The Enlightenment

1
The Enlightenment

• A cultural movement which applied the insights of
  the Scientific Revolution to the wider world
  politics, religion, and art.
• The Scientific Revolution -The nature of the
  Universe. A small of people in all Europe at
  the time understood what was happening.
• The Enlightenment made the findings of the
  Scientific Revolution more widely available.
• Scientific Revolution reached its peak at the end
  of the 17th century with the work of Newton. It
  was the work of scientists from many different
  countries (Italy, Germany, Denmark, Holland,
  Poland, England, France). 
• Enlightenment took place in the 18th century and
  was dominated by France, which was also the most
  powerful state of the period.

2
Definitions

• Emphasis on REASON, TOLERATION and NATURAL LAW,
• Confidence in modern man and his achievements -
  the idea of PROGRESS.
• ABOVE ALL PROMOTED THE IDEA OF CHANGE AND
  PROGRESS AS GOOD THINGS.
• Philosophes
• French thinkers known as PHILOSOPHES. not always
  the most original thinkers, but were great
  publicists of the new ideas.
• Social Context
• Uniquely civilized Salon society presided over
  by educated women hostesses. Most of the men
  were anti-feminist but this was a time when
  aristocratic women did have a lot of power in
  society.

3
Enlightenment Political Thought

• Used new philosophy in a practical way to discuss
  politics.
• Influence of these ideas on American and French
  Revolutions
• Earliest of the new political thinkers were
  Hobbes and Locke.
• English political experience of the 17th century
  and the problems of the Stuarts were a starting
  point for political discussions.

4
England

• Most of the progressive ideas and developments
  had taken place in England in the 17th Century.
• Science Newton,
• Philosophy Locke,
• Politics 1688 the Glorious Revolution.
• Domestic stability of Great Britain made living
  example of society where reforms benefited all
• Religious toleration for all except
  Unitarians/Roman Catholics (not persecuted)
• Relative freedom of press/speech, limited monarch
  power, Parliament sovereignty,
• Influenced Frenchmen
• France
• These new ideas came together and were
  popularized, especially in France.
• Domestic economic life had less regulation
  liberal policies made prosperity stability/loyal
  citizenry contrast to rest of Europe (France)

5
Print Culture

• Books/journals/newspapers/pamphlets reached their
  own status before, movements spread by preaching
  
• sharp increase of printed docs in 18th
• Everyday life concerns rose w/printed docs
  toward 1600, ½ of docs religious by 1780s, only
  1/10 were
• Books not cheap, but they circulated
• Private/public libraries grew, authors used
  different methods
• Samuel Johnson - as books collections of essays
• The Spectator - Joseph Addison/Richard Steele
• Fostered value of polite conversation andreading
  of books
• Coffeehouses, Freemason lodge and clubs became
  meeting places

6
Print Economy

• Expanding market let writers earn living
• Authorship became occupation
• Alexander Pope and Voltaire became wealthy
• Status based on merit and commercial competition,
  
• High authors addressed themselves to monarchs,
  nobles, professionals
• other authors lived marginally,
• Bred Enlightenment ideas to radical extremes and
  exposed them to the lower class audience

7
Public opinion

• Social force, collective effect on
  political/social views, created by expanding
  literate public
• writers could write to nation, respond only to
  their readers governments couldnt act in
  secret, had to explain/discuss views openly
• Continental European governments sensed political
  power
• Regulated/censored books/newspapers, imprisoned
  offending authors
• Expansion of freedom of press Expansion of
  print culture and its challenge to authorities

8
 Voltaire (Francois-Marie Arouet)

• 1726-29 Visited England.
• Spent the latter part of his life in exile near
  Geneva.
• Most famous philosophe
• Very rich bourgeois.
• Concerned with human action and attempts to
  improve human life.
• One of the very best French writers
• Letters on the English 1733
• Lettres philosophiques 1734
• Elements of the Philosophy of Newton
• Candide 1759
• Dictionnaire Philosophique 1764

9
Voltaires Ideas

• Thought
• Promoted Free Speech, Civil Rights and
  Toleration.
• Extremely anticlerical.
• Used to write "Ecrasez L'infame" "destroy the
  infamy" - i.e. removes the Church from power in
  society on all his letters. 
• Inspired by the Calas case (a Protestant was
  falsely accused and killed for killing his son to
  stop him becoming Roman Catholic.)
• Explains extreme anti-clericalism of the French
  Revolution- not present in English ideas.
• 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.
• Anti-Semitic, possibly due to equating Jews with
  the Church, possibly due to problems he had with
  money lenders.
• Powerful because he was such a good writer.

10
Deism and Religion

• Not a great age for theology
• Some movements of popular piety, pietism and
  Methodism,
• Religion did not hold the intellectual leaders as
  it had during the Reformation.
• Deism
• Idea that God set up the Universe as clockwork
  and then just let it run.
• Proposed a non-ritual religion based on REASON.
• Deists also attacked Christianity, especially
  Catholicism, as superstitious.
• The belief of many philosophes and was actually
  made a state religion for a short while during
  the French Revolution
• Called for toleration of ideas
• Age of Reason
• Reformation has Christ suffering for humanity on
  the Cross as the image of God
• Enlightenment has God as a Watchmaker.

11
Enlightenment Criticism of Christianity

• David Hume
• Wrote that no evidence existed to support
  believing in divine miracles
• Voltaire
• Questioned the truthfulness of priests and
  morality of the Bible
• Edward Gibbon
• Explained the rise of Christianity base on
  natural causes- not miracles
• A few philosophes were almost atheists

12
Enlightenment and Jewish Thought

• Baruch Spinoza
• Wrote God is not a distinct personality, but the
  entire universe
• Proposed reading the Bible like any ancient text
• Organized religion led people away from the
  original teachings of scripture
• Kicked out of his synagogue for his radical ideas
• Moses Mendelsohn
• Argued for religious toleration for Jews
• Maintaining a distinct Jewish community
• Hoped Enlightenment ideas would lead to
  additional toleration

13
Enlightenment and Islam

• Most Enlightenment writings hostile towards Islam
• Misunderstood Islamic teachings
• Voltaire
• Islam another version of religious fanaticism
• Little interaction of Christians and Muslims
• The Ulama- taught there was little to learn from
  Christians

14
Enlightenment and Society

• Denis Diderot 1713-84
• The Encyclopedia 1751-72
• A central institution of the Enlightenment
  thinkers.
• Aim was to include all knowledge.
• All the leading philosophes wrote for it in
  signed articles
• Shows many different views
• Volume 2 was banned - made it more  popular.
• Publicity
• Encyclopedia shows Philosophes/Enlightenment as
  part of a process of publicity.
• Got their ideas into all the reading public's
  mind.
• About 25,000 were sold, half outside France.
• Groups most criticized, nobles and clergy-
  actually bought it more than other groups.
• Ideals
• Promoted ideals of toleration, reason and
  progress, equality before the law (for all the 3
  estates)
• Saw the state as the agency for progress,
  opposition to the Church and Faith.
• DIFFUSED THESE IDEAS AROUND EUROPE.  

15
Enlightenment and Criminal Law

• Marquis Cesare Beccaria
• Wanted laws of kings to conform to the laws of
  nature
• Attacked torture and capital punishment
• Advocated a speedy trial
• Purpose of law to secure the greatest good for
  the greatest number of people

16
Physiocrats and Economic Freedom

• Philosophes believed mercantilist legislation and
  regulated labor hampered trade, manufacturing
  and agriculture
• Called physiocrats in France
• Spokesmen were Francois Quesnay and Pierre Dupont
  de Nemours
• Physiocrats thought primary role of govt. was to
  protect property/permit its owners free use
• Economic production depended on sound
  agriculture, favored consolidation of small
  peasant holdings into large, efficient farms

17
Adam Smith 1723-90

• Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth
  of the Nations(1776)
• Most important economic work of Enlightenment
• Urged Englands mercantile system be abolished,
  thought individuals would pursue self-interest
• Smith challenged assumption that nations could
  expand only at expense of others
• Thought water/air/soil/minerals were boundless,
  nations/peoples need not be poor
• Laissez-faire
• Economic thought that favored minimal govt.
  economic control, founded by Smith he wasnt
  dogmatist, believed state should provide
  schools/etc.
• Four-stage theory
• Human societies classified as hunting/gathering,
  herding/ pastoral, agricultural, and commercial
• Smith/other Scottish authors used this to
  describe movement from barbarism to civilization
• Allowed north-western Europe (commercial state)
  to look on other European nations with pity
• Spirit for civilizing mission that would result
  in economic/imperial domination of world during
  the next century

18
French Philosophes
19
Charles-Louis de Secondat Baron de Montesquieu
(1689-1755)

• Aristocrat in south-west France President of the
  Parlement of Bordeaux,
• De l'esprit des lois 1748 - The Spirit of the
  Laws Written after 14 years study of laws and
  thinkers, including Locke. It presents two main
  ideas.
• Classified governments not on basis of location
  of power but on the animating principle
• Republics - virtue,
• Monarchies - honor,
• Despotism - fear.
• No one system was suitable everywhere.
• Less hooked on systems than other writers
• Thought that allowance should be made for the
  traditions, economy and religion of a country.
• Thought that despotism was suited to hot climates
  - to force lazy people to work!

20
Theory of separation of powers

• More influential
• Executive, judicial, and legislative
• Based on a certain perception of English
  government, with its King, House of Lords, and
  House of Commons.
• Wanted to use this principle in the politics of
  France
• Gave power to parlements, towns, aristocracy to
  counter the monarchy.
• Recognized that the aristocracy of his day was
  corrupt, he thought this was due to the
  corruption of absolutism.
• Influenced the framers of US Constitution 1787,
  more so than the Declaration of Independence.

21
 Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1712-78

• Different views than Montesquieu,
  strange/isolated genius that transcended
  political thought /values of his own time
• Thought it impossible for humans w/current
  commercial values to achieve moral lives
• Discourse on the Moral Effects of the Arts and
  Sciences
• Process of civilization had corrupted human
  nature
• Discourse on Origin of Inequality (1755)
• Blamed much of the evil in the world on uneven
  distribution of property
• In both works, he brilliantly/directly challenged
  current social fabric other philosophes were
  trying to get the good life, he questioned what
  it is.

22
The Social Contact

• In the Social Contract
• All men are born free, but everywhere they are
  in chains,
• Spent rest of book defending chains of organized
  society
• Society was more important than its individual
  members,
• Freedom as obedience to the law
• General will must be free, so sometimes people
  must be forced to be free
• Wanted liberty and equality in society but denies
  these are natural
• Wants civil liberty and equality,
• Granted by the state.
• The rights you have are the ones you have in the
  community, to which you give all your natural
  liberty and equality when you joined it.
• The social contract was not between government
  and people, but between people themselves,
  therefore the best society
• A participatory democracy, like ancient Athens,
  or Geneva
• Society depends on public spiritedness, compared
  with Locke and Smith for whom the most important
  part of life was private.
• Rousseau was out of tune with individualistic
  liberalism and greed.
• The idea of a General Will
• principle behind the validity of the Social
  Contract.
• Political society is seen as involving the total
  subjection of every individual to the General
  Will of the whole.

23
Effects of Rousseau's Thought

• Not much read at first.
• First becomes influential on the French
  Revolution.
• Rousseau's arguments for democracy and equality
  had a generally liberal effect in the US and
  Britain
• The idea of the General Will, which is not the
  same as majority vote, provides a framework for
  totalitarianism in its modern sense. - especially
  the idea that the people may not know their own
  will.

24
Life During the Age of Enlightenment
25
Nobility Reasserts Privilege

• 3 of population (varied 10 Poland, 7-8 Spain,
  2 Russia, 1-2 most of W. Europe)
• Period of Inflation nobles cashed in on legal
  rights
• Charged peasants to grind grain, bake bread,
  press grapes
• Charged fee for peasants to pass on land
• Taxes on salt and land
• Customs duties for selling goods
• Game laws
• Peasants tithed to church (1/10)
• Wore distinctive clothing (swords, plumed hats,
  make-up, powdered wigs)
• Had own seats in church and University
• Often exempted from taxes
• Many did not care about Enlightenment ideas and
  feared reform
• Some (nobles of robe) identified more with
  bourgeoisie

26
Middle Class and New Elite

• Enlightenment offered middle class intellectual
  and social improvement
• Lived in towns, cities
• Doctors, lawyers, merchants, bankers, low level
  officials, manufacturing, trade, investment
• Bourgeoisie (French for city dweller the middle
  class) grew steadily in 18th century
• Resented nobles and aspired to be like them

27
Middle Class Culture

• Shared tastes in travel, architecture, arts and
  reading linked middle class and lower nobility
• Neoclassical architecture return to Greek
  inspired style (purity and clarity of form)
• Example - Josiah Wedgwood
• Growing taste for moralistic family scenes of
  ordinary private life in paintings and books
• Music concert halls, music composed for larger
  audience, longer last (as opposed to court
  commissions)
• Haydn, Beethoven, Mozart
• Reading
• Newspapers, lending libraries, book clubs
  literacy up
• Women readers and writers increasingUniversities
  played a small role in increased learning

28
Working Class

• Increased literacy among working class
• (France 50 men, 27 women)
• Fairs, festivals, cabarets, taverns, pubs
• Bull baiting, bearbaiting, dog fighting,
  cockfighting (gambling)
• Cricket (England), often led to fan brawls

29
Life on the Margin

• Population of Europe grew by 30 in a century
• Production and wages also increased, but not as
  fast as prices
• Day laborers, peasants w/small land holdings
  lived on edge of starvation
• 10 of population depended upon some form of
  charity (church)
• Workhouses, beggar houses
• Increase in crime

30
Changes in Sexual and Family Behavior

• Births outside marriage
• 17th c. 5
• 18th c. 20
• Increased mobility men could evade
  responsibility by moving away
• Women as domestic servants
• Increase in abandoned babies foundling
  hospitals (high mortality rate)
• Increase in abortion (herbs, laxatives, crude
  surgery)
• Laws against prostitution, adultery, fornication,
  sodomy, infanticide
• Harsh laws against sodomy imprisonment or
  even execution
• Stereotype of effeminate, exclusively homosexual
  male appeared for first time in 18th c.
• Parents anxious about childrens sexuality
• books on evils of masturbation (loss of memory,
  sight, hearing even death)
• Value of children and childhood
• improvement through education, books for
  children, childrens toys, clothing for children

31
BIG IDEAS Life During the Age of Enlightenment

• During period of high inflation nobility
  reasserted privileges over lower classes.
• Overall standard of living improved,
• People on the bottom of the social ladder lived
  on the edge of starvation.
• Enlightenment offered middle class intellectual
  and social improvement.
• Middle class shared many of the same cultural
  interests as the nobility
• Growing middle class embraced new concepts of
  childhood.
• Lower classes enjoyed various forms of popular
  culture.
• Mobility led to increased births outside of
  marriage,

32
Women in the Enlightenment

• Women, especially France, helped promote careers
  of philosophes
• in Paris salons (Marie-Therese Geoffrin, Claudine
  de Tencin, Julie de Lespinasse)
• Gave philosophes access to social/political
  contacts/respective environment to circulate
  ideas
• Gave them socials status/luster of ideas, enjoyed
  being center of attention, could boost sales of
  their works
• Women were connected to major political figures
• Marquise de Pompadour,
• mistress of Louis XV, helped overcome the
  Encyclopedias censorship/block circulation of
  works attacking philosophes
• bought writings/distributed among friends
• Confusing mix of equal rights and traditional
  roles in many Enlightenment thinkers-
  Montesequieu and Rousseau
• Rousseau portrayed wives and motherhood as a
  noble profession for women
• Started the theory women occupy the domestic
  sphere and men occupy the political/civic sphere
• Deeply influenced French Revolution
• Rousseau had a vast following of women, convinced
  to breast-feed own children
• Mary Wollstonecraft attacked Rousseaus ideas as
  being an attempt to limit womens role in society

33
Rococo Art

• Use Art Index for definition and examples
• Used a great deal in expensive houses (hotels)
• Used to portray royalty and nobility in fun
  portrayal of everyday life or in classical scenes

34
Enlightened Despotism

• Enlightenment ideals spread through Europe, they
  affected a generation of monarchs.
• Raison d'etat reason of state rather than
  Divine Right became the justification of their
  rule.

35

• Austria
• Maria Theresa 1740-1780 Joseph II 1780-1790
• These monarchs centralized the state and put an
  and end to local diets (parliaments).
• Non-national state, but as yet there was little
  nationalism.
• Prussia
• Frederick the Great 1740-1789
• Low view of people.
• Ran the state as a military regime. He seized
  Silesia for "reasons of state".
• A great ruler, but left no trained successor
• Napoleon was almost able to destroy Prussia.
• Prussia was made so much stronger than any other
  German state that it was to unite Germany in the
  next century.

36

• Russia
• Catherine the Great 1762-96
• German princess
• Deposed her imbecile husband.
• Russia was still in most primitive condition
• Kept serfdom.
• Division of Poland
• These three monarchies divided Poland between
  them in 1772,1793 and 1795.
• Absolutist states succeeded - and older states
  faded - Poland, The Holy Roman Empire, The
  Ottoman Empire.
•