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Age of the Enlightenment
“Sapere aude!”
“Dare to know! Have the courage to use your
own intelligence”
Words of Immanuel Kant
“Human ignorance is not caused by the
lack of intelligence but from the “lack of
determination and courage to use that
intelligence without another’s guidance.”
Age of the Enlightenment
The Renaissance may have opened the door to reason but
had neither the courage nor the power to oppose the
medieval concept of faith instead of reason.
The leaders of the Enlightenment had that courage and
power - Descartes in mathematics, Mozart in music,
Rembrant in painting, and Locke and Rousseau in politics.
Revolution was in the air
Age of Scientific Revolution
Summary
The Scientific Revolution & the
Enlightenment challenged and
changed the way people thought
about the world.
th
18 Century Politics
► BRITAIN – Constitutional Monarchy
► FRANCE  Royal Absolutism
(cultural and religious unity)
► PRUSSIA, HABSBURG EMPIRE,
RUSSIA  “Enlightened Despotism”
► OTTOMAN EMPIRE – traditional
empire
Enlightenment Thinkers
Philosophers influenced by Scientific
Revolution
 By using the Scientific Method and reason
they hoped to figure out ways to improve
conditions for people.

Rene Descartes
1596-1650
I think
therefore
I am!
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sums up
Enlightenment
philosophy PEOPLE
MUST RELY ON
THEIR OWN
REASON TO
UNDERSTAND LIFE
AND THE NATURAL
ORDER - AND
EVERYTHING MUST
BE JUDGED BY
ASKING WHAT IS
HUMANLY
REASONABLE
Religion’s Purpose Changes

As people use more and more of their
reason to understand situations then they
will need the creator less and less

God might be useful for one's personal life
but for science, politics, and gov't, human
reason alone will suffice
Voltaire
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
1700s defender
of human rights
& reform

his world imposed
arrest and torture upon
those citizens who
expressed opinions
that stood in
opposition to the
prevailing religious,
social, and political
views
Wait until you hear his story!
Voltaire 1700s
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He was a good Catholic who felt
God was a conscious intelligence
that designed the world (that was
enough for censure from the
Roman Catholic Church; it was
heresy)
 Church said horrendous
earthquake in 1755 was God's
judgement on the French people

“9-11 was God’s
punishment on
us because of
all the
homosexuals”
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Jerry Falwell
Voltaire
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
Voltaire's anti Catholicism
reached pinnacle after Huguenot
Jean Calas was tortured and
executed in 1762
Calas, falsely convicted of having killed his son to prevent him from
converting to Catholicism, was tortured by the Catholic authorities in hopes he
would confess
 he was subjected to the question ordinaire: his arms and legs were
stretched until they were pulled from their sockets. When he did not confess
(his son committed suicide)
 he was subjected to the question extraordinaire: fifteen pints of water
poured down his throat. Calas continued to claim innocence. 15 more pints
added, swelling his body to twice normal size
Executioner then broke each of his limbs in two places and finally strangled
him to death. His corpse was burned at the stake.

Voltaire
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
Voltaire believed passionately in the
need to reform society and to reform
the church but he found he could not
influence the king of France nor the
church authorities so ....he turned to
the common people, becoming THE
LEADING DEFENDER OF HUMAN
RIGHTS AND THE NEED TO
CHANGE SOCIETY
he flooded Europe with political pamphlets, novels, poems, etc.
he criticized the Bible and organized religion which he thought was used to
crush any new ideas and used to continue erroneous beliefs in superstition
Voltaire
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Though it might seem easy, today, to criticize such a
passionate emphasis on reason, remember that
Voltaire's society tortured people who went against
the accepted norm. WOULD YOU BE WILLING TO
PAY THAT PRICE TO CHANGE SOCIETY IN WAYS
YOU DEEM NECESSARY?
Voltaire’s “Wisdom” (I)
► Every man is guilty of all the good he
didn’t do.
► God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to
laugh.
► If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent
him.
► It is dangerous to be right when the
government is wrong.
► Love truth and pardon error.
Voltaire’s “Wisdom” (II)
► Judge of a man by his questions rather than by his answers.
► Men are equal; it is not birth, but virtue
that makes the difference.
► Prejudice is opinion without judgment.
► The way to become boring is to say
everything.
► I may not agree with what you have to say,but I will defend
to the death your right to say it.
Hobbes
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Hobbes 1600s
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So Voltaire dismantled superstitions of
society there still was no organizing principle to replace old
ideas
 Hobbes will introduce THE ORGANIZING PRINCIPLE of
THE SOCIAL CONTRACT (He had developed these theories 100 years

earlier than Voltaire but now…)


SOCIAL CONTRACT says that individual people give up
some of their freedoms/liberties in exchange for the
protection and benefits of the group
Crucial because according to this contract good and evil
are no longer considered in absolute terms, right and
wrong are simply determined by the collective decision
Rousseau 1700s


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French speaking Swiss, friend
of Voltaire's
His argument: The
Enlightenment's emphasis on
reason and science had
caused people to lose more
freedom than they gain
His belief: people should
have absolute freedom freedom not just from culture
but from authority of any kind
...this means that for
Rousseau - the individual
became the center of the
universe
Rousseau 1700s

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The impact/result:
Rousseau rejects the JudeoChristian concept of original
sin and argued humans are
born innocent and pure - it is
society that corrupts.
Conclusion individual freedom only secure if there was a "general will" obedience to the general will was suppose to be instinctive through cultural
engineering - this way people would have peer pressure to do the right thing and
treat everyone equal
Rousseau’s Philosophy (I)
 Virtue exists in the ”state of nature,” but lost in
“society.”
 Government must preserve “virtue” and ”liberty.”
 Man is born free, yet everywhere he is in chains.
 The concept of the ”Noble Savage.”
 Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.
 Civil liberty  invest ALL rights and liberties
into a society.
Rousseau’s Philosophy (II)
► Question Does progress in the arts and sciences
correspond with progress in morality?
NO! progress, they move away from morality.
 As civilizations
 Civilization itself leads away from true fundamentals.
 Technology and art create false desires.
Rousseau’s Philosophy (III)
► Concept of the “General Will.”
 Only those who make their own laws are free.
 Virtuous citizens will agree, become one.
V Not merely a consensus or the majority.
 A discussion among the virtuous will yield unity.
V Dissenters are “forced to be free.”
V General Will = law + freedom!
But What Does It All Mean?
What is the Big Picture?
Enlightenment philosophy = eventually
eliminated the need for supernatural
beings (oh, poor Gilgamesh) and divine
commands (oh, poor Crusaders) while at
the same time implicitly eliminating the
clear distinctions between humans and
other living organisms.
 A dehumanization of people has begun

Fantastic Book

I found this clear understanding in this
great book by John W. Whitehead Grasping for Wind - check it out
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The Characteristics of the Enlightenment
1. Rationalism  reason is the arbiter of all things.
2. Scientific Method
 Mathematical analysis
 Experimentation
 Inductive reasoning.
3. Utilitarianism  the greatest good for the greatest number.
4. Tolerance  No opinion is worth burning your neighbor for.
John Locke’s Philosophy (II)
► There are certain natural rights that are endowed
by God to all human beings.
 life, liberty, property!
► The doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings was
nonsense.
► He favored a republic as the best form of
government.
The Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755)
► Persian Letters,
1721
► On the Spirit of
Laws, 1758
Montesquieu’s Philosophy
►
Three types of government:
 Monarchy.
 Republic.
 Despotism.
 Freedom for the individual is the goal
 To achieve this, gov’t needs constitution to
guarantee the safety and security of the
individual
 A separation of political powers ensured
freedom and liberty
“Inspiring!”
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Mary Wollstonecraft
1759-1797
British
 1st Feminist Philosopher
 A Vindication for the Rights of
Women

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 she argues that women are not naturally
inferior to men, but appear to be only
because they lack education. She suggests
that both men and women should be treated
as rational beings and imagines a social order
founded on reason.
Denis Diderot
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1713-1784
French
Wrote the Encyclopedia
show the dependence of men's ideas
on their five senses.
The work sought to bring together all
knowledge of the time and condense
this information for all to use. Using
not only the expertise of scholars and
Academies in their respective fields
but that of the common man in their
proficiencies in their trades.

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An
encyclopedia would give the layman
an ability to reason and use knowledge to
better themselves; allowing for upward
mobility and increased intellectual
abundance amongst the lower class. A
growth of knowledge amongst this segment
of society would provide power to this
group and a yearning to question the
government
Thomas Paine (1737-1809)
►
Common Sense, 1776
►
The Rights of Man, 1791
►
It is right for man to revolt against
an improper gov’t
►
Man’s rights are eternal and
unchanging!
Enlightenment Thinkers
 During
most of the Enlightenment, the gov’ts of
Europe believed that a nation holding the most
resources was the richest state. Each gov’t tried to
control as many raw materials, cheap skilled
workers, and factories – this is called mercantilism.
They believed there was a set amount of money in
the world that could be divided among the nations.
Enlightenment Thinkers


In 1776 Adam Smith wrote Wealth of Nations where he
introduced a new idea where the gov’t did not control the
economy. He believed in an economic system where the
“invisible hand of self interest” – or laissez faire controlled the
mov’t of resources.
Wealth is not a fixed amount of goods to be kept locked up
but an open system of using existing resources to their fullest
and to make the most products to sell to the most people with
as little gov’t control as possible.
Enlightenment Thinkers

Adam Smith created idea of laissez-faire
economics.
When it comes to the economy then gov’t
should do nothing.
 Natural forces of economy - supply and
demand - should work freely.

 Ex:
gov’t should protect people from invasion by
enemy but not from poverty.
The American “Philosophes”
John Adams
(1745-1826)
Ben Franklin
(1706-1790)
Thomas
Jefferson
(1743-1826)
…...…life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness…………...
James Madison
1751-1838


Jefferson’s friend and neighbor
Wrote Constitution of Virginia 1776, Leader of
Virginian Assembly to the Continental
Congress., Member of Constitutional
Convention- Father of the Constitution,
Secretary of State, 4th President.
Thomas Jefferson
1743-1825


Farmer (unsuccessful), Lawyer, Congressman, Governor,
Ambassador, Secretary of State, V.P. and 3rd President,
Wrote the most famous 36 words in history.. We hold these truths to be
self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with
certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
— That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just
powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government
becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to
institute new Government

Wished to be remembered for:
1.
Declaration of Independence
2.
Religious Freedom
3.
University of Virginia
Age of Scientific Revolution
Summary
The Scientific Revolution & the
Enlightenment challenged and
changed the way people thought
about the world.