France, Beaumarchais, and the Birth of Figaro in the Cauldron of the Enlightenment

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France, Beaumarchais, and the Birth of Figaro in
the Cauldron of the Enlightenment
23 June 2008 NEH Institute
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Development of Printing Press 1450s

• Johannes Gutenberg
• Movable Type
• 23 letters (j,v,w)
• Printed Bible. 1455

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Columbus Landing in San Salvador
Late 16th Century Interpretation
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Protestant Reformation1517

• Justification by Faith
• Bible vs Tradition
• Priesthood of all Believers

Martin Luther 1483-1546
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Nicholas Copernicus, 1473-1543
Title Page of De Revolutionibus 1543
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Sir Isaac Newton, 1642-1727
Title Page of Principia, 1687
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Teleological View of World As Great Chain of
Being
GOD
MAN
Nature Essentially Qualitative
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SUNDAYOCTOBER 23, 4004 BC
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Jacobus Ussher (1581-1656) Archbishop of Armagh
and Primate of All Ireland.
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St. Bartholomews Day Massacre, August 23, 1572

• Religious Violence
• The Importance of the State in Catholic Revival

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CARTESIAN RATIONALISM

• Systematic Doubt
• Deductive Argument from First Principles

Cartesian Dualism Res extensa Res cogitans
Rene Descartes 1596 - 1650
Math as Bridge
Thinking Universe Soul
Physical Universe Size, Shape Motion, Rest
Discourse on Method, 1637
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Sir Isaac Newton, 1642-1727

• Newtonian Worldview
• One universal, mathematical law
• explains all motion in universe
• World of nature open to human
• investigation and knowledge
• Mechanical view of nature
• Orderly, regulated, uniform
• Machine operates by natural laws
• Natural Laws can be Known by Man

Principia, 1687
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Cartesian Dualism And Modern Worldview
Nature As Essentially Quantitative
Human Soul
God as First Cause
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Essay Concerning Human Understanding, 1690

• Denies Innate Ideas
• Tabula rasa
• Sensation
• Reflection
• Lockean Epistemology
• Does for Human Mind
• What Newton Does for
• Universe

John Locke 1632-1704
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John Locke 1632-1704
A Letter Concerning Toleration, 1689,1690,1692

• Laissez-faire liberalism in religion
  and politics
• Limitations of the human mind
• Political Dualism
• Civil Ecclesiastical Realms

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The Crisis of the European Mind, 1680-1715
---Paul Hazard Arguments from Authority
--- The Bible and the Classics To Argument
s from Reason and Nature The Limitations of the
Human Mind
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The OLD (Ancien) Regime

• Absolute Monarchy
• Divine Right of Kings
• Hierarchical Structure with Defined Classes
• Birth Defined Status not talent
• Church and State Throne and Altar
• Censorship of the Press
• Lettre de cachet
• Emphasis upon TraditionBible Classics

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Louis XIV, the Sun King 1643-1715
Louis XIV in His Minority
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Palace at Versailles
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Louis XV, 1715-1774
Louis XV at Five Year of Age
Ruler of France, 1715-1774
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Europe 1721
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The Hapsburgs
War of Austrian Succession 1740-48
Diplomatic Revolution, 1756
Seven Years War 1756-1763
Maria Theresa of Austria r. 1740-1780
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Prussia and the Austrian Empire
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North America, 1755 and 1763
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Enlightenment as Intellectual Movement

• Difficult to Date 18th Century Primarily in
  France
• Led by a diverse group of intellectuals commonly
  called the philosophes
• Not so much a coherent philosophy, but an
  intellectual movementthe 18th century version of
  the cultural wars
• Intellectual Roots of Liberalismpolitical,
  economic, and social liberalism

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Defining Characteristics

• Reason vs Revelation
• Secular
• Deism
• Empirical
• Toleration
• Freedom of Speech
• Freedom of Press
• Religious Freedom
• Anti-clerical and anti-authoritarian
• Emphasis upon Education
• Equality before the Law
• Cultural Relativism
• Theory of Progress

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Baron de Montesquieu 1689-1755
Persian Letters, 1721 Spirit of the Laws, 1748

• Cultural Relativism
• Making a science of society
• Doing for Human Institutions
• What Newton Did for Physical
• Universe

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Voltaire Francois Marie Arouet 1694-1778

• Personification of the Enlightenment
• Poet, novelist, playwright, essayist
• Letters Concerning the English Nation, 1733
• Candide, 1759
• Philosophical Dictionary, 1764

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Voltaire 1694-1778

• Berlin Period (1750-1753)
• Geneva/Ferney Period (1755-1778)
• Lisbon Earthquake, 1755
• Jean Calas Case (1762-1765)
• Ecrasez linfame
• Triumphal Return to Paris, 1778

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Denis Diderot 1713-1784
Born in Langres, France Son of cutler Educated
by Jesuits Philosophical Thoughts, 1746 Active
in salon culture Letter on the Blind, for Use of
Those Who See, 1749
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Denis Diderot 1713-1784
Encyclopedia, or a systematic dictionary of the
sciences, arts, and crafts
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Mathematician Philosopher Co-Editor of
Encyclopedia Project with Diderot Author of the
Preliminary Discourse to the Encyclopedia
Jean le Rond d'Alembert 1717-1783
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Frontispiece to Encyclopedia Symbolism of the
Bright Light of Truth Reason and Philosophy
remove the Veil
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1721-1795 Under the Direction of his Father, the
Chancellor, Malesherbes was official censor of
the press during Reign of Louis XV
Chretien-Guillaume de Lamoignon de Malesherbes
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• 17 volumes of articles,
• issued from 1751 to 1765
• 11 volumes of illustrations,
• issued from 1762 to 1772
• 18,000 pages of text
• 75,000 entries
• 44,000 main articles
• 28,000 secondary articles
• 2,500 illustration indices
• 20,000,000 words in total

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Typical of Encyclopedia Plates on Technology
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Founder of Romanticism? Contributions to
Political Theory, Educational Theory
Literature Early Life Born in Geneva Aimless
Early Life Arrives in Paris 1742 Confessions
(circa 1770s) The New Heloise, 1761 Emphasis
on Feeling and Authenticity Challenge to the
Emphasis on Reason
Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1712-1778
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Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1712-1778
Discourse on the Arts and Sciences,
1751 Discourse on Inequality, 1755 The Social
Contract, 1762
The General Will
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Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1712-1778
Discourse on the Arts and Sciences, 1751 First
Discourse (Prize Essay for the Academy of
Dijon) Has the re-establishment of arts and
sciences contributed to purge or corrupt our
manners? What a happiness it would be to live
amongst us, if our exterior appearance were
always the true representation of our
hearts Before art had molded our behaviors,
and taught our passions to talk an affected
language, our manners were indeed rustic, but
sincere and natural
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The Social Contract, 1762
How could this fraudulent contract of government
be made legitimate? Man is born free and
everywhere he is in chains. One thinks himself
master of others, and still remains a greater
slave than they. How did this change come about?
I do not know. What can make it legitimate? That
question I think I can answer.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1712-1778
The General Will
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Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1712-1778
The Nouvelle Heloise and Emile 1761-62 Great
success of Sentimental Novel Emile
Educational Theory
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De lesprit, 1758 A Treatise on Man his
Intellectual Faculties and his Education,
1772 Radical Empiricist and Determinist Human
behavior completely determined by education and
social environment. We seek to maximize pleasure
and minimize painanticipates the British
Utilitarians
Claude Adrien Helvetius (1715-1771)
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Watchmaker Inventor Financier Fugitive Spy Arms-De
aler Publisher Dramatist Revolutionary
Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais 1732 1799
Product of the Enlightenment?
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Immanuel Kant 1724-1804
Critique of Pure Reason, 1781 What is
Enlightenment?, 1784 Critique of Practical
Reason, 1788
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• Holy Roman Emperor and Co-Regent with Maria
  Theresa from 1765-1780 sole ruler from
  1780-1790.
• Josephine Reforms
• Abolishment of Serfdom
• Patent of Toleration
• Clerical and Church Reform
• Challenge to Nobility
• Collapse of Josephine Reforms (1786-1790)

Joseph II 1741-1790
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Mozart and the Enlightenment
Freemasonary Josephine Reforms Marriage of
Figaro Enlightenment Influences?
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1756-1791
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Defining Characteristics

• Reason vs Revelation
• Secular
• Deism
• Empirical
• Toleration
• Freedom of Speech
• Freedom of Press
• Religious Freedom
• Anti-clerical and anti-authoritarian
• Emphasis upon Education
• Equality before the Law
• Cultural Relativism
• Theory of Progress