I. Introduction
A.
The Calas Case and Voltaire (1762)
1.
2.
B.
Intolerance and ignorance
Fanaticism and infamy
Enlightenment concerns
1.
2.
3.
The danger of unchecked and arbitrary authority
The value of religious toleration
The importance of law, reason and human dignity
II. The Foundations of the Enlightenment
A.
B.
An 18th century phenomenon
Basic characteristics
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
The power of human reason
Self-confidence
Newtonian methods had wide application
“Dare to know!” (Kant)
Reason needed autonomy and freedom
The “Holy Trinity”: Bacon, Newton and Locke
a.
Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690)
i.
Education and environment
ii.
Sense perception and the tabula rasa
iii.
The goodness and perfectibility of humanity
iv.
Moral improvement and social progress
II. The Foundations of the Enlightenment
(cont’d)
Basic characteristics (cont’d)
B.
7.
8.
The organization of knowledge
a.
The scientific method
b.
Collected evidence on the rise and fall of nations
c.
Compared government constitutions
The “cultural project” of the Enlightenment
a.
Practical, applied knowledge
b.
Spreading knowledge and free public discussion
c.
“To change the common way of thinking” (Diderot)
d.
Writing for a larger audience
e.
Academies sponsored prize essay contests
f.
The expansion of literacy
g.
The first “public sphere”
II. The Foundations of the Enlightenment
(cont’d)
Basic characteristics (cont’d)
B.
9.
Criticism and satire
a.
Irreverence toward custom and tradition
b.
Belief in human perfectibility and progress
c.
The relationship between nature and culture
III. The World of the Philosophes
A.
The philosophe
1.
2.
A free thinker unhampered by the constraints of religion or
dogma in any form
Voltaire (born François Marie Arouet, 1694-1778)
a.
The personification of the Enlightenment
b.
Life
i.
Educated by Jesuits
ii.
Spent time in the Bastille for libel
iii.
Temporary exile in England
iv.
Great admirer and popularizer of all things English
(especially Newton and Locke)
III. The World of the Philosophes (cont’d)
A.
The philosophe
2.
Voltaire (born François Marie Arouet, 1694-1778) (cont’d)
d.
Écrasez l'infâme – “crush infamy” (all forms of repression,
fanaticism and bigotry)
i.
Loathed religious bigotry
ii.
Did not oppose religion – sought to rescue morality
from narrow dogma
iii.
Common sense and simplicity
iv.
Contacts with Frederick of Prussia and Catherine the
Great
III. The World of the Philosophes (cont’d)
B.
Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755)
1.
Life
a.
Born of a noble family, inherited an estate
b.
Served as magistrate in the Parlement of Bordeaux
c.
A cautious jurist
d.
The Persian Letters (1721)
i.
Series of letters between two Persian visitors to France
ii.
Likened French absolutism to Persian despotism
iii.
Thinly veiled criticism of France
III. The World of the Philosophes (cont’d)
Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) (cont’d)
B.
2.
The Spirit of the Laws (1748)
a.
A work in comparative historical sociology
b.
Newtonian in its empirical approach
c.
How do structures and institutions shape laws?
d.
Different forms of government – what spirit characterized
them?
i.
Republic – virtue
ii.
Monarchy – honor
iii.
Despotism – fear
e.
Spelled out the dangerous drift toward despotism in France
f.
Admired the British system of separate and balanced
powers
g.
Checks and balances
III. The World of the Philosophes (cont’d)
C.
Diderot and the Encyclopedia
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
A vast compendium of human knowledge
Grandest statement of the philosophes’ goals
Scientific analysis applied to human reason – happiness and
progress
Guided by Denis Diderot (1713-1784) and Jean d’Alembert (17171783)
17 large volumes of text, 11 volumes of illustrations (1751-1772)
a.
Purpose was to change the general way of thinking
b.
Demonstrating how the application of science could
promote progress
c.
Heavy circulation despite the high price
d.
Government revoked permission to publish for trying to
“propagate materialism” (1759)
IV. Internationalization of Enlightenment
Themes (cont’d)
B.
Enlightenment themes: humanitarianism and toleration
(cont’d)
2.
Religious toleration
a.
End religious warfare and the persecution of heretics and
religious minorities
b.
Few philosophes were atheists (materialists)
c.
Most were deists – God as “divine clockmaker”
d.
Most philosophes viewed Judaism and Islam as backwards
e.
Gotthold Lessing (1729-1781)
i.
Treated Jews sympathetically
ii.
Nathan the Wise (1779)
iii.
Three great monotheistic religions are three versions of
the same truth
IV. Internationalization of Enlightenment
Themes (cont’d)
B.
Economics, government, and administration
1.
2.
Rising states and empires made economic issues important
The French Physiocrats
a.
Mercantilist policies were misguided
b.
Real wealth comes from land and agricultural production;
advocated a simplified tax system
c.
Laissez-faire – wealth and goods to circulate without
government interference
IV. Internationalization of Enlightenment
Themes (cont’d)
Economics, government, and administration (cont’d)
C.
3.
Adam Smith (1723-1790)
a.
Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
(1776)
i.
Disagreed with the centrality of agriculture
ii.
Central issue was the productivity of human labor
iii.
Mercantile restrictions did not create real economic
health
iv.
The “invisible hand” of the marketplace
v.
Rational individuals should pursue their interests
rationally
vi.
The stages of economic growth
vii. Following the “obvious and simple system of natural
liberty”
V. Empire and Enlightenment
A.
The economics of empire and the profitability of colonies
1.
2.
B.
New world of natural humanity and simplicity
The slave trade and humanitarianism, individual rights and
natural law
Abbé Guillaume Thomas Francois Raynal
1.
Philosophical History . . . of Europeans in the Two Indies (1770)
a.
A total history of colonization, natural history, exploration
and commerce
b.
Industry and trade bring improvement and progress
c.
Condemned the Spanish in Mexico and Peru, the
Portuguese in Brazil, the English in North America
d.
A good government required checks and balances
e.
The problem? – Europeans in the New World had unlimited
power
V. Empire and Enlightenment (cont’d)
C.
Slavery and the Atlantic world
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Atlantic slave trade hits its peak in the 18th century
For Raynal and Diderot, slavery defied natural law and natural
freedom
A condemnation of slavery in a metaphorical sense
Slavery as a violation of self-government
Few philosophes advocated the total abolition of slavery
V. Empire and Enlightenment (cont’d)
D.
Exploration and the Pacific world
1.
2.
3.
4.
Mapping the Pacific and scientific missions
Louis-Anne de Bougainville (1729-1811)
a.
Sent by the French government to the South Pacific (1767)
b.
Looked for a new route to China and new spices
c.
Described Tahiti
Captain James Cook (1728-1779)
a.
Two trips to the South Pacific
b.
Charted coasts of New Zealand, New Holland, New Hebrides
and Hawaii
c.
Explored the Antarctic continent, the Bering Sea and the
Arctic Ocean
Travel accounts of these voyages read by a large audience
eager for such information
V. Empire and Enlightenment (cont’d)
E.
The impact of the scientific missions
1.
2.
3.
The 18th century fascinated by stories of new cultures
Diderot, Supplément au Voyage de Bougainville (1772)
a.
Tahitians as original human beings
b.
Humanity in its natural state
c.
Uninhibited sexuality and freedom from religious dogma
d.
Simplicity v. over-civilized Europeans
Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859)
a.
Spent five years in Spanish America
b.
Personal Narratives of Travels (1814-1819)
c.
Toward Darwin and evolutionary change
VI. The Radical Enlightenment
A.
B.
How revolutionary was the Enlightenment?
The world of Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
General observations
Quarreled with and contradicted other philosophes
Attacked privilege and believed in the goodness of humanity
Introduced the notion of sensibility (the “cult of feeling”)
The first to speak of popular sovereignty and democracy
The most utopia of the philosophes
VI. The Radical Enlightenment (cont’d)
C.
The Social Contract (1762)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
“Man was born free, and everywhere he is in chains”
The origins of government
The legitimacy of government
Social inequality and private property
Legitimate authority arises from the people alone
a.
Sovereignty should not be divided among different
branches of the government
b.
Exercising sovereignty transformed the nation
c.
The national community would be united by the “general
will”
i.
Citizens bound by mutual obligation rather than
coercive laws
ii.
Citizens' common interests represented in the whole
VI. The Radical Enlightenment (cont’d)
D.
Emile (1762)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Story of a boy educated in the “school of nature”
Children should not be forced to reason early in life
The aim was moral autonomy and good citizenship
Women useful as mothers and wives only
“Natural” is better, more simple, uncorrupted
VI. The Radical Enlightenment (cont’d)
F.
The world of Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797)
1.
2.
Rousseau’s sharpest critic
A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792)
a.
Republican ideas
b.
Spoke against inequality and artificial distinctions of rank,
birth or wealth
c.
Society ought to seek “the perfection of our nature and
capability of happiness”
d.
Women had the same innate capacity for reason and selfgovernment
e.
Virtue the same thing for men and women
f.
Relations between the sexes ought to be based on equality
VI. The Radical Enlightenment (cont’d)
The world of Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) (cont’d)
F.
3.
The family
a.
The legal inequalities of marriage law
b.
Women “educated” to be dependent and seductive in order
to win husbands
c.
Education has to promote liberty and self-reliance
d.
The common humanity of men and women
e.
The natural division of labor between men and women
f.
Hinted that women might have political rights
VII. The Enlightenment and Eighteenth
Century Culture
A.
The Book Trade
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
The expansion of printing and “print culture”
An international and clandestine book trade
Growth of daily newspapers
British press was relatively free of restrictions
Censorship only made books more expensive
“Philosophical books” – subversive literature of all kinds
The 18th century “literary underground”
High culture, new elites and the “public sphere”
B.
1.
2.
3.
Networks of readers and new forms of sociability and
discussion
Elite or high culture was small but cosmopolitan
Joined together members of the nobility and wealthy members
of the middle classes
VII. The Enlightenment and Eighteenth
Century Culture (cont’d)
High culture, new elites and the “public sphere” (cont’d)
B.
4.
5.
“Learned societies”
a.
American Philosophical Society (Philadelphia)
b.
Select Society of Edinburgh
c.
Organized intellectual life outside universities
d.
Provided libraries, meeting places for discussion, published
journals
Elites also met in Academies
a.
Royal Society of London
b.
French Academy of Literature
c.
Berlin Royal Academy
d.
Fostered a sense of common purpose and seriousness
VII. The Enlightenment and Eighteenth
Century Culture (cont’d)
C.
Salons
1.
2.
3.
4.
Organized by well-connected and learned aristocratic women
Brought together men and women of letters with members of the
aristocracy
Located in all major cities
Other societies
a.
Masonic Lodges
b.
Secret society with elaborate rituals
c.
Egalitarian
d.
Pledged themselves to rational thought in all human affairs
e.
Coffee houses
f.
Aided the circulation of new ideas
VII. The Enlightenment and Eighteenth
Century Culture (cont’d)
The “public sphere” and “public opinion”
D.
1.
2.
E.
The ability to think and criticize freely
Effect on politics – moving politics beyond the court
Middle-class culture and reading
1.
2.
3.
4.
Shopkeepers, small merchants, lawyers and professionals – a
different reading public
Bought and borrowed books
Targeted middle class women
Popularized Enlightenment treatises on education and the mind
VII. The Enlightenment and Eighteenth
Century Culture (cont’d)
Middle-class culture and reading (cont’d)
E.
5.
Popularity of the novel
a.
Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) – Moll Flanders and Robinson
Crusoe
b.
Henry Fielding (1707-1754) – Tom Jones
c.
Jane Austen (1775-1817) – Pride and Prejudice and Emma
VII. The Enlightenment and Eighteenth
Century Culture (cont’d)
F.
Popular culture: urban and rural
1.
2.
3.
4.
Literacy
a.
Varied by gender, class, and location
b.
Greater literacy in northern Europe
c.
Ran high in towns and cities
Broadsides, woodcuts, prints, drawings, cartoons
The availability of new reading material
The “blue books” – inexpensive, small paperbacks
a.
Traditional popular literature
b.
Short catechisms
c.
Tales of miracles
d.
The lives of saints
VII. The Enlightenment and Eighteenth
Century Culture (cont’d)
Popular culture: urban and rural (cont’d)
F.
5.
6.
Networks of sociability
a.
Guild organizations offered discussion and companionship
b.
Street theatre and singers
c.
Market days and village festivals
d.
Oral and literate cultures overlapped
The philosophes and popular culture
a.
The Enlightenment was an urban phenomenon
b.
Looked at popular culture with distrust and ignorance
VII. The Enlightenment and Eighteenth
Century Culture (cont’d)
G.
Eighteenth-century music
1.
2.
The last phase of the Baroque
Bach and Handel
a.
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
i.
Remained a German provincial his entire life
ii.
A church musician at Leipzig
iii.
Supplied music for Sunday and holiday services
iv.
An ardent Protestant, unaffected by the secularism of
the Enlightenment
b.
George Frederick Handel (1685-1759)
i.
Public-pleasing cosmopolitan
ii.
Established himself in London
iii.
The oratorio – musical drama to be performed in
concert
iv.
The Messiah
VII. The Enlightenment and Eighteenth
Century Culture (cont’d)
Eighteenth-century music (cont’d)
G.
3.
Hayden and Mozart
a.
The “classical style”
b.
Imitating classical principles of order, clarity and symmetry
c.
The string quartet and the symphony
d.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
i.
Began composing at age four, a keyboard virtuoso at 6
ii.
Wrote his first symphony at age nine
iii.
Attracted attention across Europe
iv.
Freemasonry
v.
Died relatively poor
vi.
The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni and The Magic
Flute
VII. The Enlightenment and Eighteenth
Century Culture (cont’d)
Eighteenth-century music (cont’d)
G.
3.
4.
Hayden and Mozart (cont’d)
e.
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
i.
Spent his life with a wealthy Austro-Hungarian family
ii.
Moved to London – commercial market for culture
iii.
The “father of the symphony”
Opera
a.
A 17th century creation
i.
Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)
ii.
combined music with theatre
VII. The Enlightenment and Eighteenth
Century Culture (cont’d)
Eighteenth-century music (cont’d)
G.
5.
Aristocratic and court patronage
VIII. Conclusion
A.
B.
C.
Science as a form of knowledge
Raising problems to public awareness
The “language” of the Enlightenment