Transcript The Enlightenment

The Enlightenment
1700-1789
DEMOGRAPHICS






“Turning point”–
population from 120
Million in 1700 to 190
Million in 1790
Due to declining
death rate
Higher birth rate
Better transportation
Better food supply,
weather, end of plague
Still very unsanitary
THE FAMILY






Family was still the core of
social organization
The nuclear family was the
norm in western Europe
Children worked in urban and
rural families (“Family
economy)
Late marriages still common
(Father often selected mate)
After 1750 illegitimacy
increased
Birth control was in use to
limit # of children (Coitus
Interruptus)
NEW VIEWS ON CHILDHOOD

In the second half of
the eighteenth century,
traditional views on
childhood changed
 Rousseau’s book,
Emile, and increasing
survival rates of
infants led to the view
of childhood as a
phase in human
development
CHILDREN VIEWED AS KIDS

Part of the new view
included an increase in
breast-feeding, a change
in children’s clothing, a
rise in games, puzzles,
and toys
 For most Europeans
however (peasants),
children were still a
source of anxiety
 Infanticide still practiced
and foundling homes
were overcrowded
THE AGRICULTURAL
REVOLUTION

Who is this?

JETHRO TULL UTILIZED THE
HOE TO AIR-RATE PLANTS
During this period, food
production increased
due to four factors: more
cultivated land,
increased yield, healthier
and more plentiful
livestock, and a better
climate
Jethro Tull realized
hoeing allowed plants to
grow better; he also
developed a seed drill
AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION




As a result of the
Columbian Exchange
maize and potatoes were
introduced
Enclosure resulted when a
landowner bought up
smaller farms and
combined them into one
larger property
Land replenished by
nitrogen rich crops like
alfalfa, turnips, clover (No
more fallow land)
England led the way
THE SOCIAL ORDER




Grand Tour: A trip through
Europe for educational
purposes, undertaken by the
sons of the nobility
Poverty was still rampant,
with as much as 15-20% of
Venice suspected as
beggars
It was now argued that
charity to beggars merely
encouraged them
Guilds still played a large
role in city industry
THE GRAND TOUR WAS PART OF
THE EDUCATION OF THE ELITE
THE SOCIAL STRUCTURE




Still hierarchy and “estates”
(France)
Critique by philosophes but
distrust of masses
Economic developments
provide impetus for future
changes
Resurgence of aristocracy
and slow rise of middle class
ARISTOCRACY





Privileges and
exemptions (wealth
varied)
Strongest in Eastern
Europe
Economic activities
The “country house”
(England)
Development of
public/private areas
PEASANTS



85% of population
Free and unfree
Tithes, taxes, duties,
labor
 Eastern Europe and
great estates
 Villages--center of life
 Parasitic relation with
town
 Diet of peasants
 Rebellions--Pugachev
Revolt
TOWNS AND
BOURGEOISIE










More important in Western
Europe
Huge growth of cities
Migration from countryside to
urban areas
Patrician oligarchies
Middle class diversity
Petty bourgeoisie
Artisans & guilds
Unskilled laborers
Unhealthy conditions
Poverty and begging
EDUCATION
“Stale” universities-Greek and Latin were
considered old-fashioned
by philosophes
 “Elitist” secondary
schools reinforced
hierarchy
 Realschule were more
practical centers for
education

EDUCATION
Grammar schools and
government
sponsorship-Volkschule
(Protestant. v.
Catholic)
 University of
Gottingen and Univ.
of Edinburgh were
exceptional schools

PRIMARY EDUCATION WAS
ENCOURAGED AFTER 1750
Crime and Punishment

Decline in violent crime rate
 More property crimes
 Public executions, torture, exile
 Legal and penal reforms
 Cesare Beccaria: anti-death
penalty reformer
 Humanitarianism
MEDICINE AND HEALTH



Professionalization of
medicine finally arrives
Physicians more clinical,
e.g., at University of
Leiden
Below the physicans were
surgeons, separate from
barbers but still bleed-Royal College of Surgeons
licensed doctors
OTHER MEDICAL
PRACTITIONERS



Other practitioners
included apothecaries,
faith healers, and
midwives who primarily
served commoners
especially in rural areas
Hospital “reform” and
hygiene remained in its
infancy – most hospitals
were filthy
Folk medicine, faith
healers, midwives were
still active
POPULAR CULTURE





Festivals & Carnival
were group activities
Eating, drinking, sex,
aggression -- excess
“World turned upside
down”
Reinforce hierarchy but
violence
Taverns—vodka
(Russia) & gin (England)
CARNIVALS WERE IMPORTANT
SOCIAL RITUALS
WHEN ELITE & POP MERGE
Divergence of elite and
popular
 However,
“Commercialization of
leisure” brought elite and
popular culture together
 Bloodsports; bullbaiting &
bearbaiting, cockfighting
 Chapbooks (cheap
books- crude satires &
adventure stories) &
almanacs

BEARBAITING
PUBLISHING AND LITERACY
More books, magazines,
newspapers
 Spectator & female audiences
 Increase in literacy
 Development of public opinion
 Popularization of New Science
among middle class
 Coffeehouses

THE PHILOSOPHES
As a result of religious
warfare and conflict,
philosophes took a
skeptical stance toward
religion, rejecting
traditional Christianity.
Enlightenment: a
movement to understand
and improve society
based on the principles
of the Scientific
Revolution.
PHILOSOPHES LOOK INWARD
The realization, through
travel literature, that
there were advanced
civilizations besides
their own, forced
Europeans to turn a
critical eye to their
civilization.
Locke and Newton served
as inspirations for the
Enlightenment.
JOHN LOCKE (1632-1704)

Essay Concerning Human
Understanding (1690)—
tabula rasa
 Some Thoughts Concerning
Education (1689)--childhood
 Two Treatises on
Government (1690)—
individual rights, limited
government
 Empiricist, defender of
natural rights & revolution,
beginner of the
Enlightenment
LOCKEAN QUESTIONS

What qualities of an object
would appear the same and
appear to different to
everyone?
 What is meant by sensation
and reflection?
 How can natural law be used
to justify individual rights?
 What are the social
implications of tabula rasa?
DAVID HUME (1711-1776)






Scottish Enlightenment
Radical empiricist—
Treatise on Human Nature
(1748)
Agnostic—On Miracles
A beloved and tolerant
skeptic
“Reason is and ought to be
a slave to the passions…”
Hume’s Fork: “you can’t
get an ‘ought’ from an
‘is’…”
HUMEAN QUESTIONS



How can we be sure that
we have a continuous
personal identity?
Do humans really
experience natural laws,
such as cause and effect?
Would it be reasonable to
“prefer the scratching of
one’s nose to the
destruction of the world”?
THE GENIUS OF KANT
(1724-1804)





Life of an orderly bachelor
What is Enlightenment?
(1784)—”dare know & think
for yourself!”
Critique of Pure Reason—
constructivism
Combines empiricism with
“categories of
understanding” (our
perceptive glasses)
Deontological ethics and
“categorical imperative”
KANTIAN QUESTIONS



Can I experience
anything outside of time
and space? Can I know
objects in themselves?
How would I act if I
willed my actions to
become a universal law?
Was the 18th century an
“enlightened age”? Is
today? Why or why not?
THE “SMILE OF REASON”
VOLTAIRE 1694-1778




Man of wit, charm,
satire
Deist and hater of
organized religion—
Calas Affair (1762)
Philosophical
Dictionary, Candide,
History of Louis XIV
Prison, exile, risktaking, shifting
reputation
ENLIGHTENMENT PRINCIPLES
1. Society is governed by natural
laws.
 2. These laws can be discovered
through reason.
 3. Society can turn from traditional
and authoritarian forms and customs
to a more perfect government and
society based on reason.

MONTESQUIEU AND POLI SCI 101





Protestant judge in
parlement—wanted to
limit absolutism
Persian Letters (1721)
Spirit of the Laws
(1748)
“checks and
balances”—influence
on U.S. Constitution
NOT a democrat!
CESARE BECCARIA AND
HUMANITARIANISM 1738-1794

Legal scholar and Italian
jurist
 On Crimes and
Punishments
 Called for legal and penal
reform
 What was the traditional
function of laws and
punishment?
 Which works better:
vengeance or
rehabilitation?
ADAM SMITH: FATHER OF
CAPITALISM (1723-1790)

Influence of Quesnay
and Physiocrats
 Theory of Moral
Sentiments
 Wealth of Nations
(1776)
 Supply and demand,
invisible hand, free
trade, laissez-faire,
attack on
mercantilism
J.J. ROUSSEAU ROCKS THE
HOUSE (1712-1778)

Lower-middle class,
broken family, barmaid
wife, abandoned children
 “Noble Savage,” “cult of
sentiment,” morality
 Social Contract, Emile, La
Nouvelle Heloise, The
Confessions
 Persona non grata
 Attitude toward women
ROUSSEAN QUESTIONS

Are humans corrupted
by society?
 Did the Enlightenment
overuse reason?
 How might Rousseau
have influenced the
French Revolution?
 Was Rousseau a
hypocrite?
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT
AND MODERN FEMINISM

A Vindication of the
Rights of Women
(1791)—feminist
manifesto
 On the Education of
Girls
 Married to radical
William Godwin
 Mother of Mary
Shelley
(Frankenstein)
WOLLSTONECRAFT
1759-1797
FEMINIST QUESTIONS
How does an
equal education
for girls help
society?
 How does
equality change
the household,
society, and
politics?

RADICAL ENLIGHTENMENT
Baron d’Holbach (172389)—determinism and
materialism
 Marquis de Condorcet
(1743-94)—theory of
history as progressive
change, died during
Reign of Terror
(ordering omelet)

ENLIGHTENED DESPOTISM?






Frederick II, “the Great” of
Prussia (174-86)
Catherine I, “the Great” of
Russia (1762-96)
Joseph II of Austria (176590)
Maria Theresa? (1740-80)
How enlightened were
they?
What kinds of policies did
they pursue?
FRANKLIN’S WISDOM
“A stitch in time saves nine.”
 “Early to bed and early to rise makes a
man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”
 “Little strokes fell great oaks.”
 “A penny saved is a penny earned.”
 “God helps those that help themselves.”
 “He is ill-clothed who is bare of virtue.”
 “The heart of the fool is in his mouth; but
the mouth of the wise man is in his heart.”

THE AMERICAN ENLIGHTENMENT



Benjamin Franklin & a
“useful life”—Autobiography
& retirement
Accomplishments—Albany
Plan, fire company, post
office, U. of Penn., hospital,
Junto, magazine, T. of Paris,
Dec. of Indep., Constit.
Conv., electricity, inventions
Jefferson, Paine (deism), and
others