2-2: The Enlightenment

The Enlightenment

What is the Enlightenment?
• A philosophical movement
• Started in France
• Leaders = philosophes
– Writers, professors, journalists reformers
• Inspired by the scientific revolution
• Heroes: Isaac Newton; John Locke

Rationalism, based on the teachings of the ancient Greeks, became the main philosophical method of the Enlightenment.

The Scientific Revolution
The scientific method is a systematic way to carry out research.
Use of the scientific method led to many great discoveries.

Nicolaus Copernicus discovered that the Earth moves around the Sun.
The physician Vesalius dissected corpses to study basic human anatomy. He is now known as the "Father of Modern Anatomy."
The astronomer Galileo Galilei improved the telescope and supported the findings of Copernicus.

Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton was a physicist, mathematician, astronomer, alchemist, and philosopher.
Using intensive experimental methods, Newton discovered the three laws of motion and the universal law of gravitation.

Newton’s work is considered the backbone of modern mechanics.

The Enlightenment
Salons
In 18th-century France, salons were places for Enlightenment thinkers to come together and discuss new ideas. They were hosted by women known as salonnières.
Salon is the French word for drawing room.

The Philosophes
The philosophes were a group of 18th-century intellectuals.
They promoted reason, knowledge and education as the way to overcome superstition and ignorance.
Many of the philosophes wrote plays, novels, and reference books to avoid open confrontation with the church.
Natural Rights
Thomas Paine believed that governments do not give people rights, but that people are born with natural rights, some of which they voluntarily give up to governments.

Thomas Jefferson included the natural rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in the Declaration of Independence.

Thomas Hobbes also believed that if people want to live peacefully they have to give up some natural rights.

John Locke thought that the three most important natural rights are life, liberty, and property.

Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes published Leviathan in 1651.
Hobbes wrote that without government, human life would be "nasty, brutish, and short."
To escape this, humanity accepts a social contract with an authority to ensure peace and protection.

John Locke
Theory of the social contract
Theory of toleration
Belief that all men are created free and equal
Belief in the separation of church and state
Empiricism: using experience to find truth
John Locke’s ideas directly influenced the French, American, and Latin American revolutions.
His ideas can be found in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States.

Voltaire
• Middle class Frenchman
• Wrote all kinds of documents
• Thrown in prison & exiled
• Inspired by the English freedoms
• He opposed the Catholic Church because they supported absolutism
• Wrote Treatise on Toleration
• Was a deist – god make the world & left it alone to run, like a clock

Montesquieu
• A French noble
• Wrote Spirit of the Laws about government
• 3 basic governments:
– Republics for small states
– Monarchies for med states
– Despotism for large states
• England was an ideal monarchy
• Believed in separation of powers – dividing up government between branches so 1 group/person can’t take control
• This created a system of checks & balances
• Used in the development of the American government

Rousseau
• Poor Frenchman
• Wrote Discourse on the Origins of the Inequality of Mankind – people made laws to protect their stuff
• Social Contract – a society makes an agreement to be governed by the general will of the people
• He wrote Emile about education – it should foster kids’ natural instincts
• Looked for a balance between emotion & reason

Adam Smith
• An English economist
• Believed in laissez-faire = letting the people do what they want
– Gov’t shouldn’t interfere in the economy
– It should just control: army, public works, & police

Cesare Becerra
• Wrote On Crimes and Punishments
• thought that harsh punishment didn’t stop crime
• Against capital punishment

Denis Diderot
• Wrote a 28 volume encyclopedia, on everything he could think of
• It took him from 1751 to 1772

Mary Wollstonecraft
• Leader of the movement for women’s rights
• Wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Women
• thought it was stupid that people thought that the kings shouldn’t have total power over people thought that men should have total power over women
• Believed that the Enlightenment was based on human reason, and since women were human, they should have equal rights

Newspapers & Literacy
• During this period, literacy (the ability to read) goes up
• This is due to the wider availability of reading materials
• The first newspaper was printed in London in 1702
• Magazines were another new product
• Both were cheap, some papers were free

Enlightenment in America
• Colonists were exposed to Enlightenment writings from England
• Thomas Jefferson & James Madison were influenced by Locke’s ideas
• The Declaration of Independence is heavily influenced by Locke