The Enlightenment Stressed That Reason Could Cure Mankind of All Past Injustices

The Enlightenment

The Role of Reason

• The Enlightenment stressed that Reason could cure mankind of all past injustices.

• In such a new world a perfect society was almost insured.

• Through reason man could discover the Natural Laws that regulated society.

• Once that is done man can reach Progress that would guarantee human betterment.

The Intellectuals and the Enlightenment

• The intellectuals who adopted this position were called Philosophes.

• Not all of them were French.

• Few were Philosophers in the strict sense of the term.

• The philosophes were social critics, publicists, political scientists, economists, and social reformers.

The Age of Optimism

• This was the work of Alexander Pope who believed that it was the best of all possible worlds.

• Not everyone agreed.

• Once such person was Voltaire.

• Voltaire did this in a satire called Candide.

• While others agreed with Voltaire, for the most part, the age was overly optimistic.

Concerns of the Philosophes

• They attacked laws, institutions, and practices.

• Everything that they considered to be unreasonable or unnatural. • The Philosophes believed that the people had the capability to make the changes that would make life better.

• Their view of the future was bright.

A Practical Example

• The American Revolution was a model.

• Particularly The Declaration of Independence.

• The Declaration stressed “The Pursuit of Happiness” was a fundamental human right.

• Which was on par with “Life and Liberty.”

• The view people could possibly obtain them was revolutionary.

• This was a clear departure from the Middle Ages.

Descartes

Early Background to the Enlightenment

• The key players in this were Descartes, Bacon, Locke, and Newton.

• Of these men, Descartes at first is important.

• He sought to find a universal mathematical formula that would explain everything.

Descartes Methodological Principles

• Systematic Doubt.

• Logical analysis.

• Strict progression of synthesis.

• Careful review of procedures.

• And Conclusion.

• He wanted to use mathematics as a language of universal precision.

The World of Isaac Newton (1642-1727) • Newton is important for his work in:

• Optics

• Light

• Gravity

• and Mathematics

• But more important was he work on the Social Order of the Universe

Newton’s Important Work

• Newton’s Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy was published in Latin in 1687.

• He should the whole universe worked according to fixed laws.

• Those laws were Natural Laws.

• He saw the world as a great mechanical work of God.

• Soon people thought this was better than Revelation.

John Locke (1632-1704)

• He wrote a treatise on the defense of England’s Glorious Revolution of 1688.

• This was called Two Treatises of Government in 1690.

• In the Second Treatise he noted men are free, equal, and independent.

• People submit to government because they find it convenient.

• Not because of a divine right of the monarchy.

• People make a compact or contract with the government to be governed.

Locke Challenges Tradition

• He denied that people submit to authority from birth.

• In his Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690). • Locke believed that the newborn mind was tabula Rasa, a blank slate.

• In other words, environment and reason were more important than heredity and faith.

The Result of Locke’s Work

• Locke paved the way for a critical examination of the Old Regime.

• Consequently the men of the enlightenment grasped for what they called “The Newtonian World Machine.”

The Dark Side: A Question of Hobbes

• Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) had a different view.

• He believed that man was driven to government by the fear of extinction.

• He supports absolute monarchy.

• His main work was the Leviathan (1651).

The New Thinking Supports the Philosophes

• Technological advances were supported by the public faith in natural law and progress.

• The Philosophes cheered each and every new advance in scientific research.

Advances in Biology

• A key player was Linnaeus (1707-78).

• He demonstrated the natural laws in family relationships.

• He classified every known plant and animal and classified them by species.

• He placed species in a genus and then into a class.

Work in Chemistry

• Two important figures were Joseph Black (1728-88) and Lavoisier (1743-94).

• Lavoisier studied gasses and introduced the term oxygen.

• Lavoisier also discovered that water is composed of both hydrogen and oxygen. • Lavoisier believed that all substances were composed of a relatively small number of basic elements.

• That number was 23.

Astronomy

• One important person was Laplace (1749-1827).

• He was called “The Newton of France.”

• He worked on celestial mechanics and explained the movement of the solar system in as a series of mathematical formulas and theorems.

Physics

• An significant American was Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790).

• He demonstrated that lightening and electricity were one and the same.

• His experiment with a kite in a thunderstorm drew worldwide attention.

• He even visited Versailles.

The Impact on the Philosophes

• Almost everybody in the 18th Century who thought they were somebody tried an experiment.

• Voltaire was serious about Chemistry.

• Montesquieu studied Physics.

• Many European countries had a Royal Society to promote knowledge.

• Soon this fanned out into the countryside.

The Internationalization of Knowledge

• The scholars or philosophes paid little attention with national borders.

• Even in wartime they corresponded with each other.

• In other words, it was business as usual. The Cosmopolitan World of the Eighteenth Century Thinkers

• The roots of the movement were found in France and England.

• Soon it spread to Scotland, Germany, Italy, Spain, and even the New World.

• But more importantly, it demonstrated French domination of the cultural scene.

Thomas Jefferson on France

The Importance of Speaking French

What Made France So Important?

• French was the mode of communication.

• The Salons of Paris help spread the ideas of the Enlightenment.

• The Encyclopedie served as a tool to spread the ideas of the movement.

• French was the language of diplomacy too.

The Encyclopedie

• It was edited by Denis Diderot (1713-84).

• First published in 1751.

• Included articles by Montesquieu, Rouseau, Voltaire, Turgot, Candorcet, and Quesnay.

• Not everyone liked it, including Louis XV, the Printers, and the Church.

• Louis XV’s mistress, Madame de Pompadour managed to get it in print.