The Enlightenment

o Religion faith, not rational

o Rational Analysis of Classical Society
o Protestant and Scientific Revolution lead to Enlightenment
Printing press allows people to read Bible
Challenge R.C.C through ration and evidence
o Enlightenment thinkers sought natural laws that governed human society in the same
way that Newton's laws governed the universe
o John Locke:
All human knowledge comes from sense perceptions
All people are naturally good (natural rights)
Authority comes from consent of governed
o Adam Smith
Laws of supply and demand determine price
o Montesquieu
Political Science to argue for political liberty
Separation of Powers
Wrote The Spirit of the Laws
o Center of Enlightenment was France
Leads to French Revolution
o Voltaire (1694-1678)
Atheist, Deism, Strong opinions, Ration, Logic, Free will, Freedom of
Speech, Does not believe women are functioning human beings, Will
fight to the death to defend rights
o Hobbes
People are brutish, rude and nasty
Government helps keep people in line (fear the government)
o Popular Sovereignty
Democracy
People run the government
No Mandate of Heaven or Divine Right
Individual Freedom
o Philosophes
Wanted to make king responsible to the people they governed
Natural Rights
Likes to examine bad kings
o Conservative Ideology
Things are good the way they are (Dont want to change)
o Liberal Ideology
Want great change
o Enlightenment ideas do not spread naturally but through Revolutions and social
reform
o Marie Gouze (Olympe de Gouges)
Wrote Declaration of the Rights of Women and Female Citizen
(France)
Wanted women to have more rights
Challenged male authority
Killed 1793
Helped spread Enlightenment ideals of freedom, equality and popular
sovereignty
Encouraged Nationalism
o Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
Wrote essay in 1784, realizing great change was happening
Freedom is to publically show and use reason
Dare to know (women too)
The only way to escape from self-caused immaturity is to question
authority and to be educated
Believes it is age of Enlightenment and Frederick the Great
o Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-97)- A Vindication of the Rights of Women
Sharply reasoned attack against the oppression of women and
educational change
Uses emotion to get what she wants
Mixes logic and emotion
Viewed as an irrational woman (Wrote as MW)
Stated that democracy would still leave out half the people
Free Love
Letter to British author (Hard for women to publish)
Education Salvation of Women
Being good mothers and husbands
Chasity should be universal
Half the population doesnt know Enlightenment ideals
Uses Bible
Reflects Enlightenment ideals
Life, Liberty, Property, Happiness
Women are questioning authority
o Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-78)- The Social Contract (1762)
Pure, free, happy
Laid foundation for Romantic Era
Supports Popular Sovereignty
State of Nature to Civil State [We need to adapt and accept (EX-King
rules) or social contract fails]
Agreement to a general will which is what the majority desires and
should be carried out by government
Raises question: If we have popular sovereignty, do we need liberty?
 More Information
The Enlightenment - 18th century
Intellectual movement in Europe
Started out from the new discoveries of the Scientific Revolution
Accepted knowledge based on observation, logic, and reason; scientific and academic thought
should be secular
Salon: gatherings for aristocrats to discuss new theories and ideas
Philosophes: French Enlightenment thinkers who attended the salons
The Encyclopdie
Achievement of the philosophes
Denis Diderot
Banned by the Catholic Church
Jean-Jacque Rousseau
Philosophized on the nature of society and government
Social Contract: benefits with obligations; mutual protection and defense
Thomas Hobbes
Rational analysis to the study of government
Supported a strong monarchy
Believed that humans were driven by passion and needed to be kept in check by a powerful
ruler
Without government, peoples lives would be solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short
John Locke - influenced Americas founding fathers
State of Nature: environment makes a person
Tabula rusa = clean slate; nurture, not nature
Treatises of Government
No authoritarian government
Government should protect property/happiness
Baron de Montesquieu - influenced America's founding fathers
French noble and political philosopher
The Spirit of the Laws
Separation of powers; checks and balances
Constitutional monarchy
Voltaire
Most famous philosophe
Attacked the relics of the medieval social order
Championed social, political, and religious tolerance
Enlightened Despots
Catherine the Great
Peter the Great
Joseph ll