“Dare to know!” –Immanuel Kant

Belief in natural laws- very secular

Impact of the Scientific Revolution

Deism- religious arm of the Enlightenment

Progress in society was possible if natural laws and how they could be applied to society could be understood

Education is key to progress

British

Supporter of the Glorious Revolution

Believed the scientific method could be applied to the study of society

Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690)

Theory of tabula rasa

All knowledge comes from experience – education critical

Second Treatise on Government

Social contract

People create a government to protect their natural rights

Life, liberty, and property

Authority of the government derived from consent of the governed

When government fails to protect natural rights, people have a right to rebel

Supported constitutional government

Natural rights doctrine influenced Thomas Jefferson

“We are like chameleons, we take our hue and the color of our moral character from those who are around us”

“Reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours.”

“What worries you, masters you.”

“There is frequently more to be learned from the unexpected questions of a child than the discourses of men.”

“So that, in effect, religion, which should most distinguish us from beasts, and ought most peculiarly to elevate us, as rational creatures, above brutes, is that wherein men often appear most irrational, and more senseless than beasts themselves.”

Committed to fundamental reform in society

Extremely successful in popularizing the Enlightenment

Might have shared the fundamental ideas of the Enlightenment, but were different

Came from different social classes, generations, and nations

Four dominated Enlightenment discourse with ideas about society, religion, and politics

Montesquieu, Voltaire, Diderot, and Rousseau

member of the French nobility

Hated the absolutism of Louis XIV

Wrote the Persian Letters- detailed the political and social injustices of life in the West

Offered first critical examination of slavery- “…against natural law” and slavery compromised “the general good of men (and) that of particular societies”

Spirit of the Laws (1748)

Called for separation of powers in government

Goal: to prevent tyranny and promote liberty

Principle of checks and balances

His ideas had a significant impact on the creation of the US Constitution and the French Revolution

“There is no greater tyranny than that which is perpetrated under the shield of the law and in the name of justice.”

“I have always observed that to succeed in the world one should appear like a fool but be wise.”

“The tyranny of a prince in an oligarchy is not so dangerous to the public welfare as the apathy of a citizen in a democracy.”

“To become truly great, one has to stand with people, not above them.”

“If only we wanted to be happy, it would be easy; but we want to be happier than other people, which is difficult, since we think them happier than they are.”

Perhaps the most influential off all Enlightenment philosophers

Developed a pen as quick and cutting as a sword

Like Montesquieu admired British system- admired tolerance in politics and religion

Supported of enlightened despotism/monarch

Absolute ruler would use authority to promote reform

Every state is different based on its history

Very critical of the Church –”crush the horrible thing!”

Candide- 1759

Satirical tale

Short tale about cheerful optimist Candide – goes from one disaster to another

Attacked superstition, religious persecution, war, and uncritical optimism

Confronts the contradiction of God and the evil in the world

“Everything I see scatters the seeds of a revolution which will definitely come…Enlightenment has gradually spread so widely that it will burst into full light at the first right opportunity, and then there will be a fine uproar. Lucky are the young, for they will see great things.”

“I disapprove of what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it.”

“Common sense is not so common.”

“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.”

“The more I read, the more I acquire, the more certain I am that I know nothing.”

“Now, now my good man, this is no time to be making enemies."(Voltaire on his deathbed in response to a priest asking him that he renounce Satan.)”

“The secret of being a bore is to tell everything.”

“Think for yourself and let others enjoy the privilege of doing so too.”

“Don't think money does everything or you are going to end up doing everything for money.”

“We never live; we are always in the expectation of living.”

“It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.”

Encyclopedia

Worked on it for 25 years, one of the greatest monuments of the Enlightenment

Contained 60,000 articles and 2,885 illustrations in 28 volumes

“A Classified Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts and Trades”

Learning more about the universe, mankind can improve the world

Contained a collection of political and social critiques from various Enlightenment philosophers and authors

Pages from Diderot’s Encyclopedie

Pages from Diderot’s Encyclopedie

Pages from Diderot’s Encyclopedie

Civilization had corrupted the natural goodness of man -“noble savage”

Believed that a republic offered its citizens a possibility of freedom- he is suspicious of representative gov’t – people might ultimately vote themselves into slavery by electing unworthy representatives

Social Contract (1762)

A social contract in which the individual surrenders his or her natural rights to the “general will” in order to find order and security

General will= consensus of the majority should control the nation

Stressed role of individual as a member of society

Citizens would live in peace because they would be ruled by other citizens

Helped shape the final period of the Enlightenment

Prelude to 19th century Romanticism – emotions

Emile (1762)

Primitive virtue must be preserved against the vices of culture

Encouraging self-expression and learning by doing

Voltaire ridiculed Rousseau’s emphasis of primitiveness as a virtue – “new book against the human race” “turning men into beasts”

“Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.”

“Every person has a right to risk their own life for the preservation of it.”

“Those that are most slow in making a promise are the most faithful in the performance of it. ”

“The first man who, having fenced in a piece of land, said "This is mine," and found people naïve enough to believe him, that man was the true founder of civil society. From how many crimes, wars, and murders, from how many horrors and misfortunes might not any one have saved mankind, by pulling up the stakes, or filling up the ditch, and crying to his fellows: Beware of listening to this impostor; you are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and the earth itself to nobody.”

On Crimes and Punishment (1764)

Sought to humanize criminal law based on Enlightenment concepts of reason and equality before the law

Rights of the accused

Opposed torture

Opposed the death penalty except for serious threats against the state

Francois Quesnay

Sought to reform the existing agrarian system by instituting laissez faire in agriculture

Believed French gov’t had too much control over land- impacted agriculture production

Adam Smith (1723-1790)

Wealth of Nations (1776)

Laissez-faire philosophy

Natural laws of supply and demand

Free market economy- competition encourages efficiency, high quality, and low cost

Government regulation gets in the way

People should feel free to pursue their own economic self-interest

Salons and academies helped spread Enlightenment thought

Brought together people of means, noble and bourgeois alike in private homes for sociability and discussion

Concentrated in Paris but spread to Berlin, London, Vienna

Salons in Paris organized and hosted by women

Could discuss work of philosophes without fear of police interference

A Parisian Salon

Madame Geoffrin’s Salon

French academies played a similar role to that of salons

Formal gatherings taking place very two weeks of people interested in science and philosophy

Lectures and debates

Unlike salons, no women

Some sponsored essay competitions

Monarchy supported- served the public interest

Started in Scotland as stonemasons’ guild

Brought together freethinkers and others who opposed the influence of the established churches in public life

Members took vows of secrecy

Members held a variety of political opinions but shared faith in progress, toleration, and critical view of institutionalized religion

Coffeehouses and taverns

Expanding middle classes in England and Northwest Europe began to transform cultural life – increased interest in literature, music, and the arts

Rise in literacy rates

Increased publication of newspapers

Enlightenment made history popular

Edward Gibbon (1737-1794)- History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Libraries increased, reading clubs

Enlightenment thinkers emphasized the aesthetic appreciation of art, rejecting formal rules or standards

Rococo- generally secular decorative style

Secular themes became popular with the art

William Hogarth (1697-1764) depicted everyday life in London with affection and satire

Mozart reflected the gradual evolution from dependence on court and aristocracy to the emergence of public concert

Created more varied and freely articulated compositions

Operas: The Marriage of Figaro (1786) and Don Giovanni (1787)

Showed Mozart’s ability to show characters from many walks of life

Magic Flute (1791)- showed his belief in the ability of mankind to develop greater virtue and a capacity for love