I. Introduction

A. The Calas Case and Voltaire (1762)1. Intolerance and ignorance

2. Fanaticism and infamy

B. Enlightenment concerns1. The danger of unchecked and arbitrary authority

2. The value of religious toleration

3. The importance of law, reason and human dignity

II. The Foundations of the Enlightenment

A. An 18th century phenomenon

B. Basic characteristics1. The power of human reason

2. Self-confidence

3. Newtonian methods had wide application

4. “Dare to know!” (Kant)

5. Reason needed autonomy and freedom

6. The “Holy Trinity”: Bacon, Newton and Locke

a. Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690)

i. Education and environment

ii. Sense perception and the tabula rasa

iii. The goodness and perfectibility of humanity

iv. Moral improvement and social progress

II. The Foundations of the Enlightenment (cont’d)

B. Basic characteristics (cont’d)7. The organization of knowledge

a. The scientific method

b. Collected evidence on the rise and fall of nations

c. Compared government constitutions

8. The “cultural project” of the Enlightenment

a. Practical, applied knowledge

b. Spreading knowledge and free public discussion

c. “To change the common way of thinking” (Diderot)

d. Writing for a larger audience

e. Academies sponsored prize essay contests

f. The expansion of literacy

g. The first “public sphere”

II. The Foundations of the Enlightenment (cont’d)

B. Basic characteristics (cont’d)9. Criticism and satire

a. Irreverence toward custom and tradition

b. Belief in human perfectibility and progress

c. The relationship between nature and culture

III. The World of the Philosophes

A. The philosophe1. A free thinker unhampered by the constraints of religion or

dogma in any form

2. Voltaire (born François Marie Arouet, 1694-1778)

a. The personification of the Enlightenment

b. Life

i. Educated by Jesuits

ii. Spent time in the Bastille for libel

iii. Temporary exile in England

iv. Great admirer and popularizer of all things English (especially Newton and Locke)

III. The World of the Philosophes (cont’d)

A. The philosophe2. Voltaire (born François Marie Arouet, 1694-1778) (cont’d)

d. Écrasez l'infâme – “crush infamy” (all forms of repression, fanaticism and bigotry)

i. Loathed religious bigotry

ii. Did not oppose religion – sought to rescue morality from narrow dogma

iii. Common sense and simplicity

iv. Contacts with Frederick of Prussia and Catherine the Great

III. The World of the Philosophes (cont’d)

B. Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755)1. Life

a. Born of a noble family, inherited an estate

b. Served as magistrate in the Parlement of Bordeaux

c. A cautious jurist

d. The Persian Letters (1721)

i. Series of letters between two Persian visitors to France

ii. Likened French absolutism to Persian despotism

iii. Thinly veiled criticism of France

III. The World of the Philosophes (cont’d)

B. Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) (cont’d)2. The Spirit of the Laws (1748)

a. A work in comparative historical sociology

b. Newtonian in its empirical approach

c. How do structures and institutions shape laws?

d. Different forms of government – what spirit characterized them?

i. Republic – virtue

ii. Monarchy – honor

iii. Despotism – fear

e. Spelled out the dangerous drift toward despotism in France

f. Admired the British system of separate and balanced powers

g. Checks and balances

III. The World of the Philosophes (cont’d)

C. Diderot and the Encyclopedia1. A vast compendium of human knowledge

2. Grandest statement of the philosophes’ goals

3. Scientific analysis applied to human reason – happiness and progress

4. Guided by Denis Diderot (1713-1784) and Jean d’Alembert (1717-1783)

5. 17 large volumes of text, 11 volumes of illustrations (1751-1772)

a. Purpose was to change the general way of thinking

b. Demonstrating how the application of science could promote progress

c. Heavy circulation despite the high price

d. Government revoked permission to publish for trying to “propagate materialism” (1759)

IV. Internationalization of Enlightenment Themes (cont’d)

B. Enlightenment themes: humanitarianism and toleration (cont’d)

2. Religious toleration

a. End religious warfare and the persecution of heretics and religious minorities

b. Few philosophes were atheists (materialists)

c. Most were deists – God as “divine clockmaker”

d. Most philosophes viewed Judaism and Islam as backwards

e. Gotthold Lessing (1729-1781)

i. Treated Jews sympathetically

ii. Nathan the Wise (1779)

iii. Three great monotheistic religions are three versions of the same truth

IV. Internationalization of Enlightenment Themes (cont’d)

B. Economics, government, and administration1. Rising states and empires made economic issues important

2. The French Physiocrats

a. Mercantilist policies were misguided

b. Real wealth comes from land and agricultural production; advocated a simplified tax system

c. Laissez-faire – wealth and goods to circulate without government interference

IV. Internationalization of Enlightenment Themes (cont’d)

C. Economics, government, and administration (cont’d)3. Adam Smith (1723-1790)

a. Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776)

i. Disagreed with the centrality of agriculture

ii. Central issue was the productivity of human labor

iii. Mercantile restrictions did not create real economic health

iv. The “invisible hand” of the marketplace

v. Rational individuals should pursue their interests rationally

vi. The stages of economic growth

vii. Following the “obvious and simple system of natural liberty”

V. Empire and Enlightenment

A. The economics of empire and the profitability of colonies1. New world of natural humanity and simplicity

2. The slave trade and humanitarianism, individual rights and natural law

B. Abbé Guillaume Thomas Francois Raynal1. Philosophical History . . . of Europeans in the Two Indies (1770)

a. A total history of colonization, natural history, exploration and commerce

b. Industry and trade bring improvement and progress

c. Condemned the Spanish in Mexico and Peru, the Portuguese in Brazil, the English in North America

d. A good government required checks and balances

e. The problem? – Europeans in the New World had unlimited power

V. Empire and Enlightenment (cont’d)

C. Slavery and the Atlantic world1. Atlantic slave trade hits its peak in the 18th century

2. For Raynal and Diderot, slavery defied natural law and natural freedom

3. A condemnation of slavery in a metaphorical sense

4. Slavery as a violation of self-government

5. Few philosophes advocated the total abolition of slavery

V. Empire and Enlightenment (cont’d)

D. Exploration and the Pacific world1. Mapping the Pacific and scientific missions

2. Louis-Anne de Bougainville (1729-1811)

a. Sent by the French government to the South Pacific (1767)

b. Looked for a new route to China and new spices

c. Described Tahiti

3. Captain James Cook (1728-1779)

a. Two trips to the South Pacific

b. Charted coasts of New Zealand, New Holland, New Hebrides and Hawaii

c. Explored the Antarctic continent, the Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean

4. Travel accounts of these voyages read by a large audience eager for such information

V. Empire and Enlightenment (cont’d)

E. The impact of the scientific missions1. The 18th century fascinated by stories of new cultures

2. Diderot, Supplément au Voyage de Bougainville (1772)

a. Tahitians as original human beings

b. Humanity in its natural state

c. Uninhibited sexuality and freedom from religious dogma

d. Simplicity v. over-civilized Europeans

3. Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859)

a. Spent five years in Spanish America

b. Personal Narratives of Travels (1814-1819)

c. Toward Darwin and evolutionary change

VI. The Radical Enlightenment

A. How revolutionary was the Enlightenment?

B. The world of Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)1. General observations

2. Quarreled with and contradicted other philosophes

3. Attacked privilege and believed in the goodness of humanity

4. Introduced the notion of sensibility (the “cult of feeling”)

5. The first to speak of popular sovereignty and democracy

6. The most utopia of the philosophes

VI. The Radical Enlightenment (cont’d)

C. The Social Contract (1762)1. “Man was born free, and everywhere he is in chains”

2. The origins of government

3. The legitimacy of government

4. Social inequality and private property

5. Legitimate authority arises from the people alone

a. Sovereignty should not be divided among different branches of the government

b. Exercising sovereignty transformed the nation

c. The national community would be united by the “general will”   

i. Citizens bound by mutual obligation rather than coercive laws

ii. Citizens' common interests represented in the whole

VI. The Radical Enlightenment (cont’d)

D. Emile (1762)1. Story of a boy educated in the “school of nature”

2. Children should not be forced to reason early in life

3. The aim was moral autonomy and good citizenship

4. Women useful as mothers and wives only

5. “Natural” is better, more simple, uncorrupted

VI. The Radical Enlightenment (cont’d)

F. The world of Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797)1. Rousseau’s sharpest critic

2. A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792)

a. Republican ideas

b. Spoke against inequality and artificial distinctions of rank, birth or wealth

c. Society ought to seek “the perfection of our nature and capability of happiness”

d. Women had the same innate capacity for reason and self-government

e. Virtue the same thing for men and women

f. Relations between the sexes ought to be based on equality

VI. The Radical Enlightenment (cont’d)

F. The world of Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) (cont’d)3. The family

a. The legal inequalities of marriage law

b. Women “educated” to be dependent and seductive in order to win husbands

c. Education has to promote liberty and self-reliance

d. The common humanity of men and women

e. The natural division of labor between men and women

f. Hinted that women might have political rights

VII. The Enlightenment and Eighteenth Century Culture

A. The Book Trade1. The expansion of printing and “print culture”

2. An international and clandestine book trade

3. Growth of daily newspapers

4. British press was relatively free of restrictions

5. Censorship only made books more expensive

6. “Philosophical books” – subversive literature of all kinds

7. The 18th century “literary underground”

B. High culture, new elites and the “public sphere”1. Networks of readers and new forms of sociability and

discussion

2. Elite or high culture was small but cosmopolitan

3. Joined together members of the nobility and wealthy members of the middle classes

VII. The Enlightenment and Eighteenth Century Culture (cont’d)

B. High culture, new elites and the “public sphere” (cont’d)4. “Learned societies”

a. American Philosophical Society (Philadelphia)

b. Select Society of Edinburgh

c. Organized intellectual life outside universities

d. Provided libraries, meeting places for discussion, published journals

5. Elites also met in Academies

a. Royal Society of London

b. French Academy of Literature

c. Berlin Royal Academy

d. Fostered a sense of common purpose and seriousness

VII. The Enlightenment and Eighteenth Century Culture (cont’d)

C. Salons1. Organized by well-connected and learned aristocratic women2. Brought together men and women of letters with members of

the aristocracy3. Located in all major cities4. Other societies

a. Masonic Lodgesb. Secret society with elaborate ritualsc. Egalitariand. Pledged themselves to rational thought in all human affairse. Coffee housesf. Aided the circulation of new ideas

VII. The Enlightenment and Eighteenth Century Culture (cont’d)

D. The “public sphere” and “public opinion”1. The ability to think and criticize freely

2. Effect on politics – moving politics beyond the court

E. Middle-class culture and reading1. Shopkeepers, small merchants, lawyers and professionals – a

different reading public

2. Bought and borrowed books

3. Targeted middle class women

4. Popularized Enlightenment treatises on education and the mind

VII. The Enlightenment and Eighteenth Century Culture (cont’d)

E. Middle-class culture and reading (cont’d)5. Popularity of the novel

a. Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) – Moll Flanders and Robinson Crusoe

b. Henry Fielding (1707-1754) – Tom Jones

c. Jane Austen (1775-1817) – Pride and Prejudice and Emma

VII. The Enlightenment and Eighteenth Century Culture (cont’d)

F. Popular culture: urban and rural1. Literacy

a. Varied by gender, class, and location

b. Greater literacy in northern Europe

c. Ran high in towns and cities

2. Broadsides, woodcuts, prints, drawings, cartoons

3. The availability of new reading material

4. The “blue books” – inexpensive, small paperbacks

a. Traditional popular literature

b. Short catechisms

c. Tales of miracles

d. The lives of saints

VII. The Enlightenment and Eighteenth Century Culture (cont’d)

F. Popular culture: urban and rural (cont’d)5. Networks of sociability

a. Guild organizations offered discussion and companionship

b. Street theatre and singers

c. Market days and village festivals

d. Oral and literate cultures overlapped

6. The philosophes and popular culture

a. The Enlightenment was an urban phenomenon

b. Looked at popular culture with distrust and ignorance

VII. The Enlightenment and Eighteenth Century Culture (cont’d)

G. Eighteenth-century music1. The last phase of the Baroque

2. Bach and Handel

a. Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

i. Remained a German provincial his entire life

ii. A church musician at Leipzig

iii. Supplied music for Sunday and holiday services

iv. An ardent Protestant, unaffected by the secularism of the Enlightenment

b. George Frederick Handel (1685-1759)

i. Public-pleasing cosmopolitan

ii. Established himself in London

iii. The oratorio – musical drama to be performed in concert

iv. The Messiah

VII. The Enlightenment and Eighteenth Century Culture (cont’d)

G. Eighteenth-century music (cont’d)3. Hayden and Mozart

a. The “classical style”

b. Imitating classical principles of order, clarity and symmetry

c. The string quartet and the symphony

d. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

i. Began composing at age four, a keyboard virtuoso at 6

ii. Wrote his first symphony at age nine

iii. Attracted attention across Europe

iv. Freemasonry

v. Died relatively poor

vi. The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute

VII. The Enlightenment and Eighteenth Century Culture (cont’d)

G. Eighteenth-century music (cont’d)3. Hayden and Mozart (cont’d)

e. Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)i. Spent his life with a wealthy Austro-Hungarian familyii. Moved to London – commercial market for cultureiii. The “father of the symphony”

4. Operaa. A 17th century creation

i. Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)ii. combined music with theatre

VII. The Enlightenment and Eighteenth Century Culture (cont’d)

G. Eighteenth-century music (cont’d)5. Aristocratic and court patronage

VIII. Conclusion

A. Science as a form of knowledge

B. Raising problems to public awareness

C. The “language” of the Enlightenment