The EnlightenmentThe Enlightenment

1700-1789

DEMOGRAPHICSDEMOGRAPHICS “Turning point”–

population from 120 Million in 1700 to 190 Million in 1790

Due to declining death rate

Higher birth rate Better transportation Better food supply,

weather, end of plague

Still very unsanitary

THE FAMILYTHE FAMILY

Family was still the core of social organization

The nuclear family was the norm in western Europe

Children worked in urban and rural families (“Family economy)

Late marriages still common (Father often selected mate)

After 1750 illegitimacy increased

Birth control was in use to limit # of children (Coitus Interruptus)

NEW VIEWS ON CHILDHOODNEW VIEWS ON CHILDHOOD

In the second half of the eighteenth century, traditional views on childhood changed

Rousseau’s book, Emile, and increasing survival rates of infants led to the view of childhood as a phase in human development

CHILDREN VIEWED AS KIDSCHILDREN VIEWED AS KIDS

Part of the new view included an increase in breast-feeding, a change in children’s clothing, a rise in games, puzzles, and toys

For most Europeans however (peasants), children were still a source of anxiety

Infanticide still practiced and foundling homes were overcrowded

THE AGRICULTURAL THE AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTIONREVOLUTION

During this period, food production increased due to four factors: more cultivated land, increased yield, healthier and more plentiful livestock, and a better climate

Jethro Tull realized hoeing allowed plants to grow better; he also developed a seed drill

Who is this?

JETHRO TULL UTILIZED THE HOE TO AIR-RATE PLANTS

AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTIONAGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION As a result of the

Columbian Exchange maize and potatoes were introduced

Enclosure resulted when a landowner bought up smaller farms and combined them into one larger property

Land replenished by nitrogen rich crops like alfalfa, turnips, clover (No more fallow land)

England led the way

THE SOCIAL ORDER

Grand Tour: A trip through Europe for educational purposes, undertaken by the sons of the nobility

Poverty was still rampant, with as much as 15-20% of Venice suspected as beggars

It was now argued that charity to beggars merely encouraged them

Guilds still played a large role in city industry

THE GRAND TOUR WAS PART OF THE EDUCATION OF THE ELITE

THE SOCIAL THE SOCIAL STRUCTURESTRUCTURE

Still hierarchy and “estates” (France)

Critique by philosophes but distrust of masses

Economic developments provide impetus for future changes

Resurgence of aristocracy and slow rise of middle class

ARISTOCRACYARISTOCRACY Privileges and

exemptions (wealth varied)

Strongest in Eastern Europe

Economic activities The “country

house” (England) Development of

public/private areas

PEASANTSPEASANTS 85% of population Free and unfree Tithes, taxes, duties,

labor Eastern Europe and

great estates Villages--center of life Parasitic relation with

town Diet of peasants Rebellions--Pugachev

Revolt

TOWNS AND TOWNS AND BOURGEOISIEBOURGEOISIE

More important in Western Europe

Huge growth of cities Migration from

countryside to urban areas

Patrician oligarchies Middle class diversity Petty bourgeoisie Artisans & guilds Unskilled laborers Unhealthy conditions Poverty and begging

EDUCATIONEDUCATION “Stale” universities--

Greek and Latin were considered old-fashioned by philosophes

“Elitist” secondary schools reinforced hierarchy

Realschule were more practical centers for education

EDUCATIONEDUCATION Grammar schools

and government sponsorship--Volkschule (Protestant. v. Catholic)

University of Gottingen and Univ. of Edinburgh were exceptional schools PRIMARY EDUCATION WAS

ENCOURAGED AFTER 1750

Crime and Crime and PunishmentPunishment

Decline in violent crime rateMore property crimesPublic executions, torture, exileLegal and penal reformsCesare Beccaria: anti-death

penalty reformerHumanitarianism

MEDICINE AND HEALTHMEDICINE AND HEALTH

Professionalization of medicine finally arrives

Physicians more clinical, e.g., at University of Leiden

Below the physicans were surgeons, separate from barbers but still bleed--Royal College of Surgeons licensed doctors

OTHER MEDICAL OTHER MEDICAL PRACTITIONERSPRACTITIONERS

Other practitioners included apothecaries, faith healers, and midwives who primarily served commoners especially in rural areas

Hospital “reform” and hygiene remained in its infancy – most hospitals were filthy

Folk medicine, faith healers, midwives were still active

POPULAR CULTUREPOPULAR CULTURE Festivals & Carnival

were group activities Eating, drinking, sex,

aggression -- excess “World turned upside

down” Reinforce hierarchy but

violence Taverns—vodka (Russia)

& gin (England)

CARNIVALS WERE IMPORTANT SOCIAL RITUALS

WHEN ELITE & POP MERGEWHEN ELITE & POP MERGE

Divergence of elite and popular

However, “Commercialization of leisure” brought elite and popular culture together

Bloodsports; bullbaiting & bearbaiting, cockfighting

Chapbooks (cheap books- crude satires & adventure stories) & almanacs BEARBAITING

PUBLISHING AND LITERACYPUBLISHING AND LITERACY

More books, magazines, newspapers

Spectator & female audiencesIncrease in literacyDevelopment of public opinionPopularization of New Science among middle class

Coffeehouses

THE PHILOSOPHESAs a result of religious

warfare and conflict, philosophes took a skeptical stance toward religion, rejecting traditional Christianity.

Enlightenment: a movement to understand and improve society based on the principles of the Scientific Revolution.

PHILOSOPHES LOOK INWARDPHILOSOPHES LOOK INWARD

The realization, through travel literature, that there were advanced civilizations besides their own, forced Europeans to turn a critical eye to their civilization.

Locke and Newton served as inspirations for the Enlightenment.

JOHN LOCKE (1632-1704)JOHN LOCKE (1632-1704)

Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690)—tabula rasa

Some Thoughts Concerning Education (1689)--childhood

Two Treatises on Government (1690)—individual rights, limited government

Empiricist, defender of natural rights & revolution, beginner of the Enlightenment

LOCKEAN QUESTIONSLOCKEAN QUESTIONS

What qualities of an object would appear the same and appear to different to everyone?

What is meant by sensation and reflection?

How can natural law be used to justify individual rights?

What are the social implications of tabula rasa?

DAVID HUME (1711-1776)DAVID HUME (1711-1776) Scottish Enlightenment Radical empiricist—Treatise

on Human Nature (1748) Agnostic—On Miracles A beloved and tolerant

skeptic “Reason is and ought to be

a slave to the passions…” Hume’s Fork: “you can’t get

an ‘ought’ from an ‘is’…”

HUMEAN QUESTIONSHUMEAN QUESTIONS

How can we be sure that we have a continuous personal identity?

Do humans really experience natural laws, such as cause and effect?

Would it be reasonable to “prefer the scratching of one’s nose to the destruction of the world”?

THE GENIUS OF KANTTHE GENIUS OF KANT(1724-1804)(1724-1804)

Life of an orderly bachelor What is Enlightenment?

(1784)—”dare know & think for yourself!”

Critique of Pure Reason—constructivism

Combines empiricism with “categories of understanding” (our perceptive glasses)

Deontological ethics and “categorical imperative”

KANTIAN QUESTIONSKANTIAN QUESTIONS Can I experience

anything outside of time and space? Can I know objects in themselves?

How would I act if I willed my actions to become a universal law?

Was the 18th century an “enlightened age”? Is today? Why or why not?

THE “SMILE OF REASON” THE “SMILE OF REASON” VOLTAIRE 1694-1778VOLTAIRE 1694-1778

Man of wit, charm, satire Deist and hater of

organized religion—Calas Affair (1762)

Philosophical Dictionary, Candide, History of Louis XIV

Prison, exile, risk-taking, shifting reputation

ENLIGHTENMENT PRINCIPLESENLIGHTENMENT PRINCIPLES

1. Society is governed by natural laws.

2. These laws can be discovered through reason.

3. Society can turn from traditional and authoritarian forms and customs to a more perfect government and society based on reason.

MONTESQUIEU AND POLI SCI 101MONTESQUIEU AND POLI SCI 101

Protestant judge in parlement—wanted to limit absolutism

Persian Letters (1721) Spirit of the Laws

(1748) “checks and

balances”—influence on U.S. Constitution

NOT a democrat!

CESARE BECCARIA AND CESARE BECCARIA AND HUMANITARIANISM 1738-1794HUMANITARIANISM 1738-1794

Legal scholar and Italian jurist

On Crimes and Punishments

Called for legal and penal reform

What was the traditional function of laws and punishment?

Which works better: vengeance or rehabilitation?

ADAM SMITH: FATHER OF ADAM SMITH: FATHER OF CAPITALISM (1723-1790)CAPITALISM (1723-1790)

Influence of Quesnay and Physiocrats

Theory of Moral Sentiments

Wealth of Nations (1776)

Supply and demand, invisible hand, free trade, laissez-faire, attack on mercantilism

J.J. ROUSSEAU ROCKS THE J.J. ROUSSEAU ROCKS THE HOUSE (1712-1778)HOUSE (1712-1778)

Lower-middle class, broken family, barmaid wife, abandoned children

“Noble Savage,” “cult of sentiment,” morality

Social Contract, Emile, La Nouvelle Heloise, The Confessions

Persona non grata Attitude toward women

ROUSSEAN QUESTIONSROUSSEAN QUESTIONS

Are humans corrupted by society?

Did the Enlightenment overuse reason?

How might Rousseau have influenced the French Revolution?

Was Rousseau a hypocrite?

MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT AND MODERN FEMINISMAND MODERN FEMINISM

A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1791)—feminist manifesto

On the Education of Girls

Married to radical William Godwin

Mother of Mary Shelley (Frankenstein)

WOLLSTONECRAFT 1759-1797

FEMINIST QUESTIONSFEMINIST QUESTIONS

How does an equal education for girls help society?

How does equality change the household, society, and politics?

RADICAL ENLIGHTENMENTRADICAL ENLIGHTENMENT

Baron d’Holbach (1723-89)—determinism and materialism

Marquis de Condorcet (1743-94)—theory of history as progressive change, died during Reign of Terror (ordering omelet)

ENLIGHTENED DESPOTISM?ENLIGHTENED DESPOTISM?

Frederick II, “the Great” of Prussia (174-86)

Catherine I, “the Great” of Russia (1762-96)

Joseph II of Austria (1765-90)

Maria Theresa? (1740-80) How enlightened were

they? What kinds of policies did

they pursue?

FRANKLIN’S WISDOMFRANKLIN’S WISDOM“A stitch in time saves nine.”“Early to bed and early to rise makes a

man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”“Little strokes fell great oaks.”“A penny saved is a penny earned.”“God helps those that help themselves.”“He is ill-clothed who is bare of virtue.”“The heart of the fool is in his mouth; but

the mouth of the wise man is in his heart.”

THE AMERICAN ENLIGHTENMENTTHE AMERICAN ENLIGHTENMENT

Benjamin Franklin & a “useful life”—Autobiography & retirement

Accomplishments—Albany Plan, fire company, post office, U. of Penn., hospital, Junto, magazine, T. of Paris, Dec. of Indep., Constit. Conv., electricity, inventions

Jefferson, Paine (deism), and others