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Age of the Enlightenment

“Sapere aude!”. Age of the Enlightenment. “Dare to know! Have the courage to use your own intelligence” Words of Immanuel Kant “Human ignorance is not caused by the lack of intelligence but from the “lack of determination and courage to use that intelligence without another’s guidance.”.

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Age of the Enlightenment

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  1. “Sapere aude!” Age of the Enlightenment “Dare to know! Have the courage to use your own intelligence” Words of Immanuel Kant “Human ignorance is not caused by the lack of intelligence but from the “lack of determination and courage to use that intelligence without another’s guidance.”

  2. Money Astronomy Medicine Trade Religion Law 3,700,00 B.C Australopithecus AD 1215 Magna Carta is signed AD 1500 AD 1789 French Revolution AD 570 AD 146 AD 476 AD 1250 AD 1914 WWI AD 1619 Jamestown colonists in America 2000 B.C World History Timeline AD 1799 Napoleon rules France Cro-Magnon Man IslamicEmpire AD 1940 WWII Greece AD 1643 Louis XIV builds Versailles in France Medieval Europe The Americas 33,000 B.C to 8000 B.C Africa Rome AD 570 Muhammed is born AD 30 Jesus is crucified Egypt & Mesopotamia (Fertile Crescent) AD 0 United States of America India China AD 1517Luther’s Reformation 8350 B.C Jericho built – 1st walled town 3200 B.C AD 1863 American Civil war AD 1776 America Declares Independence AD 1450 Gutenberg’s Printing Press 2500 B.C AD 2001 9/11 1500 BC 300 BC ? The Great Flood (Noah) AD 589 AD 550

  3. Enlightenment Thinkers • Before the Enlightenment how did philosophers view human beings? • Men are born into classes, some are born to rule, some are born to be ruled • Men are inferior to God and have no hope of improving themselves • Men are incapable of understanding how the mysteries of the universe works

  4. 18th Century Politics • BRITAIN– Constitutional Monarchy • FRANCE Royal Absolutism (cultural and religious unity) • PRUSSIA, HABSBURG EMPIRE, RUSSIA “Enlightened Despotism” • OTTOMAN EMPIRE – traditional empire

  5. Age of the Enlightenment The Renaissance may have opened the door to reason but had neither the courage nor the power to oppose the medieval concept of faith instead of reason. The leaders of the Enlightenment had that courage and power - Descartes in mathematics, Mozart in music, Rembrandt in painting, and Locke and Rousseau in politics. Revolution was in the air

  6. Age of Scientific Revolution Summary The Scientific Revolution & the Enlightenment challenged and changed the way people thought about the world.

  7. Enlightenment Thinkers • Philosophers influenced by Scientific Revolution • By using the Scientific Method and reason they hoped to figure out ways to improve conditions for people.

  8. Enlightenment Thinkers • Beginning in the Enlightenment how did philosophers view human beings? • Men are born free and equal, and this fact should be accounted for in gov’t

  9. Rene Descartes Sums up Enlightenment philosophy PEOPLE MUST RELY ON THEIR OWN REASON TO UNDERSTAND LIFE AND THE NATURAL ORDER - AND EVERYTHING MUST BE JUDGED BY ASKING WHAT IS HUMANLY REASONABLE 1596-1650 I think therefore I am!

  10. Religion’s Purpose Changes under the Enlightenment • As people used more and more of their reason to understand situations then they need the creator less and less • God might be useful for one's personal life but for science, politics, and gov't, human reason alone will suffice

  11. Under the Enlightenment philosophy • Men should not use faith to justify reason Instead they should • Apply reason to the human world, not just the natural world • Examine and practice religious tolerance • Consider ideas of a democratic revolution

  12. Voltaire • 1700s defender of human rights & reform • He is the philosopher who advocated religious tolerance and the separation of church and state Wait until you hear his story!

  13. Voltaire • Separate church and state • His world imposed arrest and torture upon those citizens who expressed opinions that stood in opposition to the prevailing religious, social, and political views Wait until you hear his story!

  14. Voltaire 1700s • What happened to Voltaire to make him want to separate church and state? • He was a good Catholic who felt God was a conscious intelligence that designed the world (that was enough for censure from the Roman Catholic Church; it was heresy) • Church said horrendous earthquake in 1755 was God's judgment on the French people “9-11 was God’s punishment on us because of all the homosexuals” Jerry Falwell

  15. Voltaire • Voltaire's then became even more anti-Catholic after Huguenot Jean Calas was tortured and executed in 1762 • Calas, falsely convicted of having killed his son to prevent him from converting to Catholicism, was tortured by the Catholic authorities in hopes he would confess • he was subjected to the question ordinaire: his arms and legs were stretched until they were pulled from their sockets. When he did not confess (his son committed suicide) • he was subjected to the question extraordinaire: fifteen pints of water poured down his throat. Calas continued to claim innocence. 15 more pints added, swelling his body to twice normal size • Executioner then broke each of his limbs in two places and finally strangled him to death. His corpse was burned at the stake.

  16. Voltaire The result of these incidents? Voltaire will believe strongly in the separation of church and state • Voltaire believed passionately in the need to reform society and to reform the church but he found he could not influence the king of France nor the church authorities so ....he turned to the common people, becoming THE LEADING DEFENDER OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE NEED TO CHANGE SOCIETY • he flooded Europe with political pamphlets, novels, poems, etc. • he criticized the Bible and organized religion which he thought was used to crush any new ideas and used to continue erroneous beliefs in superstition

  17. Voltaire Though it might seem easy, today, to criticize such a passionate emphasis on reason, remember that Voltaire's society tortured people who went against the accepted norm. WOULD YOU BE WILLING TO PAY THAT PRICE TO CHANGE SOCIETY IN WAYS YOU DEEM NECESSARY?

  18. Voltaire’s “Wisdom” • Every man is guilty of all the good he didn’t do. • God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh. • If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him. • It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong. • Love truth and pardon error.

  19. Voltaire’s “Wisdom” I may not agree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.

  20. Hobbes 100 years before Voltaire there was a philosopher named Hobbes who wrote a book called Leviathan

  21. Hobbes

  22. Hobbes • Years of nasty religious wars and nasty English civil war (500,000 dead) • Man in the world is a nasty and brutal beast. • He is ruled by selfish interest • Society is not safe http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/2008/11/12/alg_gears.jpg

  23. Hobbes 1600s • Hobbes introduced the organizing principle of the social contract(don’t confuse this with another later book called the Social Contract) • SOCIAL CONTRACT says that individual people give up some of their freedoms/liberties in exchange for the protection and benefits of the group • Crucial becauseaccording to this contract good and evil are no longer considered in absolute terms, right and wrong are simply determined by the collective decision • He believes an absolute monarchy is necessary for the greater good and safety. An absolute monarchy is the best form of gov’t because it ensures everyone is protected and safe from the evil in all men

  24. Hobbes 1600s • The idea that there is a contract between the rulers and the people will hold… • Can you see how this will change the way people think?

  25. Hobbes 1600s Hobbes wrote Leviathan the 1600s 100 years later another writer will expand on the idea of a social contract…and his ideas will cause the world to explode Jean Jacques Rousseau will write in the 1700s His book is called The Social Contract

  26. Rousseau 1700s Age of exploration….Rousseau believes: • Man in nature is a noble savage • His argument: The Enlightenment's emphasis on reason and science had caused people to lose more freedom than they gained

  27. Rousseau 1700s • His belief: people should have absolute freedom - freedom not just from culture but from authority of any kind ...this means that for Rousseau - the individual became the center of the universe

  28. Rousseau 1700s • The impact/result: Rousseau rejects the Judeo-Christian concept of original sin and argued humans are born innocent and pure - it is society that corrupts.

  29. Rousseau 1700s His argument: A government is a contract between the rulers and the people….and if one party breaks their duty in the contract…..then the other party has a right to change it.

  30. Rousseau 1700s Conclusion individual freedom only secure if there was a "general will" - - this way people would have peer pressure to do the right thing and treat everyone equal

  31. Rousseau’s Philosophy • Concept of the “General Will.” • Only those who make their own laws are free. • Virtuous citizens will agree, become one. • A discussion among the virtuous will yield unity. • Dissenters are “forced to be free.” • General Will = law + freedom!

  32. Rousseau’s Philosophy • Virtue exists in the ”state of nature,” but lost in “society.” • Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. • Civil liberty  invest ALL rights and liberties into a society.

  33. But What Does It All Mean?What is the Big Picture? • Enlightenment philosophy = eventually eliminated the need for supernatural beings (oh, poor Gilgamesh) and divine commands (oh, poor Crusaders) while at the same time implicitly eliminating the clear distinctions between humans and other living organisms. • A dehumanization of people has begun

  34. The Characteristics of the Enlightenment • Rationalism reason is the arbiter of all things. • Scientific Method • Mathematical analysis • Experimentation • Inductive reasoning. 3. Utilitarianism the greatest good for the greatest number. 4.Tolerance  No opinion is worth burning your neighbor for.

  35. Montesquieu Another profoundly important philosopher enters the picture… He believes to avoid abuse of gov’t power then the gov’t should be divided among three branches…

  36. The Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) • He wrote a book called On the Spirit of Laws, 1758

  37. Montesquieu’s Philosophy • Freedom for the individual is the goal • To achieve this, gov’t needs constitution to guarantee the safety and security of the individual • A separation of political powers ensured freedom and liberty “Inspiring!”

  38. There is another philosopher… John Locke He believes: • The people are sovereign - the right to rule and the power lies within the common man - by natural law • Monarchs are not chosen by God • The purpose of a gov’t is to protect man’s right to life, liberty , and property

  39. John Locke’s Philosophy • There are certain natural rights that are endowed by God to all human beings. • life, liberty, property! • The doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings was nonsense. • He favored a republic as the best form of government.

  40. Enlightenment Philosophy • Hobbes • Montesquieu • Rousseau • Locke Who wrote the Declaration of Independence? (Thomas Jefferson) Which one of the philosophers influenced the U.S. Constitution the most? (Locke- but the others are in there in more subtle forms)

  41. 1759-1797 Mary Wollstonecraft British 1st Feminist Philosopher A Vindication for the Rights of Women she argues that women are not naturally inferior to men, but appear to be only because they lack education. She suggests that both men and women should be treated as rational beings and imagines a social order founded on reason.

  42. 1713-1784 French Denis Diderot Wrote the Encyclopedia show the dependence of men's ideas on their five senses. The work sought to bring together all knowledge of the time and condense this information for all to use. An encyclopedia would give the layman an ability to reason and use knowledge to better themselves;

  43. Thomas Paine (1737-1809) • Wrote Common Sense, 1776 • It is right for man to revolt against an improper gov’t • Man’s rights are eternal and unchanging!

  44. Enlightenment Thinkers • Adam Smith created idea of laissez-faire economics. • He wroteThe Wealth of Nations • When it comes to the economy then gov’t should do nothing. • Natural forces of economy - supply and demand - should work freely. • Ex: gov’t should protect people from invasion by enemy but not from poverty.

  45. The American “Philosophers” John Adams(1745-1826) ThomasJefferson(1743-1826) Ben Franklin(1706-1790) …...…life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness…………...

  46. James Madison1751-1838 • Jefferson’s friend and neighbor • Wrote Constitution of Virginia 1776, Leader of Virginian Assembly to the Continental Congress., • Member of Constitutional Convention- Father of the Constitution, Secretary of State, 4th President.

  47. Thomas Jefferson1743-1825 • Farmer (unsuccessful), Lawyer, Congressman, Governor, Ambassador, Secretary of State, V.P. and 3rd President, • Wrote the most famous 36 words in history.. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that 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, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government • Wished to be remembered for: • Declaration of Independence • Religious Freedom • University of Virginia

  48. Age of Scientific Revolution Summary The Scientific Revolution & the Enlightenment challenged and changed the way people thought about the world.

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