Weeks 8-9; The Enlightenment

Here's a great video applying concepts from the Enlightenment to the 21st Century: RSA Animate - 21st Century Enlightenment

WH1    Due Wed, Oct 19
WH2-3 Due Thu, Oct 20

Read pages 310-317
Answer:
Reading Check,  pg. 311
Questions 4 & 5  pg. 317

Due Friday, Oct. 21
Research one of the following people and write 2-3 good paragraphs about their ideas on 1. the social contract; 2. government; 3. religion:

--Jean Jacques Rousseau

--François-Marie Voltaire

--Thomas Hobbes

--John Locke

Midterm Makeup Questions
Due by Monday, Oct. 24.
If you want to raise your score on your last exam, look at the section you did most poorly on (either the Age of Discovery or Crisis and Absolutism). Answer ONE question below about the section you did poorly on. (3-4 paragraphs)

I. Where and When

A. England

Many of the most progressive ideas and developments had taken place in England in the 17th Century.

• Science: Newton,
• Philosophy: Locke,
  
  AND
• Politics: 1688 the Glorious Revolution.

These developments had a real influence on the Frenchmen we discuss in this and next class -

• Voltaire visited England and wrote letters in praise of it
• Montesquieu based his views on the separation of powers in government on his (mis)understanding of the English Government.

B. France

So far we have been wandering all over Europe but all these knew ideas came together and were popularized, especially in France.

II. Definitions

A. Enlightenment

The Enlightenment and liberal thought in general, with Voltaire and Diderot leading the way, emphasized

• REASON,
• TOLERATION and
• NATURAL LAW,
• plus a confidence in modern man and his achievements

• ABOVE ALL THEY PROMOTED THE IDEA OF CHANGE AND PROGRESS AS GOOD THINGS. THIS HAS BECOME A VERY DISTINCTIVE MARK OF THE MODERN WORLD.

B. Philosophes

The people who were the thinkers in France were known as PHILOSOPHES. They were not on the whole original thinkers, but were great publicists of the new ideas.

C. Social Context

The social context of the Philosophes was uniquely civilised: a Salon society presided over by educated women hostesses.

III. Voltaire (Francois-Marie Arouet) 1694-1778

A. Life

1726-29 Visted England.

Spent latter part of his life as the Roi de Vernay, near Geneva.

Voltaire was the most famous philosophe and he was not an aristocrat, rather a very rich bourgeois. (distinguish between a status society and a class society. Ancien Regime France was a status society in that its nobility was based purely on birth, at least in theory.)

He was above all concerned with human action and attempts to improve human life. He was one of the very best French writers; read him and you will see that he gets his ideas across in the most charming and witty way possible: for example in Candide, an attack on Leibniz's philosophy that all is well, is also extremely funny.

B. Thought

• He promoted Free Speech, Civil Rights and Toleration.
• He was extremely anticlerical. Ecrasez L'infame, Remove the infamy of Church bigotry and power from society. This anticlericalism was inspired by the Calas case (a Protestant was falsely accused and killed for killing his son to stop him becoming Roman Catholic.) This is important in explaining the extreme anti-clericalism of the French Revolution. It was not present in English thinkers.
• Note that Voltaire was not a liberal in many ways. He praised Louis XIV and thought Enlightened despotism was the best government, as a monarchy could keep down the Church and the aristocracy.
• He was also anti-Semitic, possibly due to equating Jews with the Church, possibly due to problems he had with money lenders. Neither is an excuse.

IV. Diderot and the Encyclopedia

Denis Diderot 1713-84, Jean le Rond d'Alembert 1717-83

A. The Encyclopedia 1751-72 17 vols

(vol 2 banned - made it very popular). Its aim was to include all knowledge. All the leading philosophes wrote for it in signed articles and so it shows many different views: for instance there is a debates on Luxury - Voltaire thought it was good, but others, looking to ancient Sparta thought it was contrary to virtue.

B Publicity

The Encyclopedia shows Philosophes/Enlightenment as part of a process of publicity. They got their ideas into all the reading publics minds. About 25,000 copies were sold, half outside France.

The groups most critical of it, nobles and clergy, actually bought it more than other groups.

C. Ideals

• It promoted ideals of toleration, reason and progress, equality before the law (for all the 3 estates) -
• It saw the state as the agency for progress, opposition to the Church and Faith.
• IT DIFFUSED THESE IDEAS AROUND EUROPE.

V. The Enlightenment, Deism, and Religion

A. Introduction

This was not a great age for theology: there were it must be emphasized movements of popular piety, pietism and Methodism, but religion did not hold the intellectual leaders as it had during the Reformation.

B. Deism

Deism was idea that God set up the Universe as clockwork and then just let it run. It proposed a non-ritual religion based on REASON. In fact this was not as strong as Faith, as reasonable arguments can be and are disproved.

Deists also attacked Christianity, especially Catholicism, as superstitious.

Deism was the belief of many philosophes and was actually made a state religion for a short while during the French Revolution

C. Age of Reason?

Note the contrast: One age, the Reformation, has Christ suffering for humanity on the Cross as the image of God, the next has God as a Watchmaker.

VI. Enlightenment Political Thought

One of most creative aspects of the Enlightenment was its use of new philosophy in a practical way to discuss politics. One of the most commonly asked questions about the French Revolution is about the influence of these ideas - their influence on American events is even more certain.

Essay: A Philosopher's Dialogue: Link to Enlightenment Essay Due ____