The Age of Enlightenment: 18

th

Century Thought

Chapter 18 EQ: What new philosophical ideas impacted European politics, economy and religion?

Introduction

   From the perspective of Europe’s future, the Enlightenment was perhaps the most important intellectual movement The thinkers, called

philosophes

, believed strongly that change and reform were both possible and heavily desirable given the shifts in social demographics by the end of the century Before 1700, rational thinking as a part of innovation had only been exercised by a select few (those of the Scientific Revolution)…with the expansion of education and media, rational thinking and rational criticism came to define the period

The

Philosophes

    They really were NOT philosophers as much as they were men who applied reason and common sense to every day institutions Leading

philosophes

disagreed on many issues…they sought reform for the sake of human liberty…the provided a source of ideas that could be used to undermine existing social and political structures Their professions greatly differed…as many early thinkers and scientists had been patrons, several reform minded nobles

philosophes

were university professors while many others were free thinkers who frequented coffeehouses in England and salons in Paris or even the homes of They drew their ideas from 3 main sources: – Intellectually, they owed great homage to Isaac Newton who championed empirical experience and rationality of the natural world through his work – The theories of John Locke provide a ground in the ideas of human nature (

tabula rasa

common good , the blank slate) – Great Britain as a leading nation in providing reform that served the

  

VOLTAIRE!!!

Francois his ideas Marie Arouet (I’d change my name too!) found France to be too absolutist, so much so that he insulted the nation’s authorities with his scathing criticisms…he fled to England where he found greater tolerance for While in England he wrote several pieces praised English virtues, the work of Isaac Newton and defamed his native France…his best known work was a satire of France’s previous regimes which focused on war, religious persecution and unwarranted optimism of the human condition

Candide

became a rallying cry for many French thinkers and commoners to desire reform within the state

The Printed Word

    As European society became more literate, books, journals, pamphlets and newspapers became more prolific…themes of the print word changed…whereas in prior centuries, most printed items were of a religious nature, by the end of the 18 th century, print became more secular and political The average person could not afford a book, however, writers and

philosophes

wrote mainly for a mainstream audience and parceled their works out piece by piece in journals and newspapers…others supported the construction of libraries which could be accessed by the general public Aside from libraries, coffeehouses (as previously mentioned) became meeting grounds for free thinking individuals…and salons in which "intellectual women” gathered in an attempt to gain higher education…the lodges of organizations such as the Freemasons also served as sources for Enlightenment literature The expansion of literature created the idea of operate relatively in secret

public opinion

which journalists used as a force to influence political ideas in an open public forum, preventing governments (absolutist) to continue to

The

Encyclopedia

and Religion

    The publication of the

Encyclopedia

in the mid/late 18 th century continued to spread Enlightenment ideas throughout Europe The

Encyclopedia

100s of authors , authored by such

philosophes

as Denis Diderot and Jean Le Rond D’Alembert was essentially a volume collection of various Enlightenment ideas from It included criticisms on religion, government, Renaissance and Reformation philosophic ideals…most of the writings were in the form of sarcasm or irony or even satire, to avoid being censored as subversive by absolutist government…volumes also included technical ideas from the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions, including maps, charts and schematics The main outcome of the

Encyclopedia

project was to modernize and secularize ideas that came out of the Renaissance and Reformation as well as raise questions about the role of religion in society

The

Encyclopedia

and Religion

   The

philosophes

and

encyclopedists

had concerns about religion, mainly the Roman Catholic church…they believed that the church was the chief obstacle to mankind’s improvement and happiness What resulted from this ire was a new ideology which was religion without the intolerance and fanaticism that most churches tended to provide…Deism was a new idea, centered around the notion that God created everything but essentially meant it to be left alone to its own devices and where that people will be judged after death for their actions in life Deism gave rise to increased religious tolerance because essentially criticizing or persecuting people for their beliefs was a great sin…the main premise was to point out to people that religion should not consume their lives, rather, just living a rational and moral life without all the glitz and glamour of an earthly body will be enough

  

Enlightened Peoples

Not all

philosophes

were just focused on religious issues, in fact most were concerned about human behavior and secular values…the concept of

social sciences

developed during the Enlightenment Cesare Beccaria, for instance, wrote a lot about how to punish criminals…he wrote that laws should conform to the laws of human nature…trials should be speedy and punishment should fit the crime…he also decried the torture and capital punishment Then there were the

physiocrats

whose concern was economic policies…they advocated that mercantilism and government protection policies hurt the natural flow of the economy…government should only protect property rights…among their greatest spokespersons was a little known French aristocrat name Pierre Samuel DuPont de Nemours

Enlightened Peoples

    

The greatest economic philosophes of all time was also the father of modern economic thought…Adam Smith, author of (Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of) The Wealth of Nations.

Smith advocated economic liberty, in that government should not overly regulate or overly tax economic output…these actions restrict economic expansion Smith the best thing to do is LEAVE IT ALONE, a concept that became known as laissez-faire …the ideas is that individual/personal economic selfish actions would promote social economic richness Smith’s writings created for economic the concept of the four stage theory …in societies there are groupings: hunter-gatherer, pastoral nomad, sedentary agricultural and commercial These ideas later served to justify European economic dominance over colonial/imperial controlled areas of the world

Enlightened Peoples

  

Philosophes

also agreed on the need for political reform in society, however, not on the methods of how that reform should be undertaken Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesuieu, author of

The Spirit of Laws

advocated aristocratic control…he admired the “cooperation” between nobles and monarch in the British system of government…he wished that his native France had such cooperation…his most important contribution was the idea that government should be divided into several “branches” The polar opposite to Montesquieu was Jean Jacques Rousseau author of

The Social Contract

…he advocated a society in which individuals could maintain some personal freedom while at the same time worked for the greater good of a large community (sound familiar?)

  

Enlightened Women

Again, women highly supported the Enlightenment through the opening of salons and coffeehouses…the indirect purpose was to help women become more educated…some even had political connections through “relationships” (Marquise du Pompadour and Madame du Barry) However, women also contributed to Enlightenment ideas…many were concerned with the treatment of their gender…Mary Wollstonecraft was a pioneer in advocating for women’s rights…she decried the misogynist views of many

philosophes

(she was no fan of Rousseau) that women should be happy Susie homemakers, her counter argument being it made them “sensual slaves to men” Her arguments were the first to demand true equality, the same that men of the Enlightenment desired for all common people

Enlightened Despots

   Most

philosophes

favored neither the aritocratic theory of Montesquieu nor the democrat social contrast of Rousseau…instead they looked to strong monarch to take responsibility of curing the ills of society The monarchs who seemed charged with this cause were Frederick the Great of Prussia, Joseph II of Austria-Hungary and Catherine the Great of Russia…each held correspondence with many of the

philosphes

…most were actually concerned with advancing the military power of their nations rather than advocating personal liberties or humanitarian causes The irony was that the

philosophes

, who decried the politics of absolutist rule and the use of war to expand a state, actually praised these efforts in Prussia and Russia, given that each of the leaders were actually using it to improve their civilization’s status

 

Frederick the Great

There were many “enlightened” things Frederick the Great did – He undertook land reform for expansion of agriculture even creating a credit association to collect funds for agricultural improvements – He fostered ideals of the Industrial Revolution, turning his prized territory of Silesia into a manufacturing region – He promoted religious tolerance for Jews – He made the legal system more efficient There were many things he didn’t do – Peasants were often forced to move into new land areas to farm – Taxation was till high on the townspeople/peasants (commoners) – Despite Jews being tolerated, they found no favor in government (or in society for that matter, it is Germany after all!)

   

Joseph II

Joseph II was probably the most sincere of the Enlightened despots, if only to improve the overall status of his kingdom Joseph II was one of the first monarchs of this period to bring the Catholic Church under control…Austria Hungary was still the champion dynasty of the old Holy Roman Empire and the church had considerable influence in the kingdom…Joseph II sought to eliminate that influence…he forbade communication of church officials directly thru Rome rather forcing those communications thru him He created wide standing peasant reforms as well…though their status really did not change, peasants were no longer subject to servitude (tied to the land) and were able to marry outside their village, engage in learning skilled labor and train their children in skilled labor However, Joseph’s ambition were far less reaching toward improving the economic and social status of his citizens…manufacturing interests were not expanded, taxes were modified and increased and Joseph found considerable resistance from the Hungarians when he tried to rescind their autonomy

Catherine the Great

   Catherine started out with a pragmatic list of orders (

Instruction of 1767

) that seemed to assert her control over the aristocratic order…however, Catherine later loosened control over the nobles granting them a charter to do as they saw fit with their lands and whatever was on them Economically she used her “influence” with the

philosophes

to promote Russian goods on the European market, but she never really promoted an expansion of manufacturing…while the rest of European monarchs promoted industrial growth, Catherine’s Russia remained a backwards agrarian state Like Frederick and Joseph, she was concerned with territorial expansion, and continued to expand Russia’s borders eastward, southward and even westward…she played an integral role in the partition of Poland between 1772 and 1795