“THE AGE OF REASON”

The Enlightenment

The Enlightenment

The period during which philosophers

believed they could apply the scientific

method and use reason to logically explain

human behavior. Inspired by the advances in the physical sciences

Apply the scientific method and reason to understand human nature and human behavior

Understand the cause and effect relationships Contemporary Examples

Tug of War Phenomenon (Social Loafing) Learned Helplessnes Next in Line Effect Group Think

Philosophes Movement

3 Central Themes Progress Tolerance Deism

They utilized the printing press to disseminate thoughts and ideas (Church, slavery, government, torture, taxes

war) Encyclopedia -- Denis Diderot

Collection of the knowledge of the day Salons – Women played important role

Key Concepts

Rationalism - truth could be arrived at solely by the application of reason and logical thought

Natural Law - objects in nature behaved in ways that humans could understand and predict

Progress - was the goal and always man’s potential The notion that the worlds problems could be solved

by educated people Investigating the problems for some was in

government

Philosophes & Government Montesquieu - The Spirit of the Laws

Describe the perfect form of government "When the [law making] and [law enforcement] powers

are united in the same person... there can be no liberty." A system of checks and balances Separation of powers in 3 branches of government

Believed the British Constitutional Monarchy was the best

Voltaire - Candide , Philosophical Letters Imprisoned in the Bastille by the Duke of Orleans Criticized oppressive gov’t, prejudice, bigotry and religious

intolerance “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your

right to say it” "It does not require great art, or magnificently trained

eloquence, to prove that Christians should tolerate each other. I, however, am going further: I say that we should regard all men as our brothers. What? The Turk my brother? The Chinaman my brother? The Jew? The Siam? Yes, without doubt; are we not all children of the same father and creatures of the same God?"

“On Government” State of Nature - the idea of how people existed

prior to organized society and without government Man in his natural state

2 British Philosophers Hobbes - wrote Leviathan

People were naturally brutish, solitary, inclined to injure others for own benefit.

Right/Wrong and Morality don’t exist This all necessitates the Social Contract We forfeit some freedoms for peace,security and safety Monarchy was the best form of government Removing the Monarch would return us to _____________

Locke - Two Treatises on Gov’t All people born equal (Natural Rights) People are naturally good, cooperative and reasonable Purpose of gov’t was to protect the natural rights Monarchy was not chosen by god but by the consent of

the people chose a government limited by law What happened if the government failed to protect the

natural rights?

Rousseau - The Social Contract“Man is born free but everywhere is in chains”

People are born good but the environment, education and laws corrupt them

The positive state of human nature can only be maintained in a government that they choose and can control Popular sovereignty – “General Will” All people were equal and government should

protect the common good

Judicial Reforms Medieval thoughts

Power of fear and salvation Enlightened thinkers disagree and believe

the removal of pain and suffering were sufficient motivators

Cesare Beccaria Punishment should be used to deter crime

not punish it

the Economy and the Enlightenment Adam Smith The Wealth of Nations

2 natural laws regulate all business and economic activity ( the invisible hand)

Law of supply and demand Law of competition

In any business, prices would be determined by the supply of a product and the demand for it

Free - enterprise - every person should be free to go into any business and to operate it for maximum profit

Laissez-faire economic system “leave alone”

How does Smith’s free-enterprise compare to the mercantilist philosophy?

Women and the Enlightenment Despite the “enlightened” ideals of the

period (popular sovereignty, progress, [life, liberty & property] women were generally not included in the progress Mary Wollstonecraft - A Vindication of the

Rights of Woman Firmly believed the ideals should be extended to

women Women needed a sounder education She sharply criticized the conditions of women

particularly poor women often at the hands of men Defied accepted social practices (a child out of

wedlock, self-educated and worked

Typical Response to Women

Horace Walpole (aristocratic author) - “a hyena in petticoats”

Hannah More (an religious writer) “claimed the title alone was so ridiculous that she would not read it”

David Hume “their inferiority and infirmities are absolutely incurable”

Rousseau “an educated women scorns every womanly duty, and she is always trying to make a man of herself”

Have we reached equality?

Career Wage Gap by State

Changes to Government Enlightened Despotism - a system of government in which

absolute monarchs ruled according to Enlightened principles Explain how the following were models of Enlightened

Despotism Catherine the Great - allowed all classes but the serfs

and clergy to advise the central gov’t (first time in Russian history)

Had a constitution and code of law drafted Was never put into practice Made a quick reversal when war and peasant revolts

occurred Imprisoned or exiled Enlightened thinkers, banned

French newspapers and forced Russian students to return from studies abroad

Frederick II- “The First Servant” abolished torture as a punishment and declared religious

tolerance (part of the written Common Law) Established a system of elementary education Disagreed with serfdom but couldn’t destroy it Reforms were intended to strengthen the state

Limitations Jews, serfdom

Joseph II (Austria) - believed the state was to provide a moral example for its subjects Abolished serfdom Abolished torture and the capital punishment Assumed responsibility for caring for the sick and

poor Proclaimed religious tolerance for Jew, Christians, and

Muslims Limited by revolts and poor nationalism among

bureaucrats

Who said it?

I shall not go back to the remote annals of antiquity to trace the history of woman; it is sufficient to allow that she has always been either a slave, or a despot, and to remark, that each of these situations equally retards the progress of reason. The grand source of female folly and vice has ever appeared to me to arise from narrowness of mind; and the very constitution of civil governments has put almost insuperable obstacles in the way to prevent the cultivation of the female understanding:—yet virtue can be built on no other foundation! The same obstacles are thrown in the way of the rich, and the same consequences ensue.

Mary Wollstonecraft

. . Political power is that power, which every man having in the state of nature, has given up into the hands of the society, and therein to the governors, whom the society hath set over itself, with this express or tacit trust, that it shall be employed for their good and preservation of their property…. . . So that the end and measure of this power, when in every man's hands in the state of nature . . . it can have no other end or measure, when in the hands of the magistrate, but to preserve the member of that society in their lives, liberties, and possessions; and so cannot be absolute, arbitrary power over their lives and fortunes…

John Locke

Since coming to power, We have been most particular to ensure that all Our subjects, without distinction of nationality and religion, should share in the public prosperity which We hope to increase by Our care, and that they may enjoy freedom according to the law and find no obstacle to earning their living in every honourable way and contribute to the general industriousness.

Since Our gracious intention can definitely not be reconciled with the existing laws against the Jewish People in Our Patrimonial Margravate of Moravia and the so-called Jewish laws, We wish to modify these by virtue of the present Edict..

Joseph II