1. The Enlightenment – 1600s to 1780s
Reason 
Laws
Progress
From Science
to Society & Politics
Skepticism = the refusal to grant that there is any knowledge or justification
Associated with Descartes & Hume

2. The Scientific Revolution and discovery of natural laws prompted many who were not scientists, and instead were philosophers and writers, to wonder if they could apply the ideas of questioning and natural laws to SOCIETY and GOVERNMENT. The ENLIGHTENMENT was a new intellectual movement that stressed REASON and QUESTIONING and the power of INDIVIDUALS to make conclusions for themselves.

3. Enlightenment’s Central Preoccupations
Natural science should be used to understand all aspects of life
Nothing was to be accepted on faith
2) Scientific laws were capable of discovering human & natural laws
3) Humans could create better societies & people
belief in the greatest good for the greatest number
value of education
unlimited capabilities of humans

4. The Origins of Enlightenment? ECONOMIC
Watteau, Jean-Antoine, Les Charmes de la vie (The Delights of Life), 1718
The Wallace Collection, London
18th Century Europe is richer & more populous than ever – good weather, better crops, better population
17th century – century of Plague, bad weather, crop failures
Steady economic growth bears out idea that new science can unlock mysteries to theology, history, politics & society
Through rational scientific inquiry, improvements in agriculture & technology occur
IT MUST BE NOTED – Europe was benefitting from the un-enlightened practice of slavery. What did your Enlightenment thinker think about slavery???

5. The Origins of Enlightenment? Philosophical: Hobbes vs Locke
PRE- Enlightenment Thinkers (English Civil War was their reality)
Hobbes incorporates science in his work: motion; seeks to find laws that govern human behavior
Social Contract
Human Nature
Popular Sovereignty
Equality & Freedom
Natural Laws & Natural Rights
Rationalism – scientific method can be used to study everything
Progress – humans can make the world a better place
Scientific method can discover laws of human society
TABULA RASA – Education matters!

6. TABULA RASA
BLANK SLATE!

7. The Origins of Enlightenment?
SCIENTIFIC
William Blake’s Newton, 1795
Scientific Revolution prompts a fundamental intellectual change
Science allowed alternatives to be imagined in everything from politics to religion.
Science & rational inquiry as common ground
Reason as a unifying doctrine

8. The following film will get at the why the scientific revolution was truly revolutionary to the way we see our world. How might this have influenced people thinking about government at the time?

9. How are the ideals of reason, progress, questioning, and rational thought embodied in the work and lives of Newton, Halley and others in 18th century London?
Commentary on how notes to the right connect to “Big Picture” Question
Details/Terms/Facts/Names

10. Time for a self quiz: Are YOU an 18th century Enlightenment thinker?
Are you really a 1780s person stuck in 2014?
Do you think like an Enlightenment philosophe? (French word for philosopher) Which Enlightenment philosophe are you??
Take this quiz to find out!
Number your paper 1-12 and mark whether you agree or disagree with the following statements.

11. I believe that truth can only be discovered through reason logical thinking – for example, the scientific method. Nothing should be accepted on faith alone.
I believe that human nature is generally good and people are reasonable.
Society and people are constantly improving and moving in a good direction.
It is important that people are granted individual rights that the government needs to protect.
I enjoy having intellectual conversations in other people’s living rooms - especially about the nature of life and society.

12. I believe that people are a clean slate when they are born and that their experiences and education make them what they are.
If the government doesn’t protect your rights, you have the right to overthrow it.
The best kind of government is one where there are separate government bodies, like a congress and president, where each branch can “check” the other.

13. Society is actually bad: people are born free with potential, but society chains them down.
The best type of government is one that does what most of the people want all of the time.
Rights for prisoners are important: torture should nto be allowed and the death penalty abolished.
Education, for both men and women, is one of the most important things for human beings.

14. How to score your quiz
If you answered I AGREE to the majority of 1-4 you MAY BE an 18th century Enlightenment thinker. These are some of the key beliefs of the Enlightenment, and many of its outspoken thinkers. Some thinkers, such as Voltaire, were not convinced human nature is good. However, the idea of society progressing and knowledge based on evidence pervade the Enlightenment.

15. #5 refers to the salons in Paris where intellectuals would meet and share ideas.

16. If you answered YES to #6 and #7, then you agree with John Locke –optimist of the Enlightenment who thought that people were a blank slate when they were born and that education could make society good.
He also had ideas about government that will be used in revolutions across Europe and the world.

17. If you answered YES to #9 and #10 then you identify with Rousseau – pessimist of the Enlightenment: He believed society chains people down and limits their freedom. He did think, optimistically, the best society is one that responds to the “general will” – what most people want. If we had a “Rousseau style” classroom we would likely not take any DBQs or FRQs (I’m assuming the “general will is against it).

18. If you answered YES to #8 you got your ideas from Montesquieu who believed in the separation of powers, like our government today.

19. If you have ideas like #11, you agree with Beccaria who tried to limit the widespread torture that was acceptable as punishment for crimes in the 1700s.
#12: ALL Enlightenment thinkers agreed in the need for education, but some were against education for women. Mary Wollstonecraft argued that the need to be educated was important for men and women equally.