Ch, 17
18
th
Century Age of the
Enlightenment
Isaac Newton Quote
If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.
Source: Isaac Newton, Letter to Robert Hooke, February 5, 1675
English mathematician & physicist (1642 - 1727)
Philosophes
The intellects, writers, and critics who championed economic, political, and scientific
Focused on:
Greater Freedoms
More Liberties
Improvements on society
Influences on the Enlightenment
Isaac Newton’s determining the role of gravitation in the relationship between objects enabled others to realize that much remained to be discovered.
Newton’s use of empirical support for general laws became an important feature to the Enlightenment
John Locke’s view of psychology- that all humans begin life as a tabula rasa (blank page)
Locke’s view gave Enlightenment thinkers grounds for arguing that the human condition could be improved by modifying the social and political environment
Influences Continued
Britain's domestic stability- religious toleration, freedom of press (to an extent), small army, unregulated domestic life, and political sovereignty in the Parliament
Britain stability suggested that Absolute Monarchy may not be the best path
France- Louis XIV heavy taxation, absolute monarchy, religious persecution, and large standing army seen as obstacles to reform
Influences Continued
Voltaire criticized French life
Letters on the English- believed the French could improve their lives by modeling after British
Candide- attacked War and religious parsecution
Print Culture:
spread ideas
Public became more literate
Printed materials had ability to shift public opinion
The Encyclopedia
Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d’Alembert
Product of writing by over 100 authors
Two Aims:
Secularize Learning
Replace intellectual assumptions of the Middle Ages and Reformation
Survived censorship
Advanced ideas of the day and plea for freedom of expression
Enlightenment and Religion
Voltaire’s slogan “Crush the Infamous Thing” sums up general attitude
Philosophes felt that Christianity focused attention on the world to come was the detriment of the present condition
Philosophes object to the power structure of the old regiment which gave special rights to clergy (France)
Enlightenment and Religion
Continued
Jewish and Islamic Religions also criticized by Enlightenment thinkers
Baruch Spinoza and Moses Mendelsohn- Jewish men who would enter the debate criticism of Jewish religion
Enlightenment thinkers portrayed Islam as a false religion
Deism
Believe that religion and reason could be combined
Belief that God must be rational and religion should be so as well
Deists believed that God existed and could be empirically justified in the study of nature
The Enlightenment and Society
Philosophes were concerned with the application of laws and reason to the social condition
Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794) On Crimes and Punishments
Attacked torture and capital punishment
His used critical analysis to address the problem of making punishments just and effective
Enlightenment and Society
Continued
Physiocrats- Philosophes believed that policy could be reformed in a way that was consistent with natural laws
Leaders included Francois Quesnay and Pierre Dupont De Nemours
Believed that Mercantilist policies hampered with the expansion of trade
Enlightenment and Society
Continued
Adam Smith- A Wealth of Nations
Believed that Economic Liberty was the foundation for a natural economic system and urged Mercantilist system to be abolished
Laissez-Faire- Hand-off- no government regulation in the economy
Four Stage Theory of human and economic development
Enabled Europeans to see themselves dwelling at the highest level of achievement
Justification for economic and imperial domination of the world
Political Thought and Philosophes
Baron de Montesquieu Spirit of Laws (1748)
Held British Constitution as an example of the wisest model for regulating power of government
Advocated the French Aristocracy to improve the French political regiment
Jean-Jacques Rousseau Social Contract (1762)
Envisioned a Society in which each individual could maintain personal freedom while participating as a loyal member in a larger community
Saw Humans beings as enmeshed in social relationships and believed that loyalty to a community should be encouraged
Women in the Though and Practice of the Enlightenment
Helped promote careers of philosophes by giving them access to their social and political contacts and providing a forum for circulating ideas
Louis XV’s mistress Madame De Tencin- promoted Montesquieu’s
Spirit of Laws by purchasing and circulating among friends
Mary Wollstonecraft- addressed shortcomings and critiqued
Rousseau in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)
Enlightened Absolutism
Refers to the phenomenon of several European rulers embracing the reforms set out by the philosophes
Frederick II of Prussia, Joseph II of Austria, Catherine II of Russia
Thought reforms and innovations would increase their revenue
