The Enlightenment

The Age of Reason18th century

Probably the most famous and certainly the most severe of a series of works which extolled the antique virtues of stoicism, masculinity and patriotism.

David, Jacques-LouisThe Oath of the Horatii 1784

Neo-Classical Painting• Art was now supposed to move a person's

deepest feelings and teach virtue - not cater to wasteful living. Artists and critics believed that it should once again serve the nation and be good for the people, just as it had for the ancient Greeks and Romans. Classical art had depicted serious subjects in a serious way, and so late eighteenth century artists and architects deliberately began imitating Roman and Greek art. Their work became known as Neoclassicism, a new imitation of classicism that was nevertheless conscious for the first time that Roman art was one style among many different styles in history.

RococoAn l8th century style, principally associated with the decorative arts, deriving its name from the French, rocaille, meaning 'rock work'. The name was first used in the early 19th century as a pejorative term, denoting the frivolous over-elaboration which contemporary critics considered the salient feature of the style. Rococo evolved in France from, and as a reaction against, the formal and somewhat ponderous style centred on the court of Louis XIV at Versailles. Following Louis XIV's death in 1715 the court moved to Paris and Rococo reflected the new taste for lighter, more delicate decoration suitable for the smaller, more comfortable and intimate interiors of town houses. Interiors and furnishings alike were decorated with abstract 's' curves and 'c' scrolls combined with naturalistic motifs derived from shells and plants, often in a playfully asymmetrical arrangement. The paintings of Watteau, Boucher and Fragonard, with their playful eroticism, soft colours and elegant forms, provided a perfectly attuned accompaniment to the interiors for which they were intended.

John Locke 1632-1704 Essay Concerning

Human Understanding 1690

Second Treatise on Government 1690

Essay Concerning Human Understanding Tabula Rasa

At birth every human beings mind is a blank page, and that all knowledge comes from experience

Locke repudiated the view that human beings were born with a tendency to submit to authority

Second Treatise on Government Social-Contract theory Government was created to protect mans

natural rights of life liberty and property When the government fails to protect

these rights the people have a right to rebel

The thinkers of the enlightenment accepted Locke’s doctrine of the natural rights of human beings.

What’s going on? Bach composes St. Matthew

Passion 1729 Handel’s Messiah has its first

performance 1742 Mozart’s Opera the Marriage of

Figaro is first performed

Philosophes Many of the leaders of the enlightenment were

French Philosophes were critics of the old regime who

developed new ideas about government, economics, religion and advanced proposals for the improvement of the human condition and the reform of society.

Philosophes shared the enlightenments faith in the supremacy of human reason.

Reason could be used to reveal the natural laws that regulated human affairs.

Philosophes believed in the progress of human beings and society toward a more perfect condition.

Voltaire 1694-1778 Critic of the Old

Regime Reformer not a

revolutionary Age of Louis XIV

written in 1743 Candide 1759

Satirical tale, attacked superstition, religious persecution, and war.

Letters on the English 1733 While in England Voltaire was attracted to the

philosophy of John Locke and ideas of Sir Isaac Newton. He studied England's constitutional monarchy, its religious tolerance, its philosophical rationalism and most importantly the natural sciences. Voltaire also greatly admired English religious tolerance and freedom of speech, and saw these as necessary prerequisites for social and political progress. He saw England as a useful model for what he considered to be a backward France,

Voltaire “I may not agree with what you say, but

I will fight to the death for your right to say it”

Ecrasez L’infame “crush the infamous thing”

The best one could hope for in government was a good monarch because “human beings are rarely capable of ruling themselves”

Deism Voltaire believed in a distant God A great clock maker who built an orderly

universe and then stepped aside to let it run

Seen by the philosophes as a more natural and rational approach to religion

God was the first cause, he was not involved in the daily lives of humans and did not respond to prayer

Jean Jacques Rousseau 1712-1778

Emile 1762 Social Contract

1762

Rousseau Believed that people living in a

state of nature had once been virtuous, free, equal and happy.

People had been corrupted by civilization.

What they needed therefore was a natural education, free of the corruption and artificiality of society

Emile 1762 Rousseau set forth his ideas on

education in Emile. The story has two heroes; Rousseau

the teacher and Emile the pupil. Emile learned by direct experience

rather than from books, he was not forced to read at a young age nor was he subjected to severe discipline.

Social Contract “All men are born free, but

everywhere they are in chains”. Although government restricted

individual freedom, it was a necessary evil

The General Will- reflects the common interests of all the people and is sovereign

Baron de Montesquieu1689-1755

The Persian Letters 1721

The Spirit of the Laws 1748

The Persian Letters Social satire, criticized existing

practices and beliefs in France. Done through the view of travelers

from Persia.

The Spirit of the Laws As a member of the French nobility

Montesquieu was dismayed that royal absolutism had triumphed in France

He argued that Despotism could be avoided if political power was divided and shared by a variety of classes and legal orders

He admired greatly the English model of balance of power with its King, Parliament and independent courts

He believed that the high courts in France, the Parlements, would aid against the development of absolutism

Denis Diderot 1713-1784 Encyclopedia Edited by Diderot

and Jean d’Alembert

Wanted the Encyclopedia to change the genral way of thinking

Francois Quesnay 1694-1774

Physiocrat Laissez-Faire Rejected

Mercantilism Land is value, not

gold Trade should not

be limited

Adam Smith 1723-1790 Scottish Economist Wrote “Wealth of

Nations” 1776 Attacked

Mercantilism People should pursue

own economic self-interest without government interference

Baron d’Holbach System of Nature 1770 Human beings are machines

completely determined by outside forces

Free will, God and immortality of the Soul were foolish myths

Aggressive atheism turned off Deists such as Voltaire

David Hume The human mind is really nothing but

a bundle of impressions Since our ideas reflect our sense

experiences, our reason cannot tell us anything about questions that cannot be verified by sense experience

Existence of God, origin of the Universe

Marquis de Condorcet Progress of the Human Mind 1793