Transcript The Enlightenment - APEH

The Enlightenment
A cultural movement which applied the insights of the Scientific
Revolution to the wider world: politics, religion, and art.
The Scientific Revolution -The nature of the Universe.
A small % of people in all Europe at the time understood what was
happening.
The Enlightenment made the findings of the Scientific Revolution
more widely available.
Scientific Revolution reached its peak at the end of the 17th century
with the work of Newton. It was the work of scientists from many
different countries (Italy, Germany, Denmark, Holland, Poland,
England, France).
Enlightenment took place in the 18th century and was dominated by
France, which was also the most powerful state of the period.
Definitions
Emphasis on REASON, TOLERATION and NATURAL
LAW,
Confidence in modern man and his achievements - the idea of
PROGRESS.
ABOVE ALL PROMOTED THE IDEA OF CHANGE AND
PROGRESS AS GOOD THINGS.
Philosophes
French thinkers known as PHILOSOPHES. not always the most
original thinkers, but were great publicists of the new ideas.
Social Context
Uniquely civilized: Salon society presided over by educated women
hostesses. [Most of the men were anti-feminist but this was a time
when aristocratic women did have a lot of power in society.]
Enlightenment Political Thought
Used new philosophy in a practical way to discuss politics.
Influence of these ideas on American and French Revolutions
Earliest of the new political thinkers were Hobbes and Locke.
English political experience of the 17th century and the problems of
the Stuarts were a starting point for political discussions.
England
Most of the progressive ideas and developments had taken place in England
in the 17th Century.
Science: Newton,
Philosophy: Locke,
Politics: 1688 the Glorious Revolution.
Domestic stability of Great Britain made living example of society where reforms
benefited all
Religious toleration for all except Unitarians/Roman Catholics (not persecuted)
Relative freedom of press/speech, limited monarch power, Parliament
sovereignty,
Influenced Frenchmen
France
These new ideas came together and were popularized, especially in
France.
Domestic economic life had less regulation – liberal policies made prosperity
stability/loyal citizenry – contrast to rest of Europe (France)
Print Culture
Books/journals/newspapers/pamphlets reached their
own status before, movements spread by preaching
sharp increase of printed docs in 18th
Everyday life concerns rose w/printed docs – toward
1600, ½ of docs religious; by 1780s, only 1/10 were
Books not cheap, but they circulated:
Private/public libraries grew, authors used different
methods
Samuel Johnson - as books collections of essays
The Spectator - Joseph Addison/Richard Steele
Fostered value of polite conversation andreading of books
Coffeehouses, Freemason lodge and clubs became
meeting places
Print Economy
Expanding market let writers earn living:
Authorship became occupation
Alexander Pope and Voltaire became wealthy
Status based on merit and commercial competition,
“High” authors addressed themselves to
monarchs, nobles, professionals
other authors lived marginally,
Bred Enlightenment ideas to radical extremes and
exposed them to the lower class audience
Public opinion
Social force, collective effect on political/social
views, created by expanding literate public
writers could write to nation, respond only to their
readers – governments couldn’t act in secret, had to
explain/discuss views openly
Continental European governments sensed
political power
Regulated/censored books/newspapers,
imprisoned offending authors
Expansion of freedom of press = Expansion of
print culture and its challenge to authorities
Voltaire
(Francois-Marie Arouet)
1726-29 Visited England.
Spent the latter part of his life in exile near Geneva.
Most famous philosophe
Very rich bourgeois.
Concerned with human action and attempts to improve
human life.
One of the very best French writers;
Letters on the English 1733
Lettres philosophiques 1734
Elements of the Philosophy of Newton
Candide 1759
Dictionnaire Philosophique 1764
Voltaire’s Ideas
Thought
Promoted Free Speech, Civil Rights and Toleration.
Extremely anticlerical.
Used to write "Ecrasez L'infame" ["destroy the infamy" - i.e.
removes the Church from power in society] on all his letters.
Inspired by the Calas case (a Protestant was falsely accused and killed for
killing his son to stop him becoming Roman Catholic.)
Explains extreme anti-clericalism of the French Revolution- not
present in English ideas.
Was not a "liberal" in many ways.
He praised Louis XIV and thought Enlightened despotism was the
best government, as a monarchy could keep down the Church and
the aristocracy.
Anti-Semitic, possibly due to equating Jews with the Church, possibly due
to problems he had with money lenders.
Powerful because he was such a good writer.
Deism and Religion
Not a great age for theology
Some movements of popular piety, pietism and Methodism,
Religion did not hold the intellectual leaders as it had during the Reformation.
Deism
Idea that God set up the Universe as clockwork and then just let it run.
Proposed a non-ritual religion based on REASON.
Deists also attacked Christianity, especially Catholicism, as superstitious.
The belief of many philosophes and was actually made a state religion for a
short while during the French Revolution
Called for toleration of ideas
Age of Reason
Reformation has Christ suffering for humanity on the Cross as the image of
God
Enlightenment has God as a Watchmaker.
Enlightenment Criticism of Christianity
David Hume
Wrote that no evidence existed to support
believing in divine miracles
Voltaire
Questioned the truthfulness of priests and
morality of the Bible
Edward Gibbon
Explained the rise of Christianity base on
natural causes- not miracles
A few philosophes were almost atheists
Enlightenment and Jewish Thought
Baruch Spinoza
Wrote God is not a distinct personality, but the entire
universe
Proposed reading the Bible like any ancient text
Organized religion led people away from the original
teachings of scripture
Kicked out of his synagogue for his radical ideas
Moses Mendelsohn
Argued for religious toleration for Jews
Maintaining a distinct Jewish community
Hoped Enlightenment ideas would lead to additional
toleration
Enlightenment and Islam
Most Enlightenment writings hostile towards
Islam
Misunderstood Islamic teachings
Voltaire
Islam = another version of religious fanaticism
Little interaction of Christians and Muslims
The Ulama- taught there was little to learn from
Christians
Enlightenment and Society
Denis Diderot 1713-84
The Encyclopedia 1751-72
A central institution of the Enlightenment thinkers.
Aim was to include all knowledge.
All the leading philosophes wrote for it in signed articles
Shows many different views:
Volume 2 was banned - made it more popular.
Publicity
Encyclopedia shows Philosophes/Enlightenment as part of a process of
publicity.
Got their ideas into all the reading public's mind.
About 25,000 were sold, half outside France.
Groups most criticized, nobles and clergy- actually bought it more than other
groups.
Ideals
Promoted ideals of toleration, reason and progress, equality before the law
(for all the 3 estates)
Saw the state as the agency for progress, opposition to the Church and Faith.
DIFFUSED THESE IDEAS AROUND EUROPE.
Enlightenment and Criminal Law
Marquis Cesare Beccaria
Wanted laws of kings to conform to the
laws of nature
Attacked torture and capital punishment
Advocated a speedy trial
Purpose of law to secure the greatest good
for the greatest number of people
Physiocrats and Economic Freedom
Philosophes believed mercantilist legislation and
regulated labor hampered trade, manufacturing
and agriculture
Called physiocrats in France
Spokesmen were Francois Quesnay and Pierre Dupont de
Nemours
Physiocrats thought primary role of govt. was to
protect property/permit it’s owners free use
Economic production depended on sound agriculture,
favored consolidation of small peasant holdings into
large, efficient farms
Adam Smith 1723-90
Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of the Nations(1776)
Most important economic work of Enlightenment
Urged England’s mercantile system be abolished, thought individuals would
pursue self-interest
Smith challenged assumption that nations could expand only at expense of
others
Thought water/air/soil/minerals were boundless, nations/peoples need not be
poor
Laissez-faire
Economic thought that favored minimal govt. economic control, founded by
Smith – he wasn’t dogmatist, believed state should provide schools/etc.
Four-stage theory
Human societies classified as hunting/gathering, herding/ pastoral, agricultural,
and commercial
Smith/other Scottish authors used this to describe movement from barbarism to
civilization
Allowed north-western Europe (commercial state) to look on other
European nations with pity
Spirit for “civilizing mission” that would result in economic/imperial domination
of world during the next century
French Philosophes
Charles-Louis de Secondat
Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755)
Aristocrat in south-west France
President of the Parlement of Bordeaux,
De l'esprit des lois 1748 - The Spirit of the Laws
Written after 14 years study of laws and thinkers,
including Locke. It presents two main ideas.
Classified governments not on basis of location of
power but on the animating principle:
Republics - virtue,
Monarchies - honor,
Despotism - fear.
No one system was suitable everywhere.
Less hooked on systems than other writers
Thought that allowance should be made for the
traditions, economy and religion of a country.
Thought that despotism was suited to hot climates to force lazy people to work!
Theory of separation of powers
More influential
Executive, judicial, and legislative
Based on a certain perception of English
government, with its King, House of Lords, and
House of Commons.
Wanted to use this principle in the politics of
France
Gave power to parlements, towns, aristocracy to
counter the monarchy.
Recognized that the aristocracy of his day was
corrupt, he thought this was due to the corruption
of absolutism.
Influenced the framers of US Constitution 1787, more so
than the Declaration of Independence.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1712-78
Different view’s than Montesquieu,
strange/isolated genius that transcended political
thought /values of his own time
Thought it impossible for humans w/current commercial
values to achieve moral lives
Discourse on the Moral Effects of the Arts and
Sciences
Process of civilization had corrupted human nature
Discourse on Origin of Inequality (1755)
Blamed much of the evil in the world on uneven
distribution of property
In both works, he brilliantly/directly challenged
current social fabric – other philosophes were
trying to get “the good life,” he questioned what it
is….
The Social Contact
In the Social Contract
“All men are born free, but everywhere they are in chains,”
Spent rest of book defending chains of organized society
Society was more important than its individual members,
Freedom as obedience to the law
General will must be free, so sometimes people must be forced to be free
Wanted liberty and equality in society but denies these are natural
Wants civil liberty and equality,
Granted by the state.
The rights you have are the ones you have in the community, to which you give all your
natural liberty and equality when you joined it.
The social contract was not between government and people, but
between people themselves, therefore the best society
A participatory democracy, like ancient Athens, or Geneva
Society depends on public spiritedness, compared with Locke and Smith for whom the
most important part of life was private.
Rousseau was out of tune with individualistic liberalism and greed.
The idea of a General Will
principle behind the validity of the Social Contract.
Political society is seen as involving the total subjection of every individual
to the General Will of the whole.
Effects of Rousseau's Thought
Not much read at first.
First becomes influential on the French Revolution.
Rousseau's arguments for democracy and equality
had a generally liberal effect in the US and Britain
The idea of the General Will, which is not the same
as majority vote, provides a framework for
totalitarianism in its modern sense. - especially the
idea that the people may not know their own will.
Life During the Age of Enlightenment
Nobility Reasserts Privilege
3% of population (varied: 10% Poland, 7-8% Spain, 2%
Russia, 1-2% most of W. Europe)
Period of Inflation; nobles cashed in on legal rights
Charged peasants to grind grain, bake bread, press grapes
Charged fee for peasants to pass on land
Taxes on salt and land
Customs duties for selling goods
Game laws
Peasants tithed to church (1/10)
Wore distinctive clothing (swords, plumed hats, make-up,
powdered wigs)
Had own seats in church and University
Often exempted from taxes
Many did not care about Enlightenment ideas and feared
reform
Some (nobles of robe) identified more with bourgeoisie
Middle Class and New Elite
Enlightenment offered middle class
intellectual and social improvement
Lived in towns, cities;
Doctors, lawyers, merchants, bankers, low level
officials, manufacturing, trade, investment
Bourgeoisie (French for city dweller – the
middle class) grew steadily in 18th century
Resented nobles and aspired to be like them
Middle Class Culture
Shared tastes in travel, architecture, arts and reading
linked middle class and lower nobility
Neoclassical architecture: return to Greek inspired style
(purity and clarity of form)
Example - Josiah Wedgwood
Growing taste for moralistic family scenes of ordinary
private life in paintings and books
Music: concert halls, music composed for larger audience,
longer last (as opposed to court commissions)
Haydn, Beethoven, Mozart
Reading:
Newspapers, lending libraries, book clubs; literacy up
Women readers and writers increasing
Universities played a small role in increased learning
Working Class
Increased literacy among working class
(France: 50% men, 27% women)
Fairs, festivals, cabarets, taverns, pubs
Bull baiting, bearbaiting, dog fighting,
cockfighting (gambling)
Cricket (England), often led to fan brawls
Life on the Margin
Population of Europe grew by 30% in a century
Production and wages also increased, but not as fast as
prices
Day laborers, peasants w/small land holdings lived
on edge of starvation
10% of population depended upon some form of charity
(church)
Workhouses, beggar houses
Increase in crime
Changes in Sexual and Family Behavior
Births outside marriage
17th c. 5%;
18th c. 20%
Increased mobility – men could evade responsibility by moving away
Women as domestic servants
Increase in abandoned babies – foundling hospitals (high mortality rate)
Increase in abortion (herbs, laxatives, crude surgery)
Laws against prostitution, adultery, fornication, sodomy, infanticide
Harsh laws against “sodomy” – imprisonment or even execution
Stereotype of effeminate, exclusively homosexual male appeared
for first time in 18th c.
Parents anxious about children’s sexuality
books on evils of masturbation (loss of memory, sight, hearing; even death)
Value of children and childhood:
improvement through education, books for children, children’s toys, clothing
for children
BIG IDEAS: Life During the Age of Enlightenment
During period of high inflation nobility reasserted
privileges over lower classes.
Overall standard of living improved,
People on the bottom of the social ladder lived on the
edge of starvation.
Enlightenment offered middle class intellectual
and social improvement.
Middle class shared many of the same cultural interests
as the nobility
Growing middle class embraced new concepts of
childhood.
Lower classes enjoyed various forms of popular
culture.
Mobility led to increased births outside of
marriage,
Women in the Enlightenment
Women, especially France, helped promote careers of philosophes
in Paris salons (Marie-Therese Geoffrin, Claudine de Tencin, Julie de Lespinasse)
Gave philosophes access to social/political contacts/respective environment to circulate
ideas
Gave them socials status/luster of ideas, enjoyed being center of attention, could boost
sales of their works
Women were connected to major political figures
Marquise de Pompadour,
mistress of Louis XV, helped overcome the Encyclopedia’s censorship/block
circulation of works attacking philosophes
bought writings/distributed among friends
Confusing mix of equal rights and traditional roles in many Enlightenment
thinkers- Montesequieu and Rousseau
Rousseau portrayed wives and motherhood as a noble profession for women
Started the theory women occupy the “domestic” sphere and men occupy the
political/civic sphere
Deeply influenced French Revolution
Rousseau had a vast following of women, convinced to breast-feed own children
Mary Wollstonecraft attacked Rousseau’s ideas as being an attempt to limit
women’s role in society
Rococo Art
Use Art Index for definition and
examples
Used a great deal in expensive houses
(hotels)
Used to portray royalty and nobility in
fun portrayal of everyday life or in
classical scenes
Enlightened Despotism
Enlightenment ideals spread through Europe,
they affected a generation of monarchs.
Raison d'etat [reason of state] rather than Divine
Right became the justification of their rule.
Austria
Maria Theresa 1740-1780
Joseph II 1780-1790
These monarchs centralized the state and put
an and end to local diets (parliaments).
Non-national state, but as yet there was little
nationalism.
Prussia
Frederick the Great 1740-1789
Low view of people.
Ran the state as a military regime. He seized
Silesia for "reasons of state".
A great ruler, but left no trained successor
Napoleon was almost able to destroy Prussia.
Prussia was made so much stronger than any other
German state that it was to unite Germany in the
next century.
Russia
Catherine the Great 1762-96
German princess
Deposed her imbecile husband.
Russia was still in most primitive condition
Kept serfdom.
Division of Poland
These three monarchies divided Poland between
them in 1772,1793 and 1795.
Absolutist states succeeded - and older states faded Poland, The Holy Roman Empire, The Ottoman
Empire.