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Published byReynard Mosley Modified over 9 years ago
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Enlightenment Thought Dr. Charles Walton History 172 – Modern France Sapere Aude! Dare to know! Immanuel Kant (1784)
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Kant Enlightenment is man’s release from self- incurred tutelage.
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‘One day, thinking like Bossuet The next, like Voltaire’ Paul Hazard (historian)
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Bishop Bossuet Bishop Bossuet (1627-1704) – Orator, theologian, preacher at court of Versailles under the absolutist monarch, Louis XIV Politics drawn from Holy Scripture (late 17 th c. France) – The grounds of authority: God, Bible, King – These were thought to order society, social relations, attitudes to nature, wealth, non-Christian ‘heretical’ cultures, science
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Bishop Bossuet ‘How I hate these philosophers who, making their own intelligence the measure of God’s purposes, would regard Him merely as the creator of a certain general order which He, then, left to develop as best it might. As if God’s aims were vague and confused generalities.’
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Bossuet ‘I see… preparations for a great onslaught on the Church in the name of Cartesian philosophy. From the womb of that philosophy, from its principles, to my mind imperfectly understood, I foresee the birth of more than one heresy.’
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Early modern society: An enchanted, hierarchical world Witches, the devil Intercession of saints Preparing for death and the afterlife The great chain of being Social and political hierarchy
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Voltaire (1694-1778) – Rule of law – Arts and Sciences – Commercial prosperity – Religious Toleration Écraser l’infâme! Down with fanaticism! – Civil liberties (free speech)
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Historical debates on the Enlightenment Classic view – Enlightenment centred in France – Anti-clerical, opposed to religion – Unleashed democratic forces, leading to French Revolution Challenges to it: – Absolutists appropriated Enlightenment (esp. free-market economic liberals, the French Physiocrats) – Religious enlightenments Especially Protestant and Jewish enlightenments Even those opposed to French philosophes adopted Enlightenment ways of arguing – So what does the Enlightenment really mean?
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Aspects of the Enlightenment Epistemological shift (today’s lecture) – What constitutes valid knowledge – New systems of thought Climate of opinion (next week) – Whose opinions matter? The ‘public sphere’ Campaign to transform state and society (next) – Morality, Government Reform, Revolution
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Phases of Enlightenment 17 th century – major epistemological shifts – Descartes (rationalism) – Bacon, Locke, Newton (empiricism, scientific experiment) – Spinoza, Bayle (religious toleration) 18 th century – developed and spread those ideas
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Origins of the Enlightenment Printing Press Scientific and geographical discoveries Circulation of classical texts Religious dissention
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Ways of generating knowledge Rationalism – Emphasis on reason – Still a bit metaphysical Empiricism – Emphasis on experimentation – On useful knowledge, practical applications
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Galileo’s telescope De-centered the earth De-stabilised humans’ self-conception Challenged religious authorities’ monopoly on knowledge
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René Descartes (1596-1650) Skepticism, radical doubt Individual reason – hierarchies set aside Rationalism – truth found through reason Concerned with joining mind and body – Believed they were joined at pineal gland
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Spinoza - Bayle Freedom of conscience Religious toleration (they were from religious minorities) Secular foundations for political authority Rational foundations for society rather than tradition or superstition God and nature are one. The quest to understand Nature’s laws is to become close to God.
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Locke, Newton, Montesquieu Repudiation of metaphysical ‘systems’ Knowledge through the senses – empiricism Locke’s blank-slate Newton’s laws of nature – induction, not deduction Montesquieu’s laws of society found in history
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Newtonian thinking was – open-ended… could change with the introduction of more facts – focused on relations and patterns, not inherent essences or eternal truths Implications: authorities could not claim to master eternal truths.
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The problem of ‘Evil’ With the ‘devil’ removed from the cosmic scheme, how does one account for ‘evil’ in the world? – Best of all possible worlds (Leibniz, 17 th c.) – Historical, universal progress (18 th ) – Stoicism and utility: ‘we must cultivate our gardens’ (Voltaire, Candide, 1759)
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Lisbon Earthquake, 1755 How could ‘nature’ and ‘human nature’ prove to be so evil? – 40-50K killed (by quake and post-quake violence) – 80-90% of the buildings destroyed What are we to learn from it? – Voltaire: cultivate one’s garden – Rousseau: cities are bad, providence good – Letter from R to V: “I hate you!”
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The Encyclopédie, 1751-1772 French, edited by Diderot and d’Alembert, 17 vols. Published over 20 years in mid 18 th c. – Most famous philosophers of the age Aim: to spread practical knowledge in society With amusing ‘digs’ at authorities from time to time (e.g.: ‘knowledge of God’ and ‘black magic’ are treated together on the tree of knowledge)
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Rousseau: the dissenting voice in the French Enlightenment First Discourse on the Sciences and Arts (1750) Second Discourse on the Origins of Inequality (1755) – Civilisation and culture are corrupting – The ‘arts and sciences’, consumerism and urban living alienate the individual from his/herself
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Overarching themes Invention of ‘self’ and ‘society’ as concepts – Individuals are theoretically commensurate moral equals – Weakens assumed notions about hierarchy – Inequalities seek new justifications E.g.: use of science to naturalize gender and racial differences Man is a product of nature and potentially free and equal – Constraints and inequalities need new justifications… Knowledge should be directed at utility and common good
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