EN - A New Understanding. (Lesson)

A New Understanding.

The Enlightenment period was, in many ways, an extension of the Scientific Revolution as the heart of the movement was the application of the ideas of mechanicism, mathematical calculations, and natural law to human societies and relationships. This obsession is in large part a response to the era which came before, the Age of Absolutism.

Absolutism in France (the geographic center of the movement) was at its most extreme due to the policies and influences of Louis XIV. It was there that the king's power was not questioned as the aristocracy had been reduced to being a class without power. By the 18th century, there was a wide range of noble positions not only in France, but throughout Europe. At the top were the richest of the King's subjects whose wealth was based on the ownership of millions of acres of land. A byproduct of the land ownership was the aristocratic control of millions of peasants who resided and worked the land. Although the concept of serfdom was dead by the 18th century, these peasants (particularly in France, the central and eastern European countries) were dependent on the aristocratic benevolence for the use of their land. These nobles lived in opulent surroundings with the quest for entertainment as a central part of their lives. Music became a passion for this class as chamber music and operas became popular (the string quartet made its first appearance). Joseph Haydn became the father of the modern symphony. Another important form of entertainment, particularly in France, were the salons. During these social gatherings aristocratic men and women spread the ideals of the Enlightenment through this entertainment process.

On the other end of the aristocratic scale were the "barefoot" nobility who were so poor, they could not afford the price of shoes. These nobles lived by modest means not far from the lower classes. The very nature of absolutism promoted the search for "another way" as it was clear to the philosophes that, in effect, the old adage "power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely" was correct, making a complete restructuring of society necessary from politics to social class to religion.

One of the great minds of the age François-Marie Arouet, more commonly known as Voltaire, worked to stamp out what he saw as the corruption of the system. His weapon of choice was satire and he was deadly as no one could wield a pen as effectively as Voltaire. In 1734, he wrote the Philosophical Letters Concerning The English Nation. In this work, he made a name for himself as a satirical writer and popular participant in the Parisian salons. In his work, Voltaire promoted the English system as far superior to the French. Voltaire noted that unlike the French, the British practiced religious toleration valuing their people for merits rather than birth. The British stood apart in their constitution that limited the power of the kings. In Britain, unlike France, the middle class, artists, authors, scientists, academics among others were highly celebrated and prized. To prove his point, Voltaire compared the Catholic persecution of Rene Descartes to the British celebration of Sir Isaac Newton. As a result, Voltaire's book was banned and an arrest warrant was issued. This action was the catalyst for the development of a counterculture that will continue to get stronger and spread as time passed. The most influential work of Voltaire was Candide, a satire that exposed the hypocrisy and prejudices of the period.

Voltaire's greatest crusade was against the concept of organized religion. He had witnessed first hand the misery that had been perpetuated in its name and urged his readers to "crush the infamous thing." Voltaire, as all Enlightened philosophes, was a firm believer in the principles of natural law and mathematical calculations (the very essence of Enlightenment thought). In keeping with that focus, Voltaire, as with most philosophes, deism was the religious belief embraced. Deists believed in the existence of God on rational grounds only. They believed that God created the world and then stepped back, not interfering with day-to-day workings. This process was accomplished as nature conformed to its own material laws and operated without divine intervention. Deists believed that God was like a clockmaker who constructed an elaborate mechanism, wound it up, and gave the pendulum the first swing. From that point on, the Deists would argue that the clock worked by itself via natural law. Deists opposed the rituals of both Catholic and Protestant worship as supernatural and superstitious. They opposed the historical educational role of the church understanding that education was the key to the spread of enlightenment thinking. David Hume, a Scottish philosopher and deist, rejected organized religion as he argued that "neither matter nor mind could be proved to exist with any certainty" and that only perceptions exist. He stated that if human understanding was based on sensory perception rather than on reason, then there could be no certainty in the universe.

Another enlightened thinker, Denis Diderot, serves as an example of the overwhelming quest for knowledge that was so characteristic of the movement. His goal to compile the knowledge of the world resulted in a 35 volume work known collectively as The Encyclopedia. This work is considered to be one of the greatest accomplishments of the age.

The political ideals of the Enlightenment were dominated by an English philosopher, John Locke. Locke is famous for two philosophies, one being the "blank slate" theory as outlined in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding and his political theory outlined in Two Treatises on Government. The blank slate idea describes the mind as a blank slate at birth and over time it fills via out experiences (empiricism). As we are not predisposed to anything, according to Locke, he believed that morality was a sense experience, not a theological one. In other words he believed that morality was relative to us as individuals rather than an absolute to a society. Francis Hutcheson, a Scottish philosopher, built on Locke's theory as he worked to further define morality. He proposed that if personal good is pleasure then social good was happiness; pleasure being short term, happiness long term. In keeping with this idea, Hutcheson believed that the goal of any government "was the greatest happiness of the greatest number".

Cesare Beccaria expanded on the question of societal happiness as he pioneered the work of legal reform. In his work Crimes and Punishment, Beccaria believed that laws were instituted to promote happiness within society and therefore they must be fair to both the victim and the criminal. In that he supported the idea that man has the basic rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, he promoted the idea that punishment must act as a deterrent rather than as retribution. In this belief,he promoted the end of torture, capital punishment, and the establishment of a system of rehabilitation of criminals.

One of the overriding descriptors of Enlightenment thought is 'optimism". The word itself is an 18th century invention. Enlightened philosophes believed that life could be better for all by liberating society from the traditional beliefs that defined absolutism. In fact, believing that the concept of optimism was taken too far, Voltaire satirized it in his work Candide. The Marquis de Condorcet (The Progress of the Human Mind) believed that mankind has gone from a savage state to a future of harmony and international peace through an evolutionary process. Immanual Kant also supported the idea of a brighter future as he believed the Enlightenment promoted the freedom to use one's own mind (What is Enlightenment?). The philosophes of the period looked to the relationship of the people to their government as the lock to this "brave new world" recognizing John Locke's political theory as the key.

Locke's theory advocated that people were born with certain unalienable rights - life, liberty and property and their government was to protect those rights. The people agree to follow the laws of land and in return the government agrees to act in the interest of the people. If either side of the contract is violated, the violated party had the right to break the contract. In other words the people have the right to rebel and replace the government just as certain as the government has the right to take people out of society when they break the contract by violating the laws. The Social Contract theory of Locke's is the foundation for the revolutionary movements of the late 18th century. John Jacques Rousseau, a leading French philosopher, took Locke's theory and expanded it to discuss the sovereign power of a state, the General Will or majority of the people. In Rousseau's treatise, The Social Contract (not to be confused with Locke's theory), Rousseau identifies the general will as the true power of a society and the government works in its behalf. He does not, however, support democracy as we know it because Rousseau sees no place in the process for the voice of the minority. He also believed that there were a few intellectually superior men who should be given the administrative responsibilities to implement the general will's desires. To assure that the government is held accountable to the people Charles –Louis de Secondat, Baron Montesquieu, a French aristocrat who first made a name for himself when he published Persian Letters in 1721, advocated separation of powers and a system of checks and balances. A great admirer of the British system he wrote On Spirit of Laws in 1748. This benchmark work explored how liberty could be achieved and despotism destroyed. He believed that a successful government was a government in which separation of power created a necessary system of checks and balances. Although Montesquieu supported a monarchy he believed that there must be an independent aristocracy to keep the throne in line.

 

Please look over the following powerpoint that discusses many aspects of the Enlightenment.

Review

Review what you have learned by completing the activity below.

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