The Age of Enlightenment

The Enlightenment EighteenthCentury Elite Culture Popular Culture

During the eighteenth century, the great scientic and philosophical innovations of the previous century evolved into a naturalistic worldview divorced from religion Displacing the authority of religion with that of reason, the new outlook offered an optimistic future

Many important eighteenthcentury intellectuals no longer believed in Christianity and looked to reduced its inuence No divine morality or afterlife Cultural institutions and media gave an increased forum A new middle-class to consume books

The Enlightenment

Many believed that human behavior and institutions could be studied rationally, like Newtons universe They called this the Enlightenmentpursuit of reason, tolerance, and virtue (apart from religion) Paristhe focal point Voltaire, Diderot, and Rousseau

The Broadening Reverberations of Science Rene Descartes and Isaac Newton cared little for social institutions Remained practicing Christians Their legacy, however, led to the unfolding of Christianity in west

The Popularization of Science Non-scientists applied the methodologies of Descartes, Newton, and Locke to other realms of human thought fusion of methodological doubt and naturalist explanationsscientic and mathematical spirit Writers translated the discoveries into amusing reading

Voltaire, the most famous of Enlightenment thinkers, wrote science through literature and criticism The Elements of the Philosophy of Newtona freeing of the mind from dogma and religion

Popularizations of scientic method stimulated public interest in science, mathematics, etc. Mesmerism healing magnetic elds

Natural History *natural history the science of the earths developmenta combination of geology, zoology, and botany G. L. Buffon, keeper of the French Botanical Gardens

Natural History of the Earth An exploration of the development of the earth completely ignored the religious tradition of Genesis

Beyond Christianity

The erosion of biblical revelation as a source of authority The elimination of superstitious imagery that could make religion seem ridiculous The devil could be considered a category of moral evil rather than horned creature

The deemphasizing of miracles and an emphasis on the moral teachings of the Bible This kind of thinking ultimately diminished the authority of religion

Toleration French critic Pierre Bayle emphasized the idea of toleration Critical and Historical Dictionary (1697)put the claims of religion to the test Christianity as myth and fairy tale resulting in fanaticism and persecution

The Spanish Inquisition and Louis XIV became examples of why religion is immoral Complete toleration the allowance of any person or any creed or faith as long as they are moral Habsburg emperor Joseph II

Deism Voltaire became the Enlightenments most vigorous anti-religious polemicist and dedicated to the destruction of Christianity linfame (the infamous thing) Every sensible man, every honorable man must hold [Christianity] in horror

The Philosophical Dictionary (1764) Published anonymously and burned by Switzerland, France, and the Netherlands Organized religion is not simply false but pernicious and destructive leading to fanaticism and persecution

Voltaire hoped that educated Europeans would abandon Christianity in favor of *deism Morality without the threat of damnation Private contemplation rather than public worship

The Philosophies

Science and secularism became the rallying points of a group of French intellectuals known as the *philosophes They saw themselves as bring the Enlightenment to the masses Voltaire, Diderot, Montesquieu, Adam Smith, Immanuel Kant, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson

Intellectual Freedom

Exposing assumptions and institutions to reason, experience, and utility Reason vs. faith and religion A return to the GrecoRoman rational The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776)

The Philosophies laid claim to Newton and Locke and used their theories to expand their enlightenment agenda They placed human beings and human reason (literally, much more than the humanist) at the center of thought and reason

Persecution and Triumph Religious traditionalist and the apparatus of censorship threatened intellectual freedom A few were forced into exile, jail, making public confessions, and the burning of books

Pioneering in the Social Sciences Voltaire and history Social Sciencea collection of disciplines to understand the past, not just triumphal political history Analyzed the past with questions of morality and ethics

Political Liberty The Spirit of the Laws (1748) by the French magistrate Montesquieu Comparative study of governments and societies Introduced the perspective of relativism: climate, religion, and commerce of various countries

Montesquieu argued that a government needed checks on those who hold power The various powers (executive, legislative, Judicial) must be separated

Diderot and the Encyclopedia The French philosphes collectively generated a work enlightenment thoughtthe Encyclopedie Denis Diderot, a popular publisher of novels, plays, and mathematics, was the primary writer

Advocate of the natural man Two of Diderots books were condemned by the authorities as contrary to religion, the state, and morals

The Encyclopedia The ultimate purpose of the work was to change the general way of thinking Religion was treated with artful satire or relegated it to a philosophical or historical principle Science stood at the core

The Encyclopedias Impact

The vomit of hell Attorney general of FranceThere is a project formed, a society organized to propagate materialism, to destroy religion, to inspire a spirit of independence, and to nourish the corruption of morals

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Obsessed with the issue of moral freedom, Rousseau found society far more oppressive than most philosophes would admitand they were part of the problem Idleness and the dissolution of morals The basis of morality was conscience, not reason

Rousseaus Concept of Freedom

The Social Contract Popularized after the French Revolution He denied the almost universal idea that some people are meant to govern and others to obey Governments should follow the consensus as to the best interests of all citizens