The enlightenment

1. If it is now asked, "Do we presently live in
an enlightened age?" the answer is,
"No, but we do live in an
AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT."
- “What is Enlightenment?”
Immanuel Kant, 1784

2. The Enlightenment
• Philosophical counterpart to the
Scientific Revolution
• Mid-1700s centered in France but
through Europe and to Americas
• Influenced the American
Revolution (1775-1783) which in
turn influenced the French
Revolution (1789-1815)

3. Newtonian Cosmology
• Newton’s mechanical clock-
like model of the universe
led scientists to believe all
things in Nature behave in a
rational, predictable manner
that could be explained
mathematically.
• If reason explained Nature,
Enlightenment philosophers
believed it could also explain
human nature.

4. Enlightenment is man's emergence
from his self-imposed immaturity
[which is the] inability to use one's
understanding without guidance
from another.
- “What is Enlightenment?”
Immanuel Kant, 1784

5. Enlightenment philosophers, called philosophes, believed humanity could be
changed for the better through never-ending progress guided by human reason.
Philosophes
• studied the social contract
• identified natural rights
• questioned social inequality
• espoused egalitarianism
• wanted reformed government
• desired legal equality and fair justice
• promoted science
• sought human progress through education
• encouraged religious tolerance

6. • Enlightenment  new political, religious, and economic theories
• Scientific principles were applied to resolving social problems and organizing
social institutions.
• Political theorists questioned belief in the divine right of kings and
challenged political authorities with new theories based on the natural
rights of man and the right to rule coming from the consent of the
governed.
• Theories of natural religion and religious toleration challenged religious
establishments.
• Economists questioned state-controlled mercantilism and argued for free
market capitalism.

7. Literate Public
• The Enlightenment was possible because of increased literacy.
• Printing  widely available texts on religion, history, science, and literature
• 1600s: Over 500,000 books published
• 1605: First newspaper published
• 1663: First literary periodical published
• 1700s: Nearly one million books published
• Political censorship was widespread, especially in France. Sweden (1766) and
Denmark-Norway (1770) were first to guarantee freedom of the press.

8. Literate Public
• Increased literacy  public opinion
• General public = educated elites
• The people = illiterate masses
Above:
High class aristocratic public
Left:
Low-class masses of people

10. “Must Read” Books of the Time

11. Dare to know! "Have courage to
use your own understanding!"--
that is the motto of
enlightenment.
- “What is Enlightenment?”
Immanuel Kant, 1784

12. Enlightenment Institutions
• Salons were polite social gatherings hosted by women to share and discuss
ideas including the proper social role of women. Madame Geoffrin and
Madame Necker hosted salons.
Madame Geoffrin’s SalonMadame Geoffrin (1699-1777)

13. Enlightenment Institutions
• Salons were polite social
gatherings hosted by
women to share and
discuss ideas including the
proper social role of
women.
Salon in Paris
Mademoiselle Julie de
Lespinasse (1732-1776)
Madame Suzanne
Necker (1739-1794)

14. Enlightenment Institutions
• Coffeehouses in England
were centers of stimulating
political discussion “where
you have the right to read
all the papers for and
against the government.”

15. Enlightenment Institutions
• Coffeehouses in England
were centers of stimulating
political discussion “where
you have the right to read
all the papers for and
against the government.”

16. Enlightenment Institutions
• Academies of art, literature,
language, science, military
proliferated

17. Zoology & Biology
A dissection at the Royal Academy, London.

18. Chemistry Labs & Botany Gardens

19. Natural History Collections
► Cocoa plant
drawing.
► Sir Hans
Sloane
(1660-1753).
► Collected from
Jamaica.

20. Natural History Collections
James Petiver’s Beetles
(London apothecary)

21. Private Collections
The Origins of Modern Museums

22. Enlightenment Institutions
• Lending libraries disseminated knowledge

23. Nothing is required for this
enlightenment, however, except
freedom; and the freedom in question is
the least harmful of all, namely, the
freedom to use reason publicly in all
matters.
- “What is Enlightenment?”
Immanuel Kant, 1784

24. The Social Contract - Thomas Hobbes
• Leviathan (1651): State of nature before
formation of human societies was
"continual fear and violent death" and
"solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."
• Defended absolutism but opposed divine
right.
• The state receives absolute sovereignty
from social contract rather than God.
• Individuals surrender personal liberty to
the state in return for collective security.

25. The Social Contract - Thomas Hobbes
• Leviathan (1651) reflected the results of the
English Civil War (1642-1651) by opposing
divine right but defending absolutism.
• King Charles I, defender of divine right, was
succeeded by the republican Commonwealth
which acted as a military dictatorship under
Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell.
• The state receives absolute sovereignty
from the social contract of individuals
surrendering rights in exchange for security.

26. The Social Contract - John Locke
• Two Treatises of Government (1689):
Humanity is a natural tabula rasa (blank
slate) whose good or bad behavior mirrors
its treatment.
• State sovereignty is received from the
consent of the governed.
• Individual rights are not surrendered in the
social contract.

27. The Social Contract - John Locke
• The role of the state is preservation of
natural rights to life, liberty, and estate
(private property).
• If the state fails, citizens are entitled to
revolt.

28. The Social Contract - John Locke
• Reflects results of English Glorious Revolution
(1688) in which Catholic King James II was
overthrown at behest of Protestant
Parliamentary leaders. William III and Mary II
then signed the English Bill of Rights (1689)
limiting monarchial power and guaranteeing
individual rights.
• Heavily influenced the American Declaration
of Independence.

29. The Social Contract - Jean-Jacques Rousseau
• The Social Contract (1762): Argues for small,
direct democracies in which state authority is
derived from popular sovereignty and reflects the
general will of the people.
• Rousseau advocated education to develop
character and moral virtue through the use of
reason.

30. The Social Contract - Jean-Jacques Rousseau
• Rousseau heavily influenced Jacobin phase of French Revolution, and later,
totalitarian regimes that claimed to represent the general will, including the
German Nazis and Soviet Communists.

31. The Free Market
• Adam Smith’s Wealth
of Nations (1776) was
anti-mercantilism
manifesto.
• Smith argued for
laissez-faire free
market capitalism
guided by an “invisible
hand” and value-
added wealth
creation.

32. Natural Religion
• British John Toland developed Deism which rejected Christian revelation and
used reason and observation to support the existence of a divine being in
Christianity Not Mysterious (1694).

33. Natural Religion
• Matthias Knutzen published first atheist pamphlets (1673).
• Baron d'Holbach wrote the atheist Christianity Unveiled (1766) and System of
Nature (1770).

34. Natural Religion
• John Wesley founded
Methodism (1738) emphasizing
missionary service and rejecting
the limited salvation of
Calvinism.

35. Natural Religion
• Pierre Bayle was skeptical of many
philosophies and called for religious
toleration in Historical and Critical
Dictionary (1697).

36. Religious Toleration
• The Dutch tolerated Jews, Catholics,
others for sake of commerce.
• “No opinion is worth burning your
neighbor for.” – Voltaire
• Revolutionary France emancipated
Jews (1791) granting equality and
citizenship.

37. Baron de Montesquieu
• Critiqued French society, Christian
practices in Persian Letters (1721).
• Spirit of the Laws (1748) called for
constitutional government with
separation of executive, legislative,
judicial powers and due process of law
including fair trial, presumption of
innocence; freedom of thought, speech,
and assembly; and an end to slavery.
• Heavily influenced the US Constitution.

38. Denis Diderot and Jean-Baptiste d’Alembert
• Edited Encyclopédie (1751-72) promoting
Enlightenment thought by rationally organizing
all knowledge as branches of History,
Philosophy, or Poetry.

39. Pages from Diderot’s Encyclopedie

40. Pages from Diderot’s Encyclopedie

41. Pages from Diderot’s Encyclopedie

42. Voltaire
• Prolific author of Candide (1759), used satire to critique the Catholic Church,
justice systems, slavery, war, and ignorance.
• Advocated freedom of expression and religious toleration.

43. Voltaire’s “Wisdom”
► “ 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. ”
► “ 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. ”

45. Jean-Jacques Rousseau
• Saw uneven distribution of private property as
source of all Inequality (1755).
• Criticized progress unchecked by civic morality
and duty. Decried decedent, corrupt civilization
and praised noble savages.

46. Jean-Jacques Rousseau
• Emile, or On Education (1762) explored the
character and moral development necessary to
be virtuous in an imperfect society.
• The Social Contract (1762) argues state
authority is derived from popular sovereignty
and should reflect the general will of the
people.
• Heavily influenced the French Revolution.

47. Cesare Beccaria
• Condemned torture and the death penalty in On Crimes and Punishments
(1764).

48. Political Role of Women
• Olympe de Gouges wrote Declaration of the Rights of Woman (1791) after
failure of French Revolution to address gender equality.

49. Political Role of Women
• Mary Wollstonecraft penned the early feminist treatise A Vindication of the
Rights of Women (1792) arguing for equal rights, education.