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the age of reason 1687 - 1789

The Age of Reason 1687 - 1789. FORERUNNERSGalileoBaconDescartesHobbesThe Age of Reason is dated from 1687, when Issac Newton published his work on gravity, Principia Mathematica. The Age of Reason

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the age of reason 1687 - 1789

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    1. The Age of Reason 1687 - 1789 The Enlightenment The Neoclassic Age Augustan Age

    2. The Age of Reason 1687 - 1789 FORERUNNERS Galileo Bacon Descartes Hobbes The Age of Reason is dated from 1687, when Issac Newton published his work on gravity, Principia Mathematica

    3. The Age of Reason—1687 - 1789

    4. The Age of Reason -- The Enlightenment 1687 - 1789 Immanuel Kant: “Enlightenment is man’s leaving his self-caused immaturity. Immaturity is the incapacity to use one’s intelligence without the guidance of another. Such immaturity is self-caused if it is not caused by lack of intelligence, but by lack of determination and courage to use one’s intelligence without being guided by another. Sapere Aude! [Dare to know!] Have the courage to use your own intelligence! is therefore the motto of the enlightenment.”

    5. The Age of Reason -- 1687 - 1789 “Through laziness and cowardice a large part of mankind, even after nature has freed them from alien guidance, gladly remain immature. . . . It is so comfortable to be a minor! If I have a book which provides meaning for me, a pastor who has conscience for me, a doctor who will judge my diet for me and so on, then I do not need to exert myself. . . .Therefore there are only a few who have pursued a firm path and have succeeded in escaping from immaturity by their own cultivation of the mind.” (Immanuel Kant)

    6. The Age of Reason: Identifying Characteristics Art & Literature -- Order and Harmony Autonomy of Reason, Progress, Perfectibility Assaults on Authority Religion -- Deism Humankind -- The rejection of the doctrine of original sin. We should act with politeness, decency, and decorum. Political theory -- governments derive from people in a social contract Nature reformed and organized is best

    7. Baroque Art and Architecture C. 1600-c. 1770 Characteristics Highly ornamental Curved lines Dramatic lighting and color Chiaroscuro—dramatic contrasts of light and dark Exaggerated gestures Theatricality

    8. Baroque -- Rubens

    9. Baroque -- Rembrandt

    10. Baroque -- Vermeer

    11. Baroque--Bernini

    12. Baroque--Caravaggio

    13. Baglione: Sacred Love Versus Profane Love: Chiaroscuro and Theatricality

    22. The Age of Reason: Order and Harmony

    24. The Age of Reason in Literature: Order and Harmony

    25. The Age of Reason: PROGRESS For the first time, we see an optimistic view that humans can use reason to create a new and better world than had existed before. In the field of science in particular, there was a clear break from the past traditions and a belief that the best was yet to come, that scientific progress was possible.

    27. A New Religious Perspective: Deism Deism was a “natural” religion. Its adherents were convinced that Nature gave evidence that there must be a Creator-God. However, they were skeptical that it could be proved that Christ was the Son of God or that our spirits would continue beyond the grave. Deists tried to “humanize” religion.

    28. “I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life. I believe in the equality of man; and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow-creatures happy. . . . I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish Chuch, by the Roman Church, . . .by the Protestant Church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church. . . .Thomas [one of Jesus’ disciples] did not believe the resurrection, and as they say, would not believe without having ocular and manual demonstration himself. So neither will I, and the reason is equally as good for me, and for every other person, as for Thomas.” (Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason, 1794-5)

    29. Deism -- Thomas Jefferson “The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the Supreme Being as his father, in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter.”

    30. Deism—Thomas Jefferson “I have recently been examining all the known superstitions of the world, and do not find in our particular superstition [Christianity] one redeeming feature. They are all alike, founded upon fables and mythologies. Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned. What has been the effect of this coercion? To make one half the world fools and the other half hypocrites; to support roguery and error all over the earth.”

    31. Deism—Thomas Jefferson “The establishment of the innocent and genuine character of this benevolent moralist [Jesus], and the rescuing it from the imputation of imposture, which has resulted from artificial systems,* invented by ultra-Christian sects, unauthorized by a single word ever uttered by him, is a most d desirable object --* e. g. The immaculate conception of Jesus, his deification, the creation of the world by him, his miraculous powers, his resurrection and visible ascension, his corporeal presence in the Eucharist, the Trinity; original sin, atonement, regeneration, election, orders of Hierarchy, &c.” (Jefferson, Thomas. Letter to William Short, 31 Oct. 1819)

    32. Jefferson, the “Infidel” During Jefferson’s campaign for the presidency, the Gazette of the United States published the following: “. . . the only question to be asked by every American, laying his hand on his heart, is ‘shall I continue in allegiance to GOD-AND A RELIGIOUS PRESIDENT [John Adams]; or impiously declare for JEFFERSON--AND NO GOD!!!’”

    33. DEISM -- JOHN ADAMS “The doctrine of the divinity of Jesus is made a cover for absurdity.” “The Government of the United States is not in any sense founded upon the Christian religion.”

    34. DEISM -- JOHN ADAMS “The United States of America marks the first example of governments erected on the simple principles of nature.” The architects of American government never “had interviews with the gods or were in any degree under the inspiration of Heaven more than those at work upon ships or houses. [Government] is contrived merely by the use of reason and the senses. . . . [The government] was founded on the natural authority of the people alone, without a pretense of miracle or mystery.”

    35. Madison: Religion and Government “What influence, in fact, have ecclesiastical establishments had on society? In some instances they have been seen to erect a spiritual tyranny on the ruins of the civil authority; on many instances they have been seen upholding the thrones of political tyranny; in no instance have they been the guardians of the liberties of the people. Rulers who wish to subvert the public liberty may have found an established* clergy convenient auxiliaries. A just government, instituted to secure and perpetuate it, needs them not.” (*used in the same sense as the 1st amendment, i.e., “official,” government-recognized—and perhaps supported—religion)

    36. DEISM--Benjamin Franklin “I was scarce fifteen, when, . . . I began to doubt of Revelation itself. Some books against Deism fell into my hand; . . . They wrought an effect on me quite contrary to what was intended by them; for the arguments of the Deists, which were quoted to be refuted, appeared to me stronger than the refutations; in short, I soon became a thorough Deist.” (Franklin, Autobiography, 65)

    37. United States Prized Religious Tolerance "They all attributed the peaceful dominion of religion in their country mainly to the separation of church and state. I do not hesitate to affirm that during my stay in America I did not meet a single individual, of the clergy or the laity, who was not of the same opinion on this point" . -Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 1835

    38. Deism --- Voltaire “Is Jesus the Word? If He be the Word, did He emanate from God, is He co-eternal and consubstantial with Him, or is He of a similar substance. . . .Is the Holy Ghost made? or begotten? or produced?. . .Assuredly, I understand nothing of this; no one has ever understood any of it, and that is why we have slaughtered one another. The Christians tricked, caviled, hated, and excommunicated one another, for some of these dogmas inaccessible to human intellect. . . .The most detestable example of fanaticism is that exhibited on the night of St. Bartholomew[1572], when the people of Paris rushed from house to house to stab, slaughter, throw out of the window and tear in pieces their fellow citizens who did not go to mass[Protestants]. (Voltaire, Treatise on Tolerance, 1763)

    39. Human Worth: The Rejection of the Doctrine of Original Sin Christianity had long held that from Adam, humans had inherited a fallen state of corruptibility and an inclination to do evil. Catholicism and early Reformers both held this doctrine. During the Age of Reason, this doctrine was being challenged and rejected by many. The view of human possibility became more optimistic (and a little snobbish).

    40. Medieval View of God’s Power on Earth With the Catholic Church holding pervasive power, the church authorities had all religious and secular power. Dr Johnson describes Cardinal Bellarmine’s position: “the Pope is invested with all the authority on heaven and earth. That all princes are his vassals, and that he may annul their laws at his pleasure. That he may depose kings if the good of the Church requires it. . . .That the Pope is God upon earth.” (Georgio de Santillana)

    41. Renaissance view of the Divine Right of Kings [Renaissance view] “Because there are none on earth, after God, greater than sovereign princes, whom God establishes as His lieutenants to command the rest of mankind, . . . we [must] respect and revere their majesty in all due obedience, speak and think of them with all due honour. He who contemns his sovereign prince, contemns God whose image he is. . . . If the prince can only make law with the consent . . . of an inferior, whether it be a council of magnates or the people, it is not he who is sovereign” (Bodin, 1576)

    42. New View: Rational, Educated People hold the Power: Social Contract Theory (New ideas) “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the Governed.” (Decl. of Ind., 1776)

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