The Enlightenment
17th-18th Century
The
Enlightenment
• Emergence of a secular
world view for the 1st time
in human history
– Natural science & reason
could explain all aspects of
life
– Basic assumption: faith in
reason rather than faith in
revelation
– Deism: religious arm of the
Enlightenment
• Belief that scientific
method could explain the
laws of society
John Locke
(1632-1704)
• Two Treatises of Civil Government
(1690)
– Philosophical defense for the Glorious
Revolution
– State of Nature: humans are basically
good but lack protection
– Purpose of government is to protect
“natural rights” of life, liberty, &
property
• Essay Concerning Human
Understanding (1690)
– Stressed the importance of the
environment on human development:
Education was the key
– Tabula rasa: human mind is born as a
blank slate
– For progress to occur in society,
education was critical in determining
human development
The
Philosophes
• Committed to fundamental
reform in society
– Extremely successful in
popularizing the
Enlightenment
– Not professional
philosophers (like Descartes
& Locke)
– Believed in progress through
discovering the natural laws
of human existence
– Radically optimistic about
how people should live &
govern themselves
• Voltaire (1694-1778)
Enlightenment
Philosophers
– Most influential of all Enlightenment
philosophers
– Challenged traditional Catholic theology
– His influential social criticism inspired many
to call for change
•
•
•
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will set the stage for Fr. Rev.
He hated bigotry & injustice
Called for religious toleration
Most famous quote against religious intolerance
- “Ecrasez l’infame” (Crush the infamous thing)
– Advocated “enlightened despotism” (a
more benevolent form of absolutism)
• Believed people were incapable of governing
themselves
• Influenced several Enlightened Despots
including Frederick the Great of Prussia,
Catherine the Great of Russia, Joseph II of
Austria, & Napoleon of France
Voltaire’s
Wisdom
• A witty saying proves nothing.
• All murderers are punished - unless they kill in large numbers
and to the sound of trumpets.
• All men are born with a nose and ten fingers, but no one was
born with a knowledge of God.
• Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities
has the power to make you commit injustices.
• Better is the enemy of good.
• Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do.
• God is a comedian, playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.
• I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the
death your right to say it. (attributed)
• If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him.
• It is better to risk saving a guilty man than to condemn an
innocent one.
• Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.
• No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.
• Opinion has caused more trouble on this little earth than
plagues or earthquakes.
• The secret of being a bore... is to tell everything
Baron de
Montesquieu
(1689-1755)
• Member of French nobility
• Hated the absolutism of
Louis XIV
• Spirit of the Laws (1748)
– Called for the separation of
powers in government into 3
branches
– Goal: to prevent tyranny
– Principle of checks and
balances: no single branch
becomes too powerful
• Significant impact on the
creation of the U.S.
Constitution & the French
Revolution in the 1780’s.
Jean-Jacques
Rousseau
(1712-1778)
• Social Contract (1762)
– Believed too much emphasis on
property & not enough consideration
of people was a root of all social
injustice
– The general will (a consensus of the
majority) should control a nation.
• Founder of the Romantic Movement
– After the Fr. Rev., the enlightenment
emphasis on reason gave way to a
glorification of emotion
• Believed that man in a “state of
nature” was good – a “noble savage”
– and was corrupted by civilization
• Emile (1762)
– Believed in progressive education –
learning by doing, self expression
encouraged
• Denis Diderot
More
philosophizing….
– The Encyclopedia!!!!!! (1765)
– Perhaps the greatest & most representative work
of the philosophes
– Vast compendium of social & political critiques
from Enlightenment philosophers & authors
– Sought to teach people to think critically &
objectively
– The Encyclopedia was banned in France & placed
on the Pope’s Index of Forbidden Books
• Marquis di Beccaria
– On Crimes & Punishment (1764)
– Sought to humanize criminal law based on
Enlightenment concepts of reason & equality
– Punishment should be based rationally on the
damage done to society
– Opposed death penalty except for treason
– Opposed torture to extract confessions
– He influenced Enlightened Despots
• Frederick the Great of Prussia banned torture
• Catherine the Great restricted use of torture
• Joseph II of Austria banned torture & the death
penalty
Economic Theory • Francois Quesnay
– Leader of the physiocrats in France who
in the
opposed mercantilism
Enlightenment
– Sought to reform the agrarian system by
instituting laissez- faire in agriculture
– Believed Fr. Gov. & nobility had too
much control over land
• Adam Smith
– Wealth of Nations
– Considered the “Bible” of capitalism
– Expanded on the laissez-faire of the
physiocrats
– Economy is governed by natural laws of
supply & demand
– Competition will encourage producers
to manufacture most efficiently in order
to sell higher quality, lower cost goods
– Gov’t regulation only interferes
Women in the
Enlightenment
• Played a major role in the salon
movement
– The brightest minds assembled in
salons to discuss the major issues
of the day
– Women organized salons & took
part in the discussions
• Madame Geoffren
• Louise de Warens
– Geoffren was a major patron the
Diderot’s Encyclopedia
• Philosophes favored increased
rights & education for women
• In England, Mary Wollstonecraft
promoted political & educational
equality for women
Later
Enlightenment
• Became more skeptical…
• Baron Paul d’Holbach
– System of Nature
– Argued humans are like machines, completely
determined by outside forces (determinism)
• David Hume
– Claimed human ideas were merely the result of
sensory experiences; thus, human reason could
not go beyond what was experienced through
the senses
– Undermined the emphasis on reason
David Hume
• Jean de Condorcet
– Progress of the Human Mind
– His Utopian ideas also undermined the
legitimacy of Enlightenment ideas
– 9 stages of human progress already occurred –
10th stage brings perfection
• Immanuel Kant
Kant
– Greatest German philosopher of the time
– Separated science & morality
– Science could describe nature, could not provide
a guide for morality
Classical
Liberalism
• The political outgrowth of the
Enlightenment
– Belief in liberty of the individual
– Equality before the law (but not
democracy)
– “Natural rights”
– Impact of Locke & Montesquieu
evident in the US Constitution &
French Declaration of the Rights
of Man
– “general will” influenced Fr. Rev.
• Belief in laissez-faire capitalism
• Belief in progress
• Religious toleration, freedom of
speech & the press, justice
punishments, & equal treatment
Religion in the
Enlightenment
• New Christian groups opposed the
Enlightenment
– Secular & deist views of the Enlightenment
caused a reaction among Christian leaders
• German pietism
– Argued need for spiritual conversion &
religious experience
• Methodism (John Wesley – founder)
– Taught need for spiritual regeneration & a
moral life
– demonstrate one’s having been “born
again”
• Jansenism (Catholic sect)
– Argued against the idea of an uninvolved
or impersonal God
• Jewish toleration
– Continued to be the despised minority
– Some favored assimilation of the Jews but
only by the conversion of the Jews to
Christianity
Impact of the
• Emergence of a secular world
Enlightenment on
view of the universe
society
• Enlightened despotism in
Prussia, Russia, Austria, and
France (Napoleon)
• American & French Revolutions
• Educational reforms
• Growth of laissez faire
capitalism in the 19th century
(during the industrial
revolution in England &
America)
Culture of the
Century
18th
• High culture
– literary and artistic world of the
educated & wealthy
– Growth of publishing
– Development of magazines &
newspapers
– Public & private libraries
• Popular culture
– written & unwritten lore of the
masses; social activities
fundamental to most lives
– Festivals/Carnival
– Taverns & alcohol
• Gin & vodka - devastate the poor
– Chapbooks
• improved literacy rates