The Enlightenment Western Civilization II

The Philosophes  Elites or dependent on elite patronage  Popularizers of the new scientific method  Reacting against... –Church’s hostility to Scientific Revolution –State censorship & intoleration of dissent –Lingering medieval reliance on authority & tradition ©2004 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning ™ is a trademark used herein under license.

Core Enlightenment Beliefs  Deism – impersonal God created universe to run by natural laws  Natural Laws – had to be discovered & then obeyed (Newton)  Reason – skeptical attitude (Descartes)  Empiricism – inductive reasoning (Bacon)  Progress – possible, if natural laws obeyed (Locke)

John Locke ( )  Father of the Enlightenment  Second Treatise on Government: –Natural rights to life, liberty & property –Government = social contract to protect rights  Essay Concerning Human Understanding: –Children born as tabula rasa –Character developed through experience & environment

Montesquieu ( )  The Spirit of the Laws  3 types of government: –Monarchy –Aristocracy –Democracy  3 branches of government: –Legislative –Executive –Judicial

Voltaire ( )  Candide  Essay on Religious Toleration  Tried to turn Frederick the Great and Catherine the Great into “enlightened despots.”

Jean-Jacques Rousseau ( )  Humans inherently good  Social institutions inherently corrupting  All must submit to the General Will

Condorcet ( )  Progress of the Human Mind (1794)  Written constitution drafted by constituent assembly  Guaranteed rights  Separation of church and state  Progress would lead to international peace and ever longer, happier lives

Non - French Philosophes  David Hume ( ) –Can neither prove or disprove God’s existence –Republics work best in large territories with diverse population  Cesare Beccaria ( ) –Punishments should fit the crime –Purpose is to deter, not to brutalize –No death penalty

Enlightenment & Music  Baroque: –Johann Sebastian Bach ( ) –George Frederick Handel ( )  Classical: –Franz Joseph Haydn ( ) –Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart ( ) J.S. Bach W.A. Mozart

The Church & the Enlightenment  Dissolution of Jesuits (1773)  Count Nikolaus von Zinzendorf ( ) –Moravian Brethren –pietism  John Wesley ( ) –Methodism John Wesley