Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Right of revolution wikipedia , lookup
Atheism during the Age of Enlightenment wikipedia , lookup
Scientific Revolution wikipedia , lookup
Reflections on the Revolution in France wikipedia , lookup
Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism wikipedia , lookup
Scottish Enlightenment wikipedia , lookup
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! QuickTime™ and a decompressor are needed to see this picture. 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 QuickTime™ and a decompressor are needed to see this picture. 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 QuickTime™ and a decompressor are needed to see this picture. 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” QuickTime™ and a decompressor are needed to see this picture. Jerry Falwell Voltaire QuickTime™ and a decompressor are needed to see this picture. 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 QuickTime™ and a decompressor are needed to see this picture. 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 QuickTime™ and a decompressor are needed to see this picture. 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 QuickTime™ and a decompressor are needed to see this picture. QuickTime™ and a decompressor are needed to see this picture. Hobbes 1600s QuickTime™ and a decompressor are needed to see this picture. 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 QuickTime™ and a decompressor are needed to see this picture. 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 QuickTime™ and a decompressor are needed to see this picture. 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 QuickTime™ and a decompressor are needed to see this picture. 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!” Quic kTime™ and a dec ompres sor are needed to see this pic ture. Mary Wollstonecraft 1759-1797 British 1st Feminist Philosopher A Vindication for the Rights of Women QuickTime™ and a decompressor are needed to see this picture. 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 QuickTime™ and a decompressor are needed to see this picture. 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. QuickTime™ and a decompressor are needed to see this picture. 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.