Section 7.34

New Knowledge of Human Beings

and Society

Introduction• Reciprocal diffusion and

acculturation between Europe and the world that was being explored

• Indian societies of America• African native societies• Ancient Asian societies• New Medicines, diseases,

foods, manufactures, and wealth were redefining Europe

• Europe was undermining old cultures

• Caused Europeans to look at themselves

The Current of Skepticism & the Birth of Relativism• Exposure to divers cultures

causes Europe to question traditions and values

• Made it harder to believe in the absolute rightness of one culture

• Cultural relativism– Montaigne wrote about

cannibal cultures and asked “who are we to judge?

• In 1684 a delegation of aristocratic Siamese came to Paris

– said that if God wanted everyone to become Christian he would have willed it

• Jesuits and the noble savages– observed that Turks shave their heads &

grow beards but noted their natural goodness and mental alertness

• all beliefs are relative to time and place• Pierre Bayle (1647-1706) used skepticism

to challenge traditional beliefs– Wrote Thought on the Comet in

response to the passing of Halley’s Comet appearance in 1682

– Said that there is no basis for superstitious belief that comet predicted supernatural omens of future events

• Historical and Critical Dictionary• questioned lore and what is called truth is

often mere opinion and that people are gullible

• No opinion was worth burning your neighbor for

The Current of Skepticism & the Birth of Relativism

The New Sense of Evidence• Europeans didn’t just want to

know what was false, wanted understanding

• A way of telling true from false

– Evidence is that which allows the believe of a thing to be true or truer

– Came to idea that believing without evidence is the sign of primitive or irrational thinking

– Requiring evidence is a way to be scientific

• Changes in the application of the law– Previously people held that the

worst the crime the less evidence required to protect society

– Late 17th English judges made to use same rule of evidence in all form of accusation

– Hearsay is ruled out in court proceedings

• Helps end witchcraft frenzy– Confessions achieved by torture

are inadmissible– Even confessions of willing

persons often came from demented old women

The New Sense of Evidence

History and Historical Scholarship• Modern critical scholarship also

developed with an emphasis on evidence

• History disengaged itself from legend and wishful thinking

• Was often distrusted b/c it was not mathematical, historians were snobs

• French Benedictine monk Jean Mabillon

– 1681 wrote On Diplomatics– established the science of paleography or

dating and authentication of manuscripts– archives and collections in Abbeys and

manor houses

• Chronology• Archbishop James Usher,

Anglican prelate studied the Bible and said creation of world occurred 4004 BC– Questioned by scholars who noted

age of China• Dating civilization• Common dating system aids

thinking of human history as an interconnected whole

• Facilitated globalization– Need a uniform way of

specifying days and years to transact international affairs…

History and Historical Scholarship

The Questioning of Traditional Beliefs• Movement of historical thought threw

doubt on much of the Christian religion

• Richard Simon

• A French priest in 1678 published book Critical History of the Old Testament and said Catholicism rested on medieval manuscripts, not too much on Bible

• he was condemned by Louis XIV and Pope

• some of unknown or doubtful origin

• manuscripts thought to be written by Moses disproved

• monkish copyists had brought in errors and corruptions

Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677)

• Lens grinder and Jew form Amsterdam

• denied inspiration of Bible, miracles, all revelation and revealed religion

• gov. of the day weren’t really just

• “God has no existence apart from the world”

• Name becomes a byword for impiety and unbelief

John Locke’s Psychology and Human Perfectibility• most believed that human conduct could be

perfected• John Locke (1632-1704) • Essay Concerning Human Understanding

(1690) he rejected that ideas are innate and said knowledge comes from the senses

• Mind is a blank slate (tabula rasa) until infant experiences things

• Environment determines everything• With the right education all humans could be

equal and evil may be eradicated• True knowledge is derived from experience• false or bad ideas are the result of a bad

environment• improvement of the environment would lead

to improvement of humans• gives confidence to the concept of social

progress• gives support to the idea that government can

be the agent of social progress