ENLIGHTENMENT

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ENLIGHTENMENT NOTES
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SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION 1500 - 1700

• Scientific investigation Take an idea and test
  it.
• A search for what we can know for sure.
• Science threatened religious teachings as the
  source for people to get the unexpected
  explained.

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ENLIGHTENMENT 1700 - 1800

• Revolution in studying human behavior using
  Reason and the Scientific Method.
• To use reason to explain aspects of life
• Government God Economics Reality

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Reason
Decisions based on fact and logic, not myth,
emotion, bigotry, prejudice (An absence of
intolerance, bigotry, prejudice in ones
thinking.)
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Nature Happiness Progress Liberty
Original state of something or natural tendency
Could be achieved by living by natures laws
Society could improve by using a scientific
approach
To be free from undue control of religion,
speech, thought, trade, travel, pursuit of
happiness
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Social Contract
People agreeing to give up liberty to gain
security. To accept government control.
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Absolute Monarch Divine Right of Kings
A king with no limit to his power.
The concept that Royal power came from God and
should not be questioned.
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Popular Sovereignty The idea that people should
have a say in government
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Benevolent Dictator Absolute ruler whose actions
are based on the best interests of his/her people
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Enlightenment
Also called the Age of Reason Period of Western
history (1700s) when thinkers called for the use
of reason in analyzing and improving society.
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The Enlightenment brought together the ideas of
the Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution.
Renaissance artists and writers adopted a more
secular outlook on life rather than the spiritual
outlook of the Middle Ages. The ideas of the
Scientific Revolution created scientific
philosophies for seeking the truth. All of
these are the basis for the Enlightenment.
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Isaac Newton
Newton is referred to both as the last scientist
of the Scientific Revolution, as well as the
first great thinker of the Enlightenment. He
created Differential and Integral Calculus to
study objects in motion and help him with the
apple thing. He finalized the laws of motion
and defined gravity (all objects have a natural
attraction that varies with mass and the distance
of the objects.
Whats left of Newtons apple tree
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Rene Descartes (day-Kart)
Created Analytical Geometry
(Algebra Geometry) Asked the question What can
I know for sure? I doubt everything, except that
I doubt. I Doubt Therefore I Am . . . . Famous
quote I Think Therefore I Am.
What else can I know for sure? (He also offered a
proof of Gods existence)
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Warm Up
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Philosophes
Philosophes were thinkers of the early 1700s who
tried to use reason to explain all aspects of
life. Their key ideas include Reason, Nature,
Happiness, Progress, and Liberty
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Enlightenment thinkers thought that like laws in
natural science, there were laws governing human
society. Laws of nature (natural laws) give
people rights of life, liberty and property. Men
can build a fair society based on reason
(rationality). They challenged the theory of
"Divine Right of Kings." 
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Voltaire

(pen name
for Francois Marie Arouet)
Candide (1758) most famous book I disapprove
of what you say, but I will defend to the death
your right to say it. Promoted Reason and free
speech Attacked absolute monarchs
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Jean-Jacques Rousseau The
Social Contract (1762) Man is born free, yet
everywhere he is in chains King's power comes
from people, not by God. The government
represents the "general will" of people.
  
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Baron de Montesquieu On
the Spirit of the Laws (1748) Power should be a
check to power A good government should be
divided into 3 branches executive, legislature
and judiciary branches should check the power
of one another SEPARATION OF
POWERS
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Cesare Beccaria Denounced abuses of
justice regarding treatment, especially torture
of those accused or crimes
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Mary Wollestonecraft
Advocated education for women A Vindication of
the Rights of Woman (1792), in which she argues
that women are not naturally inferior to men, but
appear to be only because they lack education.
She suggests that both men and women should be
treated as rational beings and imagines a social
order founded on reason. Mother of Mary
Wollestonecraft Shelley, author of
Frankenstein
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Denis Diderot The first
Encyclopedia
The work comprised 35 volumes, with 71,818
articles, and 3,129 illustrations. It presented
the achievements of human learning in a single
work. Besides offering a summary of information
on all theoretical knowledge, it also challenged
the authority of the Catholic Church.
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• On the Spirit of the Laws (1748)
• Power should be a check to power
• A good government should be divided into 3
  branches executive, legislature and judiciary
  branches should check the power of one another
  
• SEPARATION OF POWERS

• Candide (1758) most famous book
• I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend
  to the death your right to say it.
• Promoted Reason and free speech
• Attacked absolute monarchs

• The Social Contract (1762)
• Man is born free, yet everywhere he is in
  chains
• King's power comes from people, not by God. The
  government represents the "general will" of
  people.

• Advocated education for women
• A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), in
  which she argues that women are not naturally
  inferior to men, but appear to be only because
  they lack education. She suggests that both men
  and women should be treated as rational beings
  and imagines a social order founded on reason.
• Mother of Mary Wollestonecraft Shelley, author of
  Frankenstein

• Denounced abuses of justice regarding treatment,
  especially torture of those accused or crimes