Wofgang Amadeus MozartComposer
• Eugene Delacroix- Painter
• Miguel de Cervantes- Novelist
New forms of Art and
Literature
• Paintings depicted classical
subjects, public events, natural
scenes and living people
(portraits)
• New forms of literature
evolved… example- the novel