The Enlightenment

The Age of Reason in Europe

EQ• How do the ideas of the philosophes build

on the ideas of the scientists?• How do the ideas of the philosophes

represent a dangerous challenge to the traditional authorities of Europe?

• How do the ideas of the philosophes shape the democracies of the modern world?

What did they want to change?

• Politics• Economics• Society• Religion

The primary change was to the focus on man

Origins• Prior to the 18th Century• Named by the writers themselves• Believed in the power of human reason• Institutions did not keep pace with philosophy• Middle classes sought redress from support of

an unworthy aristocracy• The Church remained a target of virtually every

writer.

Big Changes• Reason overwhelms emotion• Toleration dominates relationships• Natural law vs. spiritual policy• Change and Progress as positive• Deism

English Influence

THOMAS HOBBES, 1588-1679

Wrote Levithan (1651)Man is naturally wicked & foolishNeed gov’t to keep orderWithout gov’t man is in a “state of nature”

THOMAS HOBBES

• Argued that strong gov’t is only way to protect people

• People give up rights for order & protection– Concept known as the “social

contract”

THOMAS HOBBES• Because of the social contract,

Hobbes would say that bad gov’t is better than no gov’t

• What better form of gov’t to provide order than absolutism?

The Leviathan, 1651"During the time men live without a common power to keep them all in awe, they are in that conditions called war; and such a war, as if of every man, against every man.

"To this war of every man against every man … that nothing can be unjust. The notions of right and wrong, justice and injustice have there no place. Where there is no common power, there is no law, where no law, no injustice. Force, and fraud, are in war the cardinal virtues.”

"No arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death: and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short."

John Locke

• Lawyer (why important to note?)• Advocate of religious freedom

and citizen rights• Ideas embraced by both

contemporary thinkers and laymen

• More positive than Hobbes – witness to Glorious Revolution(bloodless overthrow of power)

• Rejects divine rights• Argued for Natural Rights• Argued for separation of powers

1632-1704All men are

Tabula Rasa at birth

John Locke• Believed in human potential

– Thought man could learn and improve

– Thought man could take care of himself– did not need absolutism

John Locke• Gov’t is created for one reason alone:

to protect the 3 natural rights– Life– Liberty– Property

• If gov’t fails, it can & should be overthrown– Declaration of Independence

John Locke

• Wrote Two Treatises on Government (1690)

• Laid out idea that power to rule comes from the consent of the governed, not from divine right– This is basis of modern democracy and a

direct threat to absolutism

Locke’s Major Works

• An Essay Concerning Human UnderstandingMan is basically good, and should be involved in government – favors a republic/democracy

• Two Treatises of Civil Government• A Letter Concerning Toleration

Locke Thoughts, On Civil Government

“Any single man must judge for himself whether circumstances warrant obedience or resistance to the commands of the civil magistrate; we are all qualified, entitled, and morally obliged to evaluate the conduct of our rulers. This political judgment, moreover, is not simply or primarily a right, but like self-preservation, a duty to God. As such it is a judgment that men cannot part with according to the God of Nature. It is the first and foremost of our inalienable rights without which we can preserve no other.”

The Social Contract• Adjustment to Hobbes view of a ‘social

contract’• The basis of Democracy (according to Locke

and Rousseau)• Legitimate authority derives from the

consent of the governed• However, those governed are willing to

give up ‘some’ rights so that ‘social order’ might be maintained

David Hume

• Scottish historian, economist, diplomat, skeptic

• ‘Friend’ to Rousseau• Anti-Mercantilism, believed

that trade should benefit both nations.

• Utilitarian/Empiricist • Believed in raw materials

not in currency or specie as the basis of wealth.

1711-1776

David Hume• private property isn't

a natural right

• it is justified, because resources are limited

• believed in an unequal distribution of property– perfect equality would

destroy the ideas of thrift and industry & lead to impovershiment

Hume ….• Argued that man is not justified in claiming

knowledge of God, of the human soul, or of absolute values – because ‘nothing can be in the mind that is not first in the senses’

• “I found that the moral philosophy transmitted to us by Antiquity, labored under the same inconvenience that has been found in their natural philosophy, of being entirely hypothetical, and depending upon more invention than experience.”

• “Generally speaking, the errors in religion are dangerous; those in philosophy only ridiculous” Treatise of Human Nature (1739-1740)

Hume…

• concluded that desire rather than reason governed human behavior, saying: "Reason is, and ought only to be, the slave of the passions"

Jeremy Bentham

• Child prodigy

• Leader of Philosophical Radicals

• Founded the doctrine of utilitarianism– Ideas & institutions judged

by their utility

• Believed that utility would lead to reform

• Believed that science could define morality 1748-1832

Bentham Thoughts“Without publicity, no good is permanent; under the auspices of publicity, no evil can continue.”

“Lawyers are the only persons in whom ignorance of the law is not punished.”

“Among the several cloudy appellatives which have been commonly employed as cloaks for misgovernment, there is none more conspicuous in this atmosphere of illusion than the word Order.”

Adam Smith

• Scottish• Economic thinker with

political impact• Believes in Laissez-Faire

and a ‘free-market’ economy – opposed mercantilism

• Rights of owner above rights of worker

• First physiocrat• Favorite philosopher of

conservative politicians

1723-1790

Adam Smith’s grave, Edinburgh

Physiocracy

• developed by a group of 18th century French economists

• wealth of nations was derived solely from the value of "land agriculture“

• emphasis on productive work as the source of national wealth

• At the time the Physiocrats were formulating their ideas, economies were almost entirely agrarian

The Wealth of Nations 1776

“What improves the circumstances of the greater part can never be regarded as an inconveniency to the whole. No society can surely be flourishing and happy, of which the far greater part of the members are poor and miserable.”

“It is the highest impertinence and presumption, therefore, in kings and ministers, to pretend to watch over the economy of private people, and to restrain their expense... They are themselves always, and without any exception, the greatest spendthrifts in the society. Let them look well after their own expense, and they may safely trust private people with theirs. If their own extravagance does not ruin the state, that of their subjects never will.”

The French Contribution

Styles and Terms of Art

• Philosophes - a term for the fashionable thinkers of the era (popularizers).

• Physiocrats – those who believed that natural rights were protected by economic rights.

• Encyclopedists – writers for the most liberal publication of the day.

France – Ripe for Revolt• Population of 19 million (3X that of

England)

• Agricultural conditions were poor – French farms were producing at 12th Century rates. 1/8 of the 20th Century

• Rivalry with England over trade and empire

• Divine Right was maintained and the Church controlled education (thus low rates of literacy)

‘Upper’ French Society

• Led largely frivolous lives at court

• Nearly 600,000 by mid-18th century

• Tax exemptions for the first and second estates

• Controlled major government appointments

• Marriage for convenience and money

No Uniform Law• Unlike England under Blackstone (produces

justification for ‘common law’ – law created by decisions of courts in the late 18th century) or precedents

• Absolutism as a concept negates ‘common law’ because all power resides in the monarch, appears subject to personal whims, but ….

• French monarchy was not absolute – needed approval of Estates General to increase taxes

Madame de Geoffrin

• Married at 14 to a much older/wealthy man

• Hosted two dinners (with her daughter) each week – for thinkers and writers. Mondays (artists); Wednesday (philosophers)

• Would not permit discussion regarding the existence of God

• Mozart, Hume, Walpole, Voltaire

1699-1777

Salon, Madame de Geoffrin

Salon• Place for the exchange of ideas was the salon, a

gathering of the social, political, and cultural elites.• Gathering of stimulating people of quality under the

roof of an inspiring hostess or host, partly to amuse one another and partly to refine their taste and increase their knowledge through conversation and readings.

• Often moderated by women• Writers and thinkers presented new works or

concepts in hopes of finding patrons.

Montesquieu • Married into wealth, thus had time to write

• Spent months in England – praised English ‘constitutional’ monarchy

• Argued against Democracy – saw it as ‘mob rule’– mobocracy

• ‘Common folk’ were moved by emotion rather than reason

• Argued for separation of powers– Power should be a check to power

• Did not believe in absolute equality - opposed rights for women

1689-1755A Catholic who agued that people should think for themselves

Baron de Montesquieu

• Lawyer• Believed political liberty

was crucial to have• Admired the British

system of government• Wrote On the spirit of

the Laws (1748)

The Spirit of Laws1748

“These laws were therefore employed in exactly determining the difference of wrongs, injuries and crimes; to the end that every one might know how far he had been injured or offended, the reparation he was to receive, and especially that he was to receive no more.”

Placed on Church’s Index of Forbidden Books, argued that people who ‘thought’ would be less devoted to religious ritual and more devoted to ‘examining’ morality.

Montesquieu … random concepts• I can assure you that no kingdom has ever had as many civil

wars as the kingdom of Christ• Do you think God will punish them for not practicing a

religion which he did not reveal to them?• Society is the union of men and not the men themselves.• Constant experience shows that every many invested with

power is apt to abuse it, and to carry his authority as far as it will go.

• Religious wars are not caused by the fact that there is more than one religion, but by the spirit of intolerance … the spread of which can only be regarded as the total eclipse of human reason

• Republics end through luxury; monarchies through poverty

Voltaire (Francois Marie Arouet)

• Well-educated, witty, wrote in virtually every form (essay, play, etc.)

• Was arrested for satire against the government

• Lived in England (influenced by Locke); Prussia (tutor to Frederick The Great)

• Argued that French should adopt English customs (both political and social) – supported free trade; religious freedom; civil liberties

1694-1778“If God did not exist, it would have been necessary to create him.”

Voltaire

• “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it”–Why is that

important?

Voltaire statue, Paris

CandideSatirical examination of society

"If this is the best of all possible worlds, what are the others?"

“Men are equal; it is not birth but virtue that makes the difference.”

"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

“But human nature in its pure state is good after all, since these people, instead of eating me, were all sweetness and light the minute they knew I wasn’t a Jesuit.”

Rousseau • Born poor (abandoned at 10), self-taught

• Believed that man was good by nature, but ….

• Society (particularly the arts) corrupts man, but that natural law set man free

• Argues that science and virtue are incompatible

• Describes the invention of ‘private property’ as corruptive

• Driven into exile – first in Switzerland and than England

1712-1778

EmileAttacks Educational Practice

“We never know how to put ourselves in the place of children; we do not enter into their ideas; we lend them ours, and, always following our own reasonings, with chains of truths we heap up only follies and error in their heads.”

“We spend a lot of time trying to figure out the qualities of a good governor. The first quality I would exact of him, and this one alone presupposes many others, is that he not be a man for sale.”

The Social Contract1762

“The strongest is never strong enough always to be master, unless he transforms strength into right, and obedience into duty. “

“Since no man has any natural authority over his fellows, and since force alone bestows no right, all legitimate authority among men must be based on covenants."

“Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains.”

The General Will• Key to Rousseau’s philosophy• Not the will of the majority (fears tyranny of the majority),

but is a separate will that unifies and coordinates society (communist?)

• Demands the unqualified obedience of every individual – no one can do anything without the consent of all.

• All power is transferred to a central authority (to protect freedom/equality and justice). Major decisions result from voting.

• People refusing to comply with the general will can be forced to comply. Protects us from the natural corruption of society.

Rousseau v. Voltaire• Voltaire believed that through education and reason

man could separate himself from the beasts while Rousseau thought that it was precisely all this which made men "unnatural" and corrupted.

• Rousseau was a great lover of mankind as a collective but singularly unable to appreciate or get along with any individual persons who he encountered in his life. On the other hand, Voltaire was not a person you wanted to engage in literary argument. His scorn and ridicule were lethal.

Rousseau sent Voltaire a copy of his The Social Contract and Voltaire wrote him the following: “I have received your new book against the human race, and thank you for it. Never was such a cleverness used in the design of making us all stupid. One longs, in reading your book, to walk on all fours. But as I have lost that habit for more than sixty years, I feel unhappily the impossibility of resuming it.”

A Specific …….

Denis Diderot

• French – disowned by his father for failing to become a lawyer

• A relativist in his philosophy• Editor of the Encyclopedie• Sold library to Catherine II

to pay for daughters’ dowry – then hired by Catherine to serve as her librarian until his death

1713-1784

Relativism • Relativism is the idea that some elements or aspects

of experience or culture are relative to, i.e., dependent on, other elements or aspects.

• Statements considered relativistic include "That's true for you but not for me" "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" • A ‘skeptical’ position that asserts that the truth of a

proposition depends on who interprets it because no moral or cultural consensus can or will be reached

Encyclopedia• Compilation of great thoughts• Self-professed aim was "to change the way people

think." It was hoped that the work would eventually encompass all of human knowledge.

• Diderot explained the goal of the project as "All things must be examined, debated, investigated without exception and without regard for anyone's feelings.“

• 35 volumes, with 71,818 articles, and 3,129 illustrations

The Practical ApplicationEconomics

• François Quesney (1694 – 1774) – surgeon/economist (physiocrat)/ argued for free trade (followed Smith’s Wealth of Nations)

• Mirabeau (1715-1789) – military/political economist – argued that direct taxes on land and personal income would solve French financial crisis (angered farmers)

Enlightened Thought

Elsewhere

Baruch Spinoza1632-1677

• Dutch philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish descent (excommunicated from religion for questioning core Jewish documents) – worked as a lens grinder

• Opposed Descartes in arguing that there was only ‘substance’ and that substance did not depend on anything else (like form) – Rationalist (knowledge is gained through reason/math)

• Contemporary ‘stoic’ – viewed his responsibility as instructing on how to achieve happiness

• Died of silicosis (grinder's asthma, potter's rot)

Spinoza’s Contributions• Pantheism – the belief that god is everything and

everything is god (and that god has complete knowledge …

• The goal of every human is to increase personal knowledge as much as possible …. The more we know the closer we are to god and the more free we are. He turned down lucrative posts (like professorships) to protect his intellectual independence

• Epistemology – the process by which we gain knowledge – perception (affect on us by outside influences; reason (knowledge from understanding); intuition (grasping connections – often using mathematics)

Immanuel Kant • Born in East Prussia• Studied metaphysics (that which exists

outside the physical, such as minds, numbers)

• He linked the Rationalists and the Empiricists (experience gives knowledge) – Critique of Pure Reason

• Attempted to defined the purpose of philosophy – metaphysical (seeking the ultimate nature of reality)

• Believed in human rationalism, and freedom

• Did seek to find answer to God’s existence (argued that there is a practical necessity for belief in God).

1724-1804

Influenced by HumeTaught science and math

Enlightened Despotism

Distinguished from other absolute monarchs by their methods of rule. They ruled by the theory that, as the absolute ruler, they were to efficiently better the lives of the people and the state.

Austria(largely under Joseph II)

• Improvement in religious rights• Centralization of state functions• Creation of a secret police (to assure that his reforms were

accepted)• Most reforms undone by Joseph II’s brother• Sister marries king of France (Marie Antoinette)• Concern that French Revolution could spread

Prussia• Begun by Frederick the Great• Religious freedom, improved education,

simplified laws, civil service, encouragement of immigration

• Society remained stratified• No effective successors• Napoleon destroyed most programs

Russia• Focus on Catherine the Great• Attempted to eliminate serfdom• Peasants revolted for more• Catherine rescinds efforts – serfdom

increases• Focused on foreign policy

The English Experience• Effort to improve the economic and

political influence of the middle and lower classes was successful - eventually

• Parliament will increase its influence over decision making.

Edmund Burke

• Irish• Lawyer turned author turned

British politician (Whig) – Catholic who rejected transubstantiation

• Angered by British treatment of American colonies

• Strong supporter of the principle/practice of constitutional government

• Influenced Kant and contributor to Diderot’s work

1729-1797

In FranceIronically ….

Enlightened Leadership Failed

• Too many tax exemptions

• Poor leadership/no serious effort

• Decisions to change came too late to affect revolutionary movement