Transcript Western Civilization I HIS-101

Western Civilization II
HIS-102
Unit 4 - The Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment
The Scientific Revolution
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The Scientific Revolution was one of the major
revolutions of the modern period
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It is said to have started in 1543
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Saw changes in astronomy, physics, biology, and chemistry
150 year process
Copernicus’ On the Revolution of Heavenly Spheres (1543)
It ended with Newton
It was comprised of three parts:
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Acceptance and confirmation of the heliocentric view of the
universe
Development of new physics that supported this
Development of a method of enquiry (the “scientific method”)
Causes of the Scientific Revolution
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Scientific Revolution had its origins in the Middle Ages
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Push for better understand of the natural world as created by
God
Christian Neoplatonism and Aristotelianism
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Thomas Aquinas
God created a world capable of being understood by human
reason
Faith as the certain and complete road to God
Reason as a divine attribute spurring mankind to salvation
Encouraged rational argument and investigation
Believed that mathematics were a key tool to understanding
God’s design
Causes of the Scientific Revolution
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In the 14th century more changes were made
The Nominalists
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Nature was distinct from God the Creator
Only revelation and faith could reveal God’s truth
Freed the investigation of the natural world from theology
Opened the way for a mechanistic or materialist worldview
The Renaissance
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Humanists placed low value on science
Neoplatonist influence
The universe as machine
Investigation of the laws of perspective and optics
Alchemy and astrology
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Aristotle
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(384–322 BCE)
Medieval Science
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Medieval science was based on common-sense
observations
Aristotle and Ptolemy
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Explanations of the whole universe
The orderliness of the cosmos
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The fundamental elements
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Earth, air, fire, water, aether
The problem of retrograde motion
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Nothing changes, everything moves in perfect circles
Example: Mars
Main problem with this system was that the old Roman
calendar out of alignment with movement of heavenly
bodies
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Nicolaus Copernicus
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(1473-1543)
Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543)
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Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543)
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Polish scientist, mathematician, and devout Catholic
Was the first to seriously question the Ptolemaic System
How God could create such a messy system?
Copernicus’ Heliocentric View
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On the Revolution of Heavenly Spheres (1543)
Based on mathematical calculations
The universe was made up of eight spheres with the sun at the
center
The planets revolved around the sun
The Earth has three motions that explained the movement of
the sun and stars (daily rotation, annual revolution, and annual
tilting of its axis)
Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543)
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This was a huge breakthrough
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It was still conservative
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He used math to invalidate Ptolemy
He used conservative math, not observation
Kept the Aristotelian concept of circular orbits
Used it to explain the perfection of God’s design
One big problem:
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What he had designed went against the Bible
In both Psalms 93:1 and 96:10 it said that “the world is
established, it cannot be moved”
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Copernicus’
Heliocentric
View of the
Universe
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Tycho Brahe
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(1546-1601)
Tycho Brahe (1546-1601)
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Tycho Brahe (1546-1601)
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Observations of the night sky
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He was a Danish nobleman
Best known for his astronomical observations
Built an observatory on the island of Hven
For 21 years, Brahe made observations of the heavens
He complied the most accurate maps of the sky at this time
Each year he went over his observations and corrected them
He rejected both Ptolemy and Copernicus
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Instead he came up with his own model
Tycho Brahe (1546-1601)
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Tychonian System
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All planets, except for the Earth, revolved around the sun
This whole system then revolved around the Earth
He still accepted the Aristotelian concept of circular orbits
Also avoided the theological problems that Copernicus had
He also led a very interesting life
Even his death was interesting
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The old belief was that he died due to a ruptured bladder
In 1996, his body was examined and there was a large amount
of mercury in his hair and body
Death was either accidental or murder
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Tychonian
System of the
Universe
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Johannes Kepler
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(1571-1630)
Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)
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Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)
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Kepler took all of Brahe’s instruments and observations
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Was one of Brahe’s assistants
Combined Copernicus’s observations with mysticism, astrology,
and mathematics
When he tried to apply Brahe’s observations to Copernicus’
theory, it did not work out
Kepler’s Observations
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Spent 25 years going over Brahe’s work to find the flaw
He discovered the flaw was with Copernicus
Testing numerous hypotheses, he came up with his laws
Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)
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Kepler’s Three Laws of Planetary Motion
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There were still problems with his laws
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These were published in Astronomia nova (A New Astronomy) in
1609
Discovered that orbits are elliptical
This destroyed the Aristotelian system
He did not understand the reason behind the ellipses
If the earth is moving so fast, why do we not move horizontally
when we jump?
Magnetism
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He believed that magnetism between the sun and the planets
kept the latter in orbital motion
However was rejected as sounding too “magical”
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Galileo Galilei
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(1564-1642)
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
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Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
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Born of a lesser noble Pisan family
Studied medicine then math at the University of Pisa
In 1589, he became the chair of mathematics at the University
In 1592, he began teaching math at the University of Padua
Contributions to astronomy
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Improved the design of the original telescope by making a 20x
telescope in 1609
Used his new telescope to observe the heavens
He discovered craters and mountains on the moon
He also discovered the Jupiter had four moons
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
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Sidereus Nuncius (“Starry Messenger”) (1610)
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Letters on Sunspots (1613)
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Stated the moon was not the “perfect” or “ethereal” surface
Aristotle predicted
Stated that the moons of Jupiter were actually orbiting around
the planet
Galileo supported the heliocentric view of the universe
It also showed that the sun was also flawed
Dialogue on the Two Chief World Systems (1632)
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Examined both the Ptolemaic and Copernican views
Most of the work focused on supporting the Copernican view
It had been cleared by Inquisition censors
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
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Contributions to motion
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Galileo’s Principle of Inertia - A body continues to move in a
certain direction unless stopped
Based on experiments and observation
Was able to tie in motion of the earth to astronomy
Discourses on Two New Sciences (1638)
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It included the Law of Falling Bodies
All bodies, regardless of mass, fall at the same rate of speed
Planets also fall at the same rate of speed
Orbits vary not to the size of the planet but the size of the
orbits
Challenged Aristotle on many grounds
Dropping objects from Leaning Tower of Pisa?
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Giordano Bruno
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(1548-1600)
Reaction of the Catholic Church
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Catholic Church would not accept any scientific ideas
that threatened church beliefs
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Jesuits believed these would weaken the Church
Dominicans supported Aristotelian beliefs
Giordano Bruno (1548-1600)
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Believed that stars were other suns and there was a plurality of
worlds
Stated that the universe was infinite
Burned at the stake by the Inquisition on charges of heresy,
blasphemy, and “immoral conduct”
Reaction of the Catholic Church
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Church challenged the Copernican System after 1600
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Galileo did not believe his work was heretical
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Argued that the Copernican system was just not possible
It condemned Copernicanism
Parts of the Bible should not be taken literally
Stated the Scripture cannot be wrong but man can
misinterpret
Believed that the Bible should not be used to understand the
heavens
In 1615, Galileo wrote a letter to the Grand Duchess of
Tuscany
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Argued for separation of theology and science
God endowed us with reason to understand the universe
Reaction of the Catholic Church
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In 1616, Galileo asked the Church to not ban his ideas
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Cardinal Robert Bellarmine told him to teach his system only
as a hypothesis, to as fact
He agreed
This changed after publication of Dialogue (1632)
In 1633, Galileo was brought before the Inquisition
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Charges were suspicion of heresy
He was forced to recant heliocentrism
He was placed under house arrest
Dialogues was banned
Pope Urban VIII issued a papal decree which stated it was
heresy to believe in heliocentrism
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Sir Francis Bacon
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(1561-1626)
Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
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Development of Scientific Method
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Wanted to find a proper way to examine the natural world
This meant trashing old ideas and coming up with new ones
Two main figures: Bacon and Descartes
Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
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Attended Trinity College, Cambridge
Discovered Aristotelian methods were incorrect and led to the
wrong conclusion
He was a judge and Lord Chancellor
Was interested in natural philosophy and the search for the
truth
Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
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Meditationes Sacrae (1597)
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The Proficience and Advancement of Learning (1605)
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Most famous for the line “scientia potentia est” or “knowledge is
power”
Discredited the methods of the current natural philosophers
They were using ancient methods which were incorrect
Novum Organum (1620)
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Scientists would never learn anything unless they changed their
methods
Inductive reasoning - Use observations to draw general
conclusions and then repeating experiments for verification
This became known as the scientific method
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René Descartes
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(1596-1650)
René Descartes (1596-1650)
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René Descartes (1596-1650)
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Discourse on Method (1637)
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The importance of questioning established knowledge
The value of an idea is its usefulness
Doubted everything including his own existence
Cogito ergo sum (“I think, therefore I am”)
From there was able to reestablish knowledge using deductive
reasoning
Meditations on First Philosophy (1641)
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“Proved” the existence of God
Dualism between the mind and the body
René Descartes (1596-1650)
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The deductive method
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Toward a purely mechanistic view of the world
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Reasoning from a set of first principles
Organized his logic on mathematical lines
Mathematics as a tool for natural philosophers
Man as machine
All of creation, except man, existed solely in terms of physical
laws
Descartes died on February 11, 1650
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Attending the court of Queen Christina of Sweden
She was an early riser while he was not
Developed pneumonia and died ten days later
René Descartes (1596-1650)
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In 1667, Descartes’ works were placed on the Catholic
church’s “Index of Prohibited Books”
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Key impact on the scientific method
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This was mainly due to his rejection of religious influence in his
studies
Also, he condemned the Aristotelian method of science
He emphasized deduction and mathematical logic
Complimented Bacon’s work of experiments and induction
Newton is going to take it to the next level
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Used Bacon’s empiricism with Descartes’ rationalism
This led to the use of systematic observations and experiments
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Sir Isaac Newton
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(1643-1727)
Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727)
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Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727)
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Developing Calculus
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English mathematician and experimenter
One of the greatest scientific minds of western civilization
He was secretive, obsessive, vindictive, and petty
Went to Trinity College, Cambridge for math
Plague of 1666 forced him home for 18 months
Invented calculus and started working on his law of gravity
Work in Optics
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From1670 to 1672, devoted himself to optics
Invented a reflecting telescope
Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727)
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Contributions to mechanics
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In 1677, began working on the role of gravity
Worked on Galileo’s Theory of Inertia and Kepler’s Law of
Planetary Motion
Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1687)
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Better known as Principia
Defined his three laws of motion
“For every action, there is always an equal and opposite
reaction”
Applied them to both planetary bodies and terrestrial objects
Law of Universal Gravity
Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727)
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What makes Newton so special?
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Took the work of Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo and created
one solid theory
The universe operated as one regulated and uniform machine
All of this was backed by observation, experience, and math
Calculus controversy
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Did Newton really invent it?
Gottfried Leibniz (1646-1716) developed calculus later than
Newton
However, published before Newton did
Most scholars agree that the two developed it independently
of one another
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Reading from Molière (1728)
The Enlightenment
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Enlightenment
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Intellectual and cultural movement of the 18th century
Used Scientific Revolution to reexamine all aspects of life
Period of skepticism and criticism of traditional values, beliefs,
and institutions
Discarded dogma, superstition, and the opinions of others
Goal: gain an understanding solely through the use of reason
Main concerns of Enlightened thinkers:
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Danger of unchecked and arbitrary authority
Value of religious toleration
Importance of natural law, reason, and human dignity
Leading to Enlightenment
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England was the starting point for the Enlightenment
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French philosophes examined England
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During 17th century, progressive ideas and developments
Home of Newton and Locke
Impact of the Glorious Revolution (1688)
Voltaire visited there and praised its system
Montesquieu used it as the basis of his separation of powers
Paths to the Enlightenment:
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Popularization of science
Rise of a new skepticism
Impact of travel literature
Legacy of Newton and Locke
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Bernand de
Fontenelle
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(1657-1757)
Popularization of Science
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Science during the 17th century did not affect the masses
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Bernard de Fontenelle (1657-1757)
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Works of natural philosophers only affected a small minority
Most of what was written could not be understood by the
average person
Secretary of the French Royal Academy of Science (1691-1741)
Main contribution was bringing science to the upper class
Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds (1686)
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Written in French instead of Latin
More accessible to the non-scientific population
Story is about how a man explains the heliocentric view of the
universe in layman’s terms to his lover
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Pierre Bayle
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(1647-1706)
A New Skepticism
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Major impact of the Scientific Revolution was the
population becoming more educated
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The more people knew about nature and the universe, the
more they started to question religious truths and doctrines
This led to growing secularization and the rise of skepticism
Pierre Bayle (1647-1706)
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French Huguenot scholar and philosopher
Attacked many of the traditional religious attitudes:
superstition, religious intolerance, and dogmatism
Said that you cannot prove which beliefs are true and false
Therefore, all beliefs should be tolerated
A New Skepticism
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Morality was separate from religious beliefs
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A group of atheists could be more moral than a group of
Christians
Historical and Critical Dictionary (1697)
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Starts to question the sources of the Bible
Israeli King David was not the heroic king so often portrayed
In actuality, he was a vicious leader who pillaged, tortured, and
murdered innocent victims
The book was banned in France
Placed on the Index of Prohibited Books shortly after it was
published
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Captain James Cook
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(1728-1779)
Impact of Travel Literature
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During this period, travel literature was popular
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Many explorers began to publish accounts of their travels
Examined the new cultures of the world
Showed how advanced some of them were
China was considered a highly developed civilization with a
morally superior form of religion in their Confucianism
Other cultures became known and respected
This led to the rise of cultural relativism
Were more simpler than European ones and they were happier
“The life of savages is so simple, and our societies are such
complicated machines!...They understand nothing about our
manner or our laws, and they are bound to see in them
nothing but shackles disguised in a hundred different ways.”
Impact of Travel Literature
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Captain James Cook (1728-1779)
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Captain of H.M. Bark Endeavour
Traveled around the world three times
Discovered New Zealand, Tahiti, and eastern shore of Australia
Charted most of the south Pacific
“Endeavour” Journals (1768-1771)
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Written during his first voyage around the world
Focused on his discoveries in the Pacific
Discussed the use citrus fruits to help ward off scurvy
Also how he kept his crew in shape through exercise
His book became a best seller
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John Locke
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(1632-1704)
The Legacy of Newton and Locke
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Both gave the intellectual inspiration for the
Enlightenment
Impact of Newton
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Through his physics, Newton gave a better understanding of
the universe
If there were laws to the universe, could there be laws to
mankind?
John Locke (1632-1704)
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English philosopher
Tried to find the laws of mankind in terms of politics and
justice
Set the stage for Classical Liberalism
John Locke (1632-1704)
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Two Treaties On Government (1689)
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Criticizes the concept of Divine Right of Kings
Government is a social contract with the people
It is designed to protect man’s natural rights (life, liberty,
property)
If the people do not like what the government is doing, they
have a right to overthrow it
Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690)
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Every person is born with a tabula rasa (“blank slate”)
Our knowledge comes from our environment
Evil is not hereditary but something that has to be learned
New governments and societies could be created using reason
and natural laws
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Voltaire
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(1694-1778)
The Philosophes
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Philosophes
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A “free thinker” unhampered by the constraints of religion or
dogma in any form
Few were actual philosophers and not all of them were French
Included everything from professors to political scientists to
social reformers
Wanted “to study society with the purpose of making his kind
better and happier”
Salons
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Hosted by salonnières, aristocratic women
Gatherings of elite of society and the philosophes
Helped spread ideas outside of academia
Helped to educate women
Voltaire (1694-1778)
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Voltaire (1694-1778)
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Born François Marie Arouet
He was a writer, philosopher, and deist
Used satire to criticize many of the institutions of the day
Targeted the French government and the Catholic Church
Wrote during a time period of censorship
Early Works
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Made satirical criticisms of the French aristocracy
Served time in the Bastille for libel when he was in his 20s
He was temporarily exiled in England in 1724
While he was there, he became a great admirer of all things
English (especially Newton and Locke)
Voltaire (1694-1778)
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Philosophical Letters (1734)
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Written after he returned to France
It was also known as Letters on the English Nation
Compared a healthy and rational nation (Great Britain) to a
very unhealthy one (France)
Discussed the religious and political liberties of the British
Showed great admiration for English culture and politics and
respect for scientists
Praised Britain for having more religious toleration than France
Candide (1759)
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Criticized Leibnitzian Optimism (“we live in the best of all
possible worlds”)
Mocked every institution and aspect of the aristocracy
Voltaire (1694-1778)
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Philosophy
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Écrasez l’infâme (“crush infamy”)
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Promoted toleration, civil rights, and free speech
Was very anti-clerical
Saw infamy as all forms of repression, fanaticism, and bigotry
Especially saw this in the Church
Calas case
Was strongly opposed to religious bigotry
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Sought to free religion of superstition
“The less superstition, the less fanaticism; and the less
fanaticism, the less misery
Not against religion but rather against narrow dogma
Voltaire (1694-1778)
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He was a big believer in civil liberties
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Saw inspiration in “enlightened despotism”
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He once said to a political opponent: “I do not agree with a
word you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say
it”
Still viewed monarchy as necessary
Voltaire’s works caused him many problems
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He was forced into temporary exile numerous times
His books were banned and burned
However, because of his popularity, the French kings had to
tolerate him
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Charles-Louis de
Secondat,
baron de
Montesquieu
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(1689-1755)
Montesquieu (1689-1755)
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Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (16891755)
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Philosophe and political writer
Was more cautious and less provocative in his work
Born into a noble family
Became magistrate in the parlement of Bordeaux
Persian Letters (1721)
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Story of two Persians travelling to Paris
Examination of Parisian life through the eyes of foreigners
Criticized all aspects of France (e.g., criminal justice system,
lack of equality between sexes, etc.)
Was able to criticize society and avoid censorship
Montesquieu (1689-1755)
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The Spirit of Laws (1748)
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Examined different types of governments using an empirical
approach
Believed there were three different types of governments
Republic was either a democracy or rule by an aristocracy
(virtue)
Monarchy was limited by the law (honor)
Despotism does not follow the law and there is fear of the
ruler (fear)
There was no one perfect type of government that would
work everywhere
Each country’s system should be based on its traditions and
cultures
For example, hot climates should have despotism to get people
working
Montesquieu (1689-1755)
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Balance of Power
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Most important section of Spirit focused on separation and
balance of power
Built upon the structure set up in England
Major influence on the writers of the U.S. constitution
Criticism of France
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Realized France was drifting towards despotism
Wanted to use either the parlements or the aristocracy to
counter-balance the monarchy
However, aristocracy was very corrupt during this period
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Denis Diderot
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(1713-1784)
Denis Diderot (1713-1784)
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Denis Diderot (1713-1784)
Encyclopédie, or a systematic dictionary of the sciences, arts,
and crafts (1751-1772)
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A 28 volume set that he edited
Its main goal was to change the way people thought
"All things must be examined, debated, investigated without
exception and without regard for anyone's feelings“
Even though the cost was high, it still had high circulation
despite the high price
Articles were written by numerous philosophes
Attacked religious dogma and superstition
Encouraged religious toleration
Denis Diderot (1713-1784)
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Philosophy
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Christianity was “the most absurd and the most atrocious
in its dogma”
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He liked to comment on the more popular themes at the time
Mainly discussed Christianity and government
Went from being a deist to an atheist
Attacked the monarchy
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“Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the
entrails of the last priest”
“And his hands would plait the priest's entrails, For want of a
rope, to strangle kings.”
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Page from the
Encyclopédie
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It illustrates Truth
in the middle
shining its light
Humanitarianism
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Humanitarianism
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Criminals were subject to torture
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Focused on the dignity and worth of all individuals
This had many different aspects including legal reform
Including branding, whipping and various forms of mutilation
Numerous crimes involved the death penalty
There were public executions
Trial of Jean Calas (1762)
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Illustrated the flaws with the criminal justice system
Calas was found guilty of murdering his son
Argued that Calas, a protestant, wanted to kill his son to
prevent him from converting to Catholicism
There was no proof of this
Humanitarianism
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Punishment included being tortured twice and then put
to death
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First round of torture was to garner a confession
Second round was to find his accomplices
Included having his arms and legs slowly pulled apart, having
gallons of water poured down his throat, and then “broken on
the wheel” in public
He then had his head cut off
Voltaire took on this case
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Became his own crusade against anti-Protestant fanaticism
Convinced the court in 1765 that Calas was actually innocent
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Cesare Beccaria
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(1738–1794)
Humanitarianism
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Cesare Beccaria (1738–1794)
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On Crimes and Punishments (1764)
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He was an Italian jurist who focused on humanitarianism and
legal reform
Attacked the common view that punishment represented
society’s vengeance on the criminal
Argued that the legitimate rationale for punishment was to
maintain social order and prevent other crimes (deterrence)
Exposed the public to horrors of torture being used
Also illustrated the dehumanizing process of public executions
By 1800, a number of countries eliminated torture and
limited the death penalty to capital crimes
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Many believe this was influenced by Beccaria’s work
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Gotthold Lessing
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(1729-1781)
Religious Toleration
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Tied in with humanitarianism was the belief in religious
toleration
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Many of the Enlightenment thinkers were against the
religious institutions and dogmas of the time
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They wanted to bring an end to religious warfare and the
persecution of heretics
However, only a small few considered themselves atheists
There were some who considered themselves agnostics
Most of them considered themselves religious
Deism
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Common belief amongst the philosophes
God was like a “divine clockmaker”
Do not believe God intervenes in the everyday life of mankind
Religious Toleration
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Religious toleration was mainly limited to Christianity
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Gotthold Lessing (1729–1781)
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Some who believed in toleration of non-Christians as well
In his play Nathan the Wise (1779), Jews were treated
sympathetically
He did not believe there was one true religion but instead
believed the three great monotheistic religions are three
versions of the same truth
Moses Mendelssohn (1729–1786)
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He was a rabbi who took up the question of Jewish identity
In his On the Religious Authority of Judaism (1783), he defended
Jewish communities against anti-Semitic policies of the time
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Adam Smith
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(1723-1790)
Economic Reforms
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The philosophes also addressed economic policy
The shape of the state was changing
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A rise in the financial demands of states and their rising
empires
How could a government make the most of its resources?
French physiocrats
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Saw an inherent natural order that properly governed society
Spoke out against mercantilism
True wealth came from land and agricultural production
They called for a simplified tax system
Laissez-faire - Wealth and goods should circulate without
government interference
Economic Reforms
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Adam Smith (1723–1790)
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Pushed the concept of laissez-faire economics was
Scottish economist who took in the ideas of the physiocrats
Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
(1776)
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Restrictions associated with mercantilism (e.g. high taxes on
imported goods) did not create real economic well-being
Individuals should chose their own interests without
competition from state-chartered monopolies or legal
restraints
No state regulation of the economy; let business regulate itself
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Abbé Raynal
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(1711-1796)
Empire and the Enlightenment
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Many philosophes studied the effects of the European
empires
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Abbé Guillaume Thomas Francois Raynal (1711-1796)
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New civilizations were looked upon as symbols of natural
humanity and simplicity
Examined effects of slavery
A French writer and former Jesuit priest
Philosophical History . . . of Europeans in the Two Indies (1770)
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A history of colonization
Customs and civilization of indigenous peoples
Natural history
Exploration and commerce
Abbé Raynal (1711-1796)
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Raynal believed that these “savages” actually enjoyed a
better life than most Europeans
He argued that colonization can lead to greater happiness
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Colonization had the benefit of bringing industry and trade
This brought improvement and progress
So what went wrong in the New World?
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He condemned the tactics used in the New World
Took away the “natural liberties” of the native populations
As they had unlimited power, they were arrogant, cruel, and
despotic
Did not have checks and balances
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Slavery and the Enlightenment
Slavery and the Enlightenment
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Slavery
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Atlantic slave trade hit its peak (over 6 million slaves)
Slavery defied natural law and natural freedom
Almost all of the philosophes condemned slavery, but only in a
metaphorical sense
Most were hesitant to quickly condemn the Atlantic slave trade
Few philosophes advocated the total abolition of slavery
Voltaire noted the hypocrisy of his peers
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He asked if they would look differently on slavery if it had been
Europeans in chains rather than Africans
But he still saw Africans as being an “inferior” race
Slavery and the Enlightenment
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Montesquieu believed that slavery debased both the slave
and master
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Diderot clearly spoke out against slavery
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But he believed that economies have their own needs and
labor systems
He believed slave labor did help balance out the need for
economies of the colonies
It defied natural law and natural freedom
Slavery was a violation of self-government
Anti-slavery movements did begin to grow but slowly
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Many believed that slavery kills the person’s natural desire for
liberty
Therefore, they are not ready for freedom
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Jean-Jacques
Rousseau
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(1712-1778)
Radical Enlightenment
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There were also radical philosophes
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)
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He did believe in humanitarianism and the creation of a just
society
Focused on making mankind good
Theory of Natural Man
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Praised the virtues of natural man
Natural man does not act morally
“Savage man” does not understand complex concepts such as
“justice” or “evil”
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)
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Society as a necessary evil
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Society was necessary for people to develop their moral
nature and capacity to reason
Society also corrupted by pitting individuals against each other
Called for reforms in political society and education
The Social Contract (1762)
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“Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains. One man
thinks himself the master of others, but remains more of a
slave than they."
In humanity’s natural state, all men are equal
Society brings about inequality with its division of labor and
private property
Man becomes more competitive and yet more dependant on
other men
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)
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Popular Sovereignty
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Was against different branches of government and monarchy
He did not believe in representative democracy but rather
direct democracy
This would transformed a nation
Citizens would form a “body politic”
People would be willing to give up certain rights out of mutual
obligation rather than coercive laws
“General Will”
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The population would be united together by the “general will”
Common interests would outweigh individual ones
Popular sovereignty will do what is good for the people in
general
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)
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Émile (1762)
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Story of a boy educated about virtue and moral autonomy in
the “school of nature”
Children should not be forced to reason early in life
Books should not be used until adolescence
The aim was moral autonomy and good citizenship
But this education was only to be for men
Women useful as mothers and wives only
Julie, ou la nouvelle Heloise (1761)
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Story about a young woman who falls in love with one man but
follows her father’s orders to marry another
It illustrates the domestic and maternal virtues of women
It was popular to both the middle class and the aristocracy
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Mary Wollstonecraft
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(1759-1797)
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797)
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Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797)
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British writer, philosopher, and feminist
Many of her ideas were similar to other philosophes of the time
She also had been Rousseau’s sharpest critic
A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792)
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She illustrated numerous Republican ideas
Spoke against inequality and artificial distinctions of rank, birth,
or wealth
Society ought to seek “the perfection of our nature and
capability of happiness”
Women had the same innate capacity for reason and selfgovernment as men
Virtue the same thing for men and women
Relations between the sexes ought to be based on equality
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797)
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Wollstonecraft also spoke about issues with the family
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Marriage laws were unequal and allowed the husband to be
“despotic” over his wife
Women have been taught to be dependent and seductive in
order to win husbands
Education needs to promote liberty and self-reliance
She did see a natural division of labor between men and
women
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A woman’s main job was mothering and educating her children