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The Enlightenment1650-1800

Chapter 6 section 2

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Topics

I. Important Influences

II. The Age of Reason

III. The Philosophes

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I. Important Influences

A. The Renaissance

B. The Reformation

C. The Scientific Revolution

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A. The Renaissance

• A rediscovery of Roman and Greek Society

• A new emphasis on human qualities.

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B. The Reformation

• Ends the monopoly of the Catholic Church.

• Huge explosion of new interpretations of the Bible.

• Demonstrates a challenge to authority.

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C. Scientific Revolution

• The world has natural laws to explain it.

• Humans, as part of nature, also have laws that govern them.

• We, as humans, can use reason to discover these laws.

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II. The Age of Reason

A. Reason

B. Nature

C. Happiness

D. Progress

E. Liberty

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A. Reason

• Philosophes viewed reason as the absence of intolerance and bigotry.

• Through reason society could be improved and true happiness be found.

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B. Nature.

• Whatever was natural was good and reasonable.

• Their were laws of nature for all things.

• People could use reason to discover these laws.

• These natural laws could be used to explain economics, politics as well as motion.

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C. Happiness

• People who live in a perfect state of nature will be happy.

• Rejected idea of misery on Earth as a ticket to heaven.

• Believed happiness could be achieved on earth.

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D. Progress.

• Society can be improved.

• Science can improve society.

• Understanding of Natural laws could improve society.

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E. Liberty.

• Philosophes admired the liberties of the English.

• Restrictions on trade, religion and speech were seen as harmful.

• Through reason people could be set free.

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III. The Philosophes.

A. Thomas HobbesB. John Locke C. VoltaireD. Denis DiderotE. Baron de MontesquieuF. Jean Jacque RousseauG. Adam Smith.H. Benjamin Franklin

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A. Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)

• Wrote Leviathan.• State of Nature is war.• Man is Self interested• Man needs a monarch to

rule.• A Social Contract will

exist between the people and the state.– Purpose to maintain order.

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A. John Locke. (1632-1704)

• Man is good, rejected idea of original sin.

• Man should be Free.• Man can govern himself

through reason. – Humans could improve

society through reason.

• Advocated idea of Social Contract.

• Man had Natural Rights.

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C. Voltaire

• Voltaire was his pen name.

• Used his writings to campaign against intolerance, injustice and prejudice.– Often is jailed for his

criticisms of rulers.

• Admired British system of common law.

• Viewed reason as a divine force.

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D. Denis Diderot

• Created the First Encyclopedia.

• Wanted to collect all information from leading scholars and writers.

• Louis XV saw the book as a threat and and had it banned.

• Diderot continued to print other copies.

• Inspired Encyclopedia Britannica

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E. Baron de Montesquieu

• Admired the British model.– Hated French Absolutism.

• Spirit of the Laws. 1748.• Separation of Powers: Each

branch of government will have its own function. – Executive enforces law.– Legislative passes law– Judicial interprets law.

• This creates a system of checks and balances.– Prevents any one branch from

abusing its power.

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F. Jean Jacques Rousseau

• Wrote “The Social Contract”.

• Believed everyone should be Free.

• Power comes from the consent of the governed.

• Civilization corrupts goodness of man.

• Believed in Direct Democracy

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G. Adam Smith

• Free Trade and Laissez Faire

• Law of Self Interest

• Law of Competition

• Law of Supply and Demand

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H. Ben Franklin.

• An American Philosophe

• Poor Richards Almanac

• Electricity

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V. Women and the Enlightenment

A. The role of Salons

B. Mary Wollstonecraft

C. Enlightenment on Women

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A. The Role of Salons.

• Acted as intellectual centers of Europe.

• Poetry, stories, debate, and music.

• Organized by woman.– Marie Therese

Geoffrin.

• Restricted to the upper class.

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The Salons

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B. Mary Wollstonecraft

• A Vindication of the Rights of Women

• Opposed traditional roles for women– Confinement to roles is slavery– Male tyranny

• Critiqued other philosphes for excluding women

• Broadened the debate

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C. Enlightenment on Women

• Most did not advocate a change for women– Montesquieu’s support was limited

• Sympathetic, not revolutionary• Subordinate to male, but could divorce

– Most writers emphasized the physical differences

• Weakness• Frivolous

– Rousseau advocated traditional roles for women

IDEA Thinker ImpactNatural Rights-Life, liberty, property

Locke Fundamental to ideas found in Dec. of Ind.

Separation of Powers Montesquieu France, U.S. Latin America use these ideas in their Constitutions

Freedom of thought and expression

Voltaire Ideas found in many Bills of Rights

Free Trade Adam Smith Free Trade, capitalism

Religious Freedom Voltaire Bill of Rights, reduction of Persecutions

Women’s Rights Wollstonecraft Eventual women’s rights in N. America and Europe

Major Ideas of the Enlightenment

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With the Enlightenment:

• The State becomes the common bond holding society together.

• The scientist and the university educated scholar become the source of knowledge.

• Natural Law and Reason, rather than revelation or the decrees of the Church become the source of moral authority.

• In the methods of science, European believed they had found the source of truth.

• The Enlightenment is an attempt to find the laws of human society in the same way that Newton had found the laws of nature.

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Terms

• Enlightenment• Philosophe• Salon• Baroque• Newton• Voltaire• Marie Therese

Geofrin

• Diderot• Priestley• Franklin• Cook• Bach• Handel• Mozart• Beethoven