AP Euro2007-08

LMHSMontaigne

Outlines for “A History of the Modern World” 9th Edition

Palmer, Colton, and Kramer

Chapter 8: The Age of Enlightenment

8.36 The Philosophes and Others

  1. Introduction
  2. Enlightenment
  3. Europeans felt that they were emerging from a long twilight
  4. The past was regarded as a time of barbarism and darkness
  5. A sense of progress was growing among the educated
  6. Philosophes and enlightened despots
  7. Leading ideas
  8. optimistic beliefs in the advances of reason
  9. science, education, social reform, tolerance, and enlightened government
  10. Foundations of the Enlightenment
  11. Major Pattern of Thought
  12. period lasted through 1700 until French Revolution and Romanticism challenged some of its notions
  13. ideology of Enlightenment varied from country to country
  14. Three Basic Premises
  15. universe is entirely intelligible and governed by nature & not some supernatural force
  16. scientific method can unlock fundamental answer in all areas
  17. education of humanity will infinitely improve
  18. Rejection of Supernaturalism
  19. influenced by Newton’s Laws of Gravity, Enlightenment man saw all nature governed by Universal Laws
  20. rejected revealed religion and saw it as a hindrance
  21. most were Deist
  22. assumed that God existed but once he created the universe no longer took part
  23. God was a “divine clockmaker” who created a perfect timepiece
  24. Confidence in Scientific Method
  25. had deep trust in dispassionate empirical inquiry
  26. aristocrats & others began to dabble with method in all walks of life
  27. Scientific Method Applied to Human Concerns
  28. believed that the human nature as well as the physical world could be understood by S.M.
  29. historians looked for evidence to learn the laws governing the rise and fall of nations
  30. Alexander Pope said in Essay on Man that “the science of human nature may be like all other sciences reduced to a few clear points”
  31. Was a movement to modernity
  32. Ideas continue to shape the world
  33. The Philosophes and Others
  34. Inspired by scientific revolution (especially Locke and Newton)
  35. The Spirit of Progress and Improvement
  36. Enlightenment carried popularized the philosophy of natural law and of natural right
  37. Extremely skeptical of tradition, confident in human reason and science ant that was harmony in nature
  38. Faith in progress
  39. A nonreligious faith that the conditions of human life become better as time goes on
  40. each generation is better off than its predecessors
  41. the labor of each generation will contribute to a better life for the next generation
  42. eventurally a ll mankind will share in this advance
  43. Ancients and Moderns
  44. Ancients: French academics (of Louis XIV) believed that the work of the Greeks and Romans had never been surpassed
  45. Moderns: the modern age was the best because it built on the work of the past
  46. God
  47. Perceptions of God in Christendom were changing
  48. people ceased to fear the devil and even God
  49. thought of God less as a Father more as a First Cause
  50. less the God of Love more the inconceivably intelligent creator
  51. symbol of Deism (religion of the Enlightened) the Watchmaker as an almighty intelligence thought divine
  52. New perspectives do not go unchallenged
  53. Still a religious time
  54. Congregations first sang Adeste Fideles (Oh Come All Ye Faithful)
  55. Pietism movement sturred in Germanay which stressed inner spiritual experience of ordinary person and quest for an inner light of the soul
  56. John Wesley and Methodism
  57. member of the Anglican Church, student at Oxford
  58. started prayer, meditation, good works group
  59. gave food, clothing, education to poor
  60. preached to huge crowds in open fields
  61. tried to keep Methodist movement in the Anglican Church but separated
  62. Whitfield in the Americas
  63. preached to huge crowds in America (Philly)
  64. Democratizing effect by challenging established religious authorities and stressing individual worth
  65. Great Awakening and “enthusiasm”
  66. Splinter movements
  67. J.C Lavater and physiognomy:
  68. a Swiss pastor believed that reading the character of a person by examining their facial expressions
  69. Austrian Physician F.A. Mesmer:
  70. Held séances, touched people with wands
  71. animal magnetism and hypnosis
  72. Freemasonry: secret society, rituals
  73. usually held Enlightenment views, reason, progress, toleration
  74. suspicious because they met in secrecy
  75. this isn’t characteristic of the philosophes
  76. Illuminati: more radical offshoot
  77. The Philosophes
  78. French for philosopher
  79. used to denote a group of writer who were not philosophers (metaphysical sense)
  80. Were social, literary writers, critics, who discussed matters with each other
  81. The Reading Public
  82. Greatly expanded audience
  83. Literacy rates 47 % men, 27 women
  84. Novels, newspapers, literary journals, dictionaries, encyclopedias sought
  85. Audience appreciated wit, lightness of touch, subtlety
  86. Style became more fluent, clear, exact
  87. To be philosophical
  88. Approach any subject in a critical and inquiring spirit
  89. Through their writings they spread the ideas of the Enlightenment
  90. Writers independent of aristocratic patrons
  91. (grub-street writers) Freelances that wrote for the public
  92. Public opinion emerges as a kind of critical tribunal
  93. Censorship
  94. Not much practiced in England
  95. Spain was heavily censored
  96. France was censored but not much enforced
  97. forbidden to criticize church or state
  98. abstract and general criticism was the result
  99. sly, innuendo, double meanings were used to make their points
  100. wrote of the customs of Persians, Iroquois (not French)
  101. Paris
  102. Epicenter of the enlightenment
  103. Salon
  104. held in the townhouses of the wealthy
  105. usually conducted by women
  106. Facilitated the exchange of ideas
  107. Promoted the “Republic of Letters”
  108. authors could introduce new works and engage in lively conversation among of ‘rock stars’
  109. Encyclopedie
  110. edited by Denis Diderot
  111. 17 volumes (1751-1772)
  112. a compendium of scientific, technical, and historical knowledge
  113. strong undertone of criticism of existing society
  114. distinguished list of contributors: the Encyclopedists (Volataire, Monstesquieu, Roussear, d’Alembert, etc.
  115. Diderot (1713-1784) and the Encyclopedia
  116. attacked religion and superstition
  117. had a materialistic philosophy
  118. helped author and edit Encyclopedia
  119. a summation and means of diffusing the most recent knowledge in science, philosophy, and technology
  120. articles written by leading philosophes
  121. meant to be read through and not used as a reference (like modern encyclopedia)
  122. knowledge would alleviate human misery
  123. dedicated to the proposition that all traditions must be examined it directly challenged the Church
  124. cross reference on Eucharist told reader to see cannibalism
  125. helped spread Enlightenment ideas throughout Europe
  126. considered a positive force for progress
  127. 25 thou sold before Rev.
  128. Outside Paris
  129. Frederick the Great: author, satirist, and pragmatist considered himself a philosphe
  130. Catherine the Great
  131. Maria Theresa (not a Philosophe, too religious) son Joseph was
  132. David Hume in England
  133. Edward Gibbon: Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
  1. Montequieu, Voltaire, and Rousseau
  2. Montesquieu
  3. Wealthy background
  4. Montesquieu’s Spirit of Laws
  5. baron de Mostesquieu (1689-1755)
  6. wrote Spirit in 1748 & looked at the way environments and religious traditions influenced governments
  7. climate and geographic conditions affected human behavior and therefore government
  8. Two central principles in “The Spirit of Laws”
  9. forms of government varied according to climate and circumstances
  10. empires worked in hot climates
  11. democracy worked in small city-states
  12. in spite of environmental handicaps gov. can imitate English system
  13. Separate and balanced powers (executive, judicial, legislative)
  14. Prevented arbitrary power by having a system of checks and balances
  15. separation and balance of powers
  16. First, second, and third estate
  17. Church, Nobility, everyone else
  18. Balance of powers by dividing the jobs of government
  19. Executive, legislative, and judicial
  20. Part of the noble resurgence that began about 1715
  21. Nobility would be the most powerful
  22. he is technically a reactionary, favoring a scheme that antedated XIV
  23. Feudal liberties
  24. Voltaire (Francois Marie Arouet) (1694-1778)
  25. Bourgeois background
  26. Promoted enlightened despotism
  27. believed in a strong state
  28. liberty for the enlightened
  29. religious toleration
  30. keep the Church in check
  31. freedom of the press
  32. use science to benefit the state
  33. greatest of the philosophes
  34. championed English empiricism in France
  35. was exiled to England for insulting a French nobleman he returned a convert to Bacon, Newton, & Locke
  36. made French thinkers more practical, less theoretical
  37. 1st to present a purely secular conception of world history
  38. began with ancient China (not a Christian framework)
  39. represented Christianity as a social phenomenon
  40. politically not a liberal or democrat
  41. low opinion of humanity
  42. if gov was enlightened he didn’t care how powerful it was
  43. must fight against sloth, stupidity, keep clergy in place, freedom of religion, speech
  44. but be had no developed political theory
  45. kind of enlightened despotism
  46. Voltaire’s Social Views
  47. ardent spokesman for civil liberties
  48. “Crush Infamy” (Ecrasez l’infame) he called for the eradication of all forms of repression, fanaticism, and bigotry
  49. “the individual who persecutes another because he is not of the same opinion is nothing less than a monster”
  50. “I do not agree with a word you are saying, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
  51. Hated religious bigotry the most
  52. Felt constitutional monarchy of England was best form of gov.
  53. “It is forbidden to kill therefore all murders are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.”
  54. Candide (1759)
  55. a satire story written shortly after the Lisbon earthquake of 1755 in which 20, 000 died for no apparent reason
  56. he rejects unquestioned optimism
  57. Candide is lulled into false security that he is in the “best of all possible worlds” by his tutor, Dr. Pangloss and journeys throughout the world & has one misfortune after another
  58. storms, earthquakes, and uncontrollable human emotion were only absent in “Eldorado”
  59. a land that has no priests, law courts, or prisons but $ and a place of sciences and math
  60. this was a rip on idea of perfectibility
  61. Candide gets bored in Eldorado (being a restless mortal) and leaves
  62. Learns one lesson as he settles down on a modest farm with his once beautiful wife
  63. As Pangloss says “this is the best of all possible worlds” Candide shrugs and says maybe but we must tend our garden
  64. ie. Life is not perfect but human will succeed if they stop theorizing and start doingenlightened leaders should be able to do what ever they believe is good for their state
  65. Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)
  66. Poor background, from Geneva
  67. Promoted the idea of the “noble savage”
  68. civilization was the source of corruption and only in a natural state could man live an uncorrupted existence
  69. sometimes considered an outsider who quarreled with other philosphes
  70. painfully maladjusted, couldn’t trust anyone, condemned cultural influence of French women (salons)
  71. concerned with reforming society, diffusing useful knowledge, freedom
  72. despised privilege & believed that just and moral society could be created by crushing repressive governments
  73. placed trust in nature (almost religiously) as opposed to reason
  74. considered the forerunner of the French Revolution, Romanticism, and totalitarianism (debatable)
  75. had greatest influence on education and political theory
  76. The Social Contract (1762)
  77. Not a contract between a ruler and the ruled
  78. An agreement among the people
  79. Individuals surrendered their natural liberty to each other
  80. This fused into the General Will
  81. Rulings of the General Will were final and all agreed to accept them
  82. The general will was the sovereign
  83. Kings, officials, representatives were delegates of a sovereign people
  84. Created a state in which all persons had a sense of membership
  85. complimented Emile in creating a moral society
  86. said in the state of nature “man is born free”
  87. institution of private property led to owners creating instruments of repression (laws, police, slavery)
  88. Origin of Inequality Among Men (1753)
  89. called for government of “general will”
  90. supreme authority would lay in hands of people who would act in collective assemblies (not representative republics)
  91. people would be the legislators, executors, and judges
  92. would transform society into something more than the sum of its parts
  93. individual would become moral and would surrender his rights to the collective general will since it would express their own will
  94. those who resist would be “forced to be free”
  95. ideals of Social Contract were espoused in French Revolution slogan, “liberty, equality, and fraternity”
  96. liberty and equality sound democratic
  97. fraternity (individual surrendering to the masses) sounds totalitarian
  98. Foreshadows democracy and nationalism
  99. Makes the psychology of a city-state applicable to large territory
  100. Modern humanitarianism – equity
  101. Rousseau’s Emile (1762)
  102. source of progressive education
  103. maxim that first impulses of nature are always right
  104. insisted that children are not miniature adults
  105. drilling and discipline not proper for them
  106. should learn by doing (experience)
  107. book learning postponed until adolescence since books “teach us only to talk about things we do not know”
  108. reason is last thing to develop and it is pointless to teach child to reason
  109. education should create moral and useful citizens
  110. women belong at home serving men
  111. written as a “how to” in which Rousseau takes an imaginary boy (orphan) and raises him to adulthood
  112. ironically he himself had 5 children with illiterate (Therese Levasseur) and deposited all at an orphanage
  113. Condorcet and Faith in Progress
  114. marquis de Condorcet (1743-1794)
  115. considered the last of the philosophes b/c his work was cut short by the Revolution
  116. mathematician but known most for his belief in progress
  117. thinkers of the 1600s regarded themselves modern and intellectually superior to the ancients
  118. Outline of the Progress of the Human Mind (1794) attested that the moderns were more advanced and unlimited progress lay ahead
  119. predicted healthier society in which “moment will come…when tyrants and slaves will exist only in history or on the stage”
  120. Ironically he would be killed during the Terror
  121. Edward Gibbon (1737-1794)
  122. historian who wrote Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776-1788)
  123. covers Roman and Byzantine history from Augustine to fall of Constantinople (1453)
  124. says Empire was brought down by barbarian invasions, and Chrisitanity
  125. Christianity was worst calamity b/c “the servile and pusillanimous reign of the moks debased and vitiated the faculties of the mind”
  126. David Hume (1711-1776)
  127. an extreme skeptic who wrote An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1748)
  128. believed all human knowledge come through the senses and not reason “nothing is in intellect which was not first in sense”
  129. no way to know what is really true
  130. if we no nothing for sure then there can no exist absolute moral laws
  131. yet he still wanted to “Crush infamy” of stupidity, Christianity, and ignorance” because a sea of uncertainty was preferable to a forest of supernatural shadows
  132. Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794)
  133. a Milanese jurist who wrote On Crimes and Punishments (1764)
  134. questioned the view that punishment represent the vengeance of society
  135. said that punishment should serve as a deterrent and that leniency was best deterrent
  136. opposed the death penalty
  137. book translated into 12 languages and most European countries abolished torture (1800) and reserved death penalty for capital crimes, adopted imprisonment rather than maiming
  138. Gotthold Lessing (1729-1781)
  139. literary critic and dramatist who wrote Nathan the Wise (1779)
  140. showed that character has no relation to religious affiliation
  141. maintained that each of world’s religions was an evolution leading towards pure rationality
  142. his hero was modeled after his friend,
  143. Moses Mendelssohn (1729-1786)
  144. Urged tolerance of religions
  145. Wrote a history of Judaism
  146. Believed in the immortality of the soul
  147. Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
  148. lived away from philosophes in Prussian city of Konigsberg
  149. wrote The Critique of Pure Reason (1781) and The Critique of Practical Reason (1788) to criticize skepticism of Hume
  150. like Plato he ascribed that the existence of an absolute reality of “things in themselves” exists even though we can’t sense it
  151. Idealist of the 19th century would take his lead
  152. said that although knowledge begins in the senses our rational minds must order it together
  153. he called it “phenomena”
  154. combination of sense and reason will help humans inquire and improve nature
  155. although the existence of God can’t be proven through pure reason, practical reason says that there exists a moral perfection we should strive for
  1. Political Economists
  2. Physiocrats or economists(an slightly insulting term)
  3. Promoted laissez-faire (let them do as they see fit) attitude toward business activity
  4. opposed guilds
  5. A strong government should facilitate business activity
  6. Adam Smith (1723-1790)
  7. wrote Wealth of Nations (1776)
  8. opposed mercantilism (system in which gov. interfered in economic process)
  9. said it was unnecessary to have an empire to be wealthy
  10. gov. purpose should be limited to defense, internal security, give fair laws
  11. innovations would come from private persons, not the state
  12. proponent of free trade, free market
  13. if their was a shortage of a good, price would rise and stimulate producers to make more and attract new persons into that business
  14. if there was an excess, capital and labor would leave and go into other businesses
  15. each nations should use its comparative advantage (climate, environment, resources) in certain spheres of production
  16. said individuals should be allowed to pursue their own self-interests without interference from the state
  17. termed “laissez-faire” from French expression “laissez-faire la nature” (let nature run its course)
  18. believed that like the law of gravity keeps planets in orbit the “invisible hand” of free market and competitive forces will balance out wealth for all
  19. thought himself a champion of the poor but his system would ironically be used to exploit the poor
  20. increase national wealth by reducing barriers
  21. attacked mercantilism
  22. limit the functions of government to defense, security, reasonable laws, and fair courts
  23. Promoted the free market
  24. Natural laws of supply and demand
  25. Maximum of freedom and abundance would be achieved
  26. Required the mutual interaction of the enlightened self-interest of millions of people
  27. The invisible hand would result in the highest welfare of all
  28. Main Currents of Enlightenment Thought
  29. Most philosophes