Enlightenment in Europe

 Enlightenment : a new intellectual movement that stressed reason and thought and the power of individual to solve problems  The Age of Reason  Great change to Western Civilization

Advocating for Reason  Philosophes : social critics of the enlightenment period  Believed you could apply reason to all aspects of life

1. Reason  Enlightened thinkers believed truth could be discovered through reason or logical thinking 2. Nature  The philosophes believed that what was natural was also good and reasonable 3. Happiness  The philosophes rejected the medieval notion that people should find joy in the hereafter and urged people to seek well- being on earth 4. Progress  The philosophes stressed that society and human kind could improve 5. Liberty  The philosophes called for the liberties that the English people had won in their Glorious Revolution and Bill of Rights

New Views on Government  Thomas Hobbes:  Leviathan  Social Contract  Hand over rights to a strong ruler  Law and order  John Locke:  Learn from experiences  Natural rights  Government protects the rights  Foundation of modern democracy

Voltaire  Brilliant and influential  Often used satire against his opponents  Frequent targets  Clergy  Aristocracy  Government  Fought for tolerance, reason, freedom of religious belief and freedom of speech  “I do not agree with a word you say but will defend to the death your right to say it.”

Rousseau  Individual freedom  Civilization corrupted peoples natural goodness  Direct democracy  Give up some freedom for the common good  Agreement among freed individuals to create a society and government  Inspired the French Revolution Montesquieu Political liberty Branches separation of power in the government Ideas = checks and balances

The Enlightenment Spreads  Paris was the cultural and intellectual capital  Many people came to Paris to study and share ideas  Salons : regular social gatherings in large mansions.  Philosophers, writers, artists and scientists would gather

Legacy of the Enlightenment  Encouraged reform, not always active revolutionaries  Belief in progress  Growth of knowledge took form  Urge of greater social equality  More secular outlook  Openly question religion  Promote religious tolerance  Importance of the individual  Looked to themselves for guidance  Use own ability to find reason

Hobbes & Locke  You need to critically read the excerpts from Hobbes and Locke  Grey – Hobbes  Tan - Locke  You do not have to answer the questions, however, they will help you understand the reading better.  Whatever you do not finish is homework.  We will discuss the readings in class on Thursday, 11/12.

Weekend Homework 1. Please read the Rousseau and Montesquieu excerpts and answer corresponding questions – Due Monday

Cesare Bonesana Beccaria  Justice System  Laws existed to preserve social order, not to avenge crimes  Rights to speedy trials  Never use torture  Abolish capital punishment

Women’s Equality  Marty Astell  Addressed the lack of educational opportunities  Unequal relationship in marriage  “If all men are born free, how is it that all women are born slaves.”  Mary Wollstonecraft  Argued women needed education  Should enter fields such as medicine and politics

Diderot  Denis Diderot created a large set of books to which many leading scholars of Europe contributed articles and essays  Book was called, Encyclopedia  It was censored by governments and churches  Undermined royal authority, encouraged revolt, morally corrupt  The Salons and the Encyclopedias helped spread the ideas of enlightenment thinkers  Newspapers, pamphlets and political songs

New Artistic Styles  Baroque: characterized by a grand, ornate design  Seen in places such as The Palace of Versailles.  Simple and elegant styles – borrowed ideas from classical Greece and Rome  Became known as Neoclassical  Changes in music style  Classical music emerged  Mozart, Beethoven

Scientific Revolution

 At your table groups discuss the main ideas and philosophy of Montesquieu

 At your table groups discuss the main ideas and philosophy of Rousseau

 Scholars usually looked to ancient Greek or Roman authors or to the Bible  People rarely challenged scientific ideas of ancient thinkers or the church  However, Reformation and Enlightenment sparked revolution throughout Europe

Medieval View  Earth was an immovable object located at the center of the universe  The moon, the sun and planets all moved in perfectly circular paths around earth  The sun appeared to be moving around the earth due to sun-sets and sun-rises  Geocentric Theory - Aristotle  Christianity taught people that God had deliberately placed the earth at the center.

A New Way of Thinking  As scholars replaced old assumptions with new theories they launched a change in European thought  Scientific Revolution  New way to think about the natural world  Used careful observations and willingness to question accepted beliefs

Causes of the Revolution 1. Discoveries and circumstances led to the scientific revolution 2. European explorers traveled to places with lands that had people and animals unknown to them 1. Opened them to the idea of new truths to be found 3. This age of exploration fueled scientific research especially in astronomy and mathematics. 4. Navigators would need better instruments for travel 5. Scientists looked more closely at the world around them making observations that did not match ancient thought 6. They had reached the limit of the classical worlds knowledge - still needed to know more

Nicolaus Copernicus  Heliocentric Theory  Sun centered theory  Feared rejection  Challenged circular orbits  Universe is of staggering size

Galileo Galilei  Italian scientist  Astronomy  Built own telescope  Planetary bodies and their moons  Went against church teachings

Isaac Newton  English scientist  Theory of motion  Universal gravitation  Every object in the universe attracts every other object  Physical objects affected equally by the same forces

Francis Bacon  Generate practical knowledge to improve life  Experiment than draw conclusions  Scientific method  Father of the scientific revolution

Johannes Kepler  Planetary motion conforms to mathematical formula  Elliptical orbits  Planets do not move at uniform speeds in their orbits