1. The Eighteenth Century: An Age of Enlightenment
Chapter 17
The Eighteenth Century:
An Age of Enlightenment

3. The Enlightenment Paths to Enlightenment
Popularization of Science – education
Bernard de Fontenelle (1657 – 1757), Plurality of Worlds
A New Skepticism
Superstition, religious intolerance, and dogmatism
Skepticism about religion and growing secularization
Pierre Bayle (1647 – 1706) – Ind. conscience

4. The Impact of Travel Literature
Travel books-very popular
Captain James Cook, Travels
Literature on China
Showed positives of non-Christina cultures
Cultural relativism
Is European/Christian culture better?
Natural man – more happy?

5. The Legacy of Locke & Newton
Reason could discover natural laws that govern politics, economics justice, religion, and the arts
Locke, Essay Concerning Human Understanding
Knowledge derived from environment
Denied Descartes’ belief in innate ideas

6. The Philosophes and their Ideas
Came from all walks of life
Paris: “capital”
Not just explain: desire to change the world
Result: 17thC. wars of religion
Irony: during age of Absolutism
3 French Giants: Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Diderot

8. Montesquieu and Political Thought
Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu ( )
Persian Letters, 1721: satire
Attacks traditional religion, advocacy of religious toleration, denunciation of slavery, use of reason
The Spirit of the Laws, 1748; comparative study of government

9. Voltaire and the Enlightenment
Francois-Marie Arouet, Voltaire ( )
Criticism of Traditional Religion
Philosophic Letters on the English, 1733
Treatise on Toleration, 1763
Candide
Deism

10. Diderot and the Encyclopedia
Denis Diderot ( )
Encyclopedia, 28 volumes
Attacked religious superstition and advocated toleration
Banned by Pope and King of France
Lowered price helped to spread the ideas of the Enlightenment

11. The New “Science of Man”
David Hume (1711 – 1776)
Treatise on Human Nature
Father of Social Studies
Physiocrats
François Quesnay ( )
Leader of the Physiocrat – natural economic laws
Rejection of mercantilism
Supply and demand

12. Adam Smith & Laissez-Faire Economics
The Wealth of Nations, 1776
Wealth = land and labor – NOT Gold
Attack on mercantilism
Against government involvement in business
Advocate of free trade
Supply and demand

13. Smith - continued Government has only three basic functions
Protect society from invasion
Defend individuals from injustice and oppression
Keep up public works

14. Stop

15. The Later Enlightenment
Baron Paul d’Holbach (1723 – 1789)
System of Nature, 1770
Morality without religion
Do what’s right – not out of fear of punishment
Marie-Jean de Condorcet (1743 – 1794)
The Progress of the Human Mind
Human perfectibility

16. Rousseau and the Social Contract
Jean-Jacques Rousseau ( )
Discourse on the Origins of the Inequality of Mankind; private property = social injustice = enslaved the masses
Social Contract, 1762; Harmonize individual liberty with governmental authority
Concept of General Will – best for society is = what is important to individuals
Emile, 1762; important for education
Major influence on Romanticism

17. The “Woman’s Question” in the Enlightenment
Most philosophes agreed that the nature of women make them inferior
Mary Astell ( )
A Serious Proposal to the Ladies, 1697
Better education/equality in marriage
Mary Wollstonecraft
Vindication of the Rights of Woman, 1792
Subjection of women by men wrong

18. Social Environment of the Philosophes
Salons – upper/middle classes
The Influence of Women
Marie-Thérèse de Geoffrin (1699 – 1777) – hosted salons
Marquise du Deffand (1697 – 1780)
Determined who to invite

19. Other social centers: coffeehouses, cafes, clubs, libraries, societies
Freemason

20. Innovations in Art Rococo Art Antoine Watteau (1684-1721)
Fragility and transitory nature of pleasure, love, and life
Baroque-Rococo architectural style
Balthasar Neumann ( )
Secular and spiritual interchangeable
Continuing Popularity of Neoclassicism

21. Innovations in Music and Literature
Baroque Music
Johann Sebastian Bach ( )
George Frederick Handel ( )
Franz Joseph Haydn ( )
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart ( )
The Novel
Samuel Richardson (1689 – 1761)
Henry Fielding (1707 – 1754)
Writing of History
A broader scope

22. The High Culture of the Eighteenth Century
High Culture Versus Popular Culture
Expansion of Publishing and Reading Public
Development of magazines and newspapers for the general public
Education and Universities
Secondary schools

23. Crime and Punishment Punishment in the Eighteenth Century
Cesare Beccaria ( ), On Crimes and Punishments
Punishment - serve only as deterrent
Punishment moved away from spectacle towards rehabilitation

24. The World of Medicine - Skip
Hierarchy of Practitioners
Physicians
Surgeons
Apothecaries
Midwives
Faith healers

25. Popular Culture - Skip Nature of Popular Culture Carnival
Collective and public
Carnival
Indulgence and release
Taverns and Alcohol
Community centers
Cheap alcohol
Literacy and Primary Education
Chapbooks
Literacy rates
Primary education

26. Religion and the Churches
The Institutional Church
Conservative nature of mainstream churches
Church-state relations
“Nationalization” of the Catholic church
Toleration and Religious Minorities
Toleration and the Jews
Some Enlightenment thinkers favored acceptance of the Jews
Joseph II
Limited reforms toward the Jews

27. Religious Populations of Eighteenth-Century Europe

28. Popular Religion in the Eighteenth Century
Catholic Piety
Centrality of the local parish
Popular devotion
Protestant Revivalism
Pietism
John Wesley ( )
Methodist societies

29. Discussion Questions
Why was France the epicenter of the Enlightenment?
Why did it emerge when it did?
What were the social consequences, if any, of the Enlightenment?
How did the Enlightenment shape ideas about crime and punishment?
Did Europe become a more secular society over the course of the eighteenth century? If so, why?

30. Web Links The European Enlightenment
Internet Sourcebook: The Enlightenment
The Encyclopedia of Diderot and d’Alembert
Mary Wollstonecraft
Creating French Culture
Eighteenth-Century Resources: Science and Mathematics