A. Develops out of the ideas of the Scientific Revolution- an expansion of the worldliness and secularism of the Renaissance

I. What is (the) Enlightenment?

B. Immanuel Kant – “What is Enlightenment?”Enlightenment is man's release from his

self-incurred tutelage. Tutelage is man's inability to make use of his understanding without direction from another. Self-incurred is this tutelage when its cause lies not in lack of reason but in lack of resolution and courage to use it without direction from another. Sapere aude![Dare to know!] "Have courage to use your own reason!"- that is the motto of enlightenment.

II. Central Concepts of the II. Central Concepts of the EnlightenmentEnlightenment

A. The methods of A. The methods of natural sciencenatural science should be used to understand all should be used to understand all aspects of life - through the use of aspects of life - through the use of REASONREASON

B. Discover the B. Discover the natural lawsnatural laws of human of human society as well as the natural world society as well as the natural world (“social science”)(“social science”)

C. The idea of C. The idea of progressprogress - The - The confidence in human power, human confidence in human power, human reason to improve societyreason to improve society

II. Central concepts of the II. Central concepts of the Enlightenment [cont]Enlightenment [cont]

D. Rejection of D. Rejection of superstitionsuperstition and and traditiontradition

E. E. ToleranceTolerance and and equalityequality

F. F. DeismDeism - God does not intervene in the - God does not intervene in the world through miracles; he created the world through miracles; he created the world, and then removed himself from world, and then removed himself from itit

What is “Enlightenment?”

ReasonReason& Logic& Logic

TraditionsTraditionsandand

SuperstitionsSuperstitions

Immanuel Kant –-- Immanuel Kant –-- DARE TO DARE TO KNOW!KNOW!

Immanuel Kant –-- Immanuel Kant –-- DARE TO DARE TO KNOW!KNOW!

rationalismrationalism empiricismempiricism tolerancetolerance skepticismskepticism DeismDeism

nostalgia for the nostalgia for the

past past organized organized religionsreligions irrationalismirrationalism emotionalismemotionalism

Centers of the Enlightenment

III. The PhilosophesIII. The Philosophesmen of letters who wrote for public men of letters who wrote for public

consumption, using humor, wit, satireconsumption, using humor, wit, satire

A. Denis Diderot - The Encyclopedia - a compilation of all knowledge!

“[Our aim] is to collect all the knowledge scattered over the face of the earth, … and to transmit this to those who will come after us.... It could only belong to a philosophical age to attempt an encyclopedia; … All things must be examined, debated, and investigated without exception and without regard for anyone’s feelings…. We have for quite some time needed a reasoning age.”“It is impious to want to impose laws upon man’s conscience; this is a universal rule of conduct. People must be enlightened and not constrained.”“War is the fruit of man’s depravity; it is a convulsive and violent sickness of the body politic … If reason governed men and had the influence over the heads of nations that it deserves, we would never see them inconsiderately surrender themselves to the fury of war; they would not show that ferocity that characterizes wild beasts.”

“No man has received from nature the right to command others.... The government, although hereditary in a family…, is not private property, but public property that consequently can never be taken from the people, to whom it belongs exclusively…. It is not the state that belongs to the prince, it is the prince who belongs to the state.”“It is of the greatest importance to conserve this practice [the free press] in all states founded on liberty.”

“The buying of Negroes, to reduce them to slavery, is one business that violates religion, morality, natural laws, and all the rights of human nature.”

Shoes Button-making

Subscriptions to Diderot’s Encyclopedia

B. MontesquieuB. Montesquieu - separation and - separation and balance of powers; admired the balance of powers; admired the British model of governmentBritish model of government

III. The Philosophes (cont)III. The Philosophes (cont)

C. VoltaireC. Voltaire 1. freedom of thought 1. freedom of thought

and religion ~ and religion ~ tolerationtoleration

2. ridiculed the clergy 2. ridiculed the clergy for their bigotry, for their bigotry, intolerance, and intolerance, and superstitionsuperstition

3. Admired Louis XIV 3. Admired Louis XIV and Frederick the and Frederick the Great - thought Great - thought people unable to people unable to govern themselvesgovern themselves

III. The Philosophes (cont)III. The Philosophes (cont)

“I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: ‘Oh Lord, make my enemies ridiculous.’ And God granted it.”

“Almost everything that goes beyond the adoration of a Supreme Being and submission of the heart to his orders is superstition. One of the most dangerous is to believe that certain ceremonies entail the forgiveness of crimes. Do you believe that God will forget a murder you have committed if you bathe in a certain river, sacrifice a black sheep…? … Do better miserable humans, have neither murders nor sacrifices of black sheep.”

God is a comedian God is a comedian playing to an audience playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.too afraid to laugh.

It is dangerous to be It is dangerous to be right when the right when the government is wrong.government is wrong.

I may not agree with I may not agree with what you have to what you have to say, but I will defend say, but I will defend to the death your to the death your right to say it.right to say it.

D. Jean-Jacques Rousseau (later Enlightenment)1. Society is artificial and

corrupt - state of nature is better - education

2. Valued impulse and emotion more than reason

3. Believed in contract government and individual freedom

4. 4. “General Will”“General Will” - republic - republic as ideal governmentas ideal government

III. The Philosophes (cont)III. The Philosophes (cont)

Historians often refer to the “Enlightenment

project.” What was the “project” of the

Enlightenment? What reforms were the

philosophes seeking? What kind of society were

they trying to create?

IV. The “Republic of Letters”

A.URBAN –-- gathering of –-- gathering of elites in the cities (salons) elites in the cities (salons)

B. URBANE --– cosmopolitan, --– cosmopolitan, worldlyworldly - music, art, literature, - music, art, literature, politicspolitics - read newspapers & the - read newspapers & the latestlatest books books

C. POLITENESS –-- proper –-- proper behaviorbehavior - self-governed - self-governed

Reading During the Enlightenment

► Literacy: - 80 % for men, 60 % women - 80 % for men, 60 % women

► Books were expensive (one day’s Books were expensive (one day’s wages)wages)

► Many readers for each book Many readers for each book - novels, plays & other - novels, plays & other

literatureliterature - journals, memoirs, “private - journals, memoirs, “private lives”lives” - philosophy, history, theology - philosophy, history, theology - newspapers, political - newspapers, political pamphlets pamphlets - often - often censored by governmentscensored by governments

“Must Read” Books of the Time

A Parisian Salon

A Parisian Salon

The Salonnieres

Madame Madame GeoffrinGeoffrin

(1699-1777)(1699-1777)MademoiselleMademoiselle

Julie de Julie de LespinasseLespinasse

(1732*-1776)(1732*-1776)

MadameMadameSuzanne Suzanne NeckerNecker

(1739-1794)(1739-1794)

Zoology & Biology

A dissection at the Royal A dissection at the Royal Academy, LondonAcademy, London

Chemistry Labs & Botany Gardens

Questions for Review1. What types of literature were featured in the illegal book trade in France?2. What were the important trends of Enlightenment thought?3. What was the primary purpose of Fontenelle’s writings?4. Why does the Enlightenment develop best in France?5. What does Locke put forth in his Essay Concerning Human

Understanding?6. What was the “reading revolution?”7. What does Montesquieu argue in his Spirit of Laws?8. What does D’Holbach present in System of Nature?9. What was the fundamental goal of the Encyclopedia?10. What was Rousseau’s “general will?”11. Who wrote the Historical and Critical Dictionary?12. Which social classes intermingled in Parisian Salons?13. Who wrote Progress of the Human Mind? What was put forth in this

work?14. What did Emmanuel Kant advocate?15. Who was Mendelssohn and what did he argue?