The Paris of the Philosophes
The Significance of Paris
Paris was the center of all aspects of French (and, in
many cases, European) life—intellectual, artistic
economic, bureaucratic, judicial, social. (pg. 870)
Paris was the center of the European art market
(pg. 874)
Population of Paris (pg. 870):
560,00 in 1730 (2nd only to London)
650,000 in 1789 (increase of approx. 20%)
The Parisian Salon
• Developed during the time of Louis XIV
• Became the center of Parisian/French
intellectual society
• Hostesses would often invite philosophes
• Perhaps one hundred hostesses conducted
salons on regular days of the week. (pg. 875)
• Age of Rococo art (pg. 877)
Rococo Art
Jean-Honore Fragonard:
The Swing
Paris and the Scientific Revolution
• Discoveries of the Scientific Revolution
showed that the universe was governed by
laws, that it could be understood, and that
everything in it was related.
• And it was…in the scientific revolution [the
Enlightenment thinkers saw] proof of their
optimism in the future achievements of the
human understanding when working on the
physical and the human universe. (pg. 886)
Paris and the Enlightenment
Thought on Justice:
Punishment…should be made to fit the crime, an
extraordinary idea at a time when the death penalty
was dealt out for minor theft. (pg. 889)
Thoughts on Religion:
Voltaire: Ecrasez l’infâme! (Crush the infamous
thing!)
God as a “divine watchmaker” (pg. 888)
The Encyclopédie (1751-1772)
• “Greatest work” of the Enlightenment
• Primary editor was Denis Diderot (and Jean
d’Alembert)
The figure in the centre
represents truth — surrounded
by bright light (the central
symbol of the enlightenment).
Two other figures on the right,
reason and philosophy, are
tearing the veil from truth.
Enlightened Despots
• Catherine the Great (Russia), Joseph II
(Austria), Frederick the Great (Prussia)
• Accomplishments (pg. 894)
• Problems with Reform (pg. 895)
Paris on the Eve of Revolution
• The Three Estates
• The Bourgeoisie
• The “Sans-Culottes”
“Culottes”
“SansCulottes”