Paths to the Enlightenment The Scientific Revolution of the 1500’s and 1600’s transformed the way people saw the world. The scientific success experienced during the revolution educated Europeans of the power of human reason. They figured if you could use reason to determine natural laws then you could also discover laws that govern human behavior. Thus the scientific revolution led to the enlightenment– people who used reason to solve social, political and economic problems and move society towards a better future versus the one they had inherited.

Paths to the Enlightenment Skepticism- Scientists of the 17th century pursued their work in the spirit of exalting God not undermining Christianity. BUT as scientific knowledge spread, more people began to question religious truths and values. Peter Bayle- (Protestant) attacked superstition, religious intolerance and dogmatism. Forcing people to believe a particular set of religious ideas was wrong and not what religion was about. Bayle believed that the new rational textual principles should also be applied to the Bible. Skepticism was nourished by travel reports. These reports led to a realization that there were highly developed civs with different customs elsewhere in the world. CULTURAL RELATIVISM developed as Europeans realized their culture was just one of many and their view of God was just one of many.

Paths to the Enlightenment The intellectual inspiration came from two men- Locke and Newton. Intellectuals of the Enlightenment were convinced that following Newton’s rules of reasoning, they could discover the natural laws that governed politics, economics, justice, religion and the arts. John Locke- Essay Concerning Human Understanding- denied Descartes’ beliefs in innate ideas. Instead believed everyone was born with a tabula rosa. – knowledge is derived from our environment, not from heredity; from reason, not from faith. People are molded by their environment, therefore if you change the environment, you can change the person. How can the environment be changed? Newton’s idea that reason enabled people to discover the natural laws.

Philosophes The intellectuals of the Enlightenment were known by the French term, Philosophe meaning lovers of wisdom. However, they were not all French. The Enlightenment was an international movement, but the leaders were French. They were also not all philosophers but people from ordinary professions intent on social reform, mainly from the middle to upper classes. To the philosophes the role of philosophy was to change the world, not just discuss it. They focused on reason and rational criticism, which was applied to everything, even religion and politics, the also focused on freedom of expression. The philosophes often disagreed with each other. The Enlightenment spans almost a 100 years and the ideas within it evolved over time. Each succeeding generation became more radical than the one it was building on. Let’s start with the three French giants- Montesquieu, Voltaire and Diderot

Montesquieu Montesquieu: studied the world’s governments throughout history. Published On the Spirit of the Laws in 1748 which discussed governments. Attempted to apply the scientific method to the social and political arena to ascertain the “natural laws” governing the social relationships of human beings. 3 Types of government. 1) republics suitable for small states, 2) despotism, which is appropriate for large states and 3) monarchy which is appropriate for medium states. He used England as his model for monarchy and said that England’s “separation of power” was key to a successful government. He also proposed the idea of checks and balances as well as the divisions of power in this book. His ideas would be read by American Philosophes such as Ben Franklin, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams…

The American “Philosophes” John Adams (1745-1826) Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) Ben Franklin (1706-1790) …...…life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness…………...

Voltaire Voltaire: possibly the greatest figure of the enlightenment. Well known for his criticism of Christianity and his strong belief in religious toleration. “if there was just one religion in England it would be despotism, if there were two they would cut each other’s throats, but there are 30 so they live peacefully and happily” He was a champion of Deism– a religious outlook popular among other philosophes. In this view the mechanic, God, created the universe and it was like a clock. God has created it, set it in motion and now allowed it to run according to its own natural laws without his interference. God did not extend grace or answer prayers as Christians like to believe, Jesus might be a good fellow, but he wasn’t divine as Christianity proclaimed.

Diderot Diderot: a free lance writer, disliked Christianity, calling it fanatical and unreasonable. His contribution to the Enlightenment was a 28 volume encyclopedia that explained the new enlightened ideas on topics like government, philosophy and religion. Denounced slavery, traditional religion and divine right and praised freedom of speech, education for all.

Denis Diderot (1713-1784) All things must be examined, debated, investigated without exception and without regard for anyone’s feelings. We will speak against senseless laws until they are reformed; and, while we wait, we will abide by them.

Pages from Diderot’s Encyclopedie

Pages from Diderot’s Encyclopedie

Pages from Diderot’s Encyclopedie

Reading During the Enlightenment Literacy: 80% for men; 60 o/o women. Books were expensive (one day’s wages). Many readers for each book (20 : 1) novels, plays & other literature. journals, memoirs, “private lives.” philosophy, history, theology. newspapers, political pamphlets.

“Must Read” Books of the Time

David Hume (1711-1776) The Natural History of Religion [][[(1755]). Belief in God rested on superstition and fear rather than on reason.

Edward Gibbon (1737-1794) The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (6 volumes), 1787. He pointed out problems with contemporary England and tried to urge reform.

Marquis de Condorcet (1743-1794) Progress of the Human Mind, 1794 An expectation of universal happiness. Every individual guided by reason could enjoy true independence. He advocated a free and equal education, constitutionalism, and equal rights for women.

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) Critique of Pure Reason, 1781 “What is Enlightenment?”, 1784 Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science, 1786

Kant’s Philosophy Dare to Know! He introduced the concept of transcendentalism  some things are known by methods other than empirically. The belief in the existence of a non-rational way to understand things. The existence of neither time nor space is determined by empirical understanding. These type of things are a priori. They transcend sensory experience. They are pure, not empirical [[concepts like faith, pre-existence, life after death].

The New “Science of Man”

Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) A Discourse on the Sciences and Arts, 1750 Emile, 1762. The Social Contract, 1762. Part of a new and later generation of Philosophes who grew up with the worldview of the Enlightenment and began to move beyond their predecessors beliefs.

Rousseau’s Philosophy (I) Question Does progress in the arts and sciences correspond with progress in morality? As civilizations progress, they move away from morality. Science & art raised artificial barriers between people and their natural state. Therefore, the revival of science and the arts had corrupted social morals, not improved them! NO!

Rousseau’s Philosophy (II) Virtue exists in the ”state of nature,” but lost in “society.” Government must preserve “virtue” and ”liberty.” Man is born free, yet everywhere he is in chains. The concept of the ”Noble Savage.” Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. Civil liberty  invest ALL rights and liberties into a society.

Rousseau’s Philosophy (III) In The Social Contract: To preserve private property, people adopted laws and rushed not into liberty but chains. The right kind of political order could make people truly moral and free. Individual moral freedom could be achieved only by learning to subject one’s individual interests to the “General Will.” Individuals did this by entering into a social contract not with their rulers, but with each other. This social contract was derived from human nature, not from history, tradition, or the Bible.

Rousseau’s Philosophy (IV) People would be most free and moral under a republican form of government with direct democracy. However, the individual could be “forced to be free” by the terms of the social contract. He provided no legal protections for individual rights. Rousseau’s thinking: Had a great influence on the French revolutionaries of 1789. His attacks on private property inspired the communists of the 19c such as Karl Marx. Precursor to Romanticism, that would dominate Europe at the beginning of the 19th century.

The Later Enlightenment Marie Jean-Condorcet- victim of the French Revolution and wrote The Progress of the Human Mind while in hiding. Believed humans had progressed through the 9 stages of history and now with the spread of science and reason they were about to enter the 10th phase, one of perfection- human perfectibility is possible. He died in a French revolutionary prison. Baron Paul d’Holbach- preached a doctrine of atheism and materialism. System of Nature- human beings are simply machines, matter in motion, God was just a product of the human mind and people only needed reason to live in this world. Most philosophes were NOT atheists, but deists, they feared the effect atheism would have on society.

The Rights of Women For centuries male intellectuals had argued that man was superior to woman and thus the domination of woman was necessary. Enlightened thinkers offered more positive views of women. Female thinkers in the enlightenment (18th century) provided suggestions for improving the position of women. Mary Wollstonecraft was the biggest advocate and is now seen as the founder of European feminism. In her Vindication for the Rights of Women she points to two problems in the views held by Enlightened thinkers like Rousseau. 1) The same people who say women must obey men are also arguing that monarch’s who exert arbitrary power over their subjects are wrong and 2) the enlightenment is based on the ideal of reason in all human beings and if women have reason then they are entitled to the same rights as men.

Salons Common people and peasants were not affected by the Enlightenment, it was more for the middle and upper class. Of great importance to the spread of Enlightened idea was the sales of books and treaties but also, SALONS Salons came into being in the 17th century but rose to new heights in the 18th century. Elegant drawing rooms in urban houses of the wealthy where philosophes and their guests gathered and had conversations over their ideas. (like science academies of the Scientific Revolution) Brought together writers, artists, aristocrats, government officials and wealthy middle class. Women usually hosted these and were in positions of influence, women hosted them but their reputation was determined by the stature of males the female hostess could attract. Secret societies also developed, the most famous being that of the freemasons.

The Legacy of the Enlightenment? The democratic revolutions begun in America in 1776 and continued in Amsterdam, Brussels, and especially in Paris in the late 1780s, put every Western government on the defensive. Reform, democracy, and republicanism had been placed irrevocably on the Western agenda.

The Legacy of the Enlightenment? New forms of civil society arose –-- clubs, salons, fraternals, private academies, lending libraries, and professional/scientific organizations. 19c conservatives blamed it for the modern “egalitarian disease” (once reformers began to criticize established institutions, they didn’t know where and when to stop!)

The Legacy of the Enlightenment? It established a materialistic tradition based on an ethical system derived solely from a naturalistic account of the human condition (the “Religion of Nature”). Theoretically endowed with full civil and legal rights, the individual had come into existence as a political and social force to be reckoned with.