Scientific Revolution Sparks the Enlightenment By the early
1700s, European thinkers felt that nothing was beyond the reach of
the human mind. Through the use of reason, insisted these thinkers,
people, and governments could solve every social, political, and
economic problem. In essence, these writers, scholars, and
philosophers felt they could change the world.
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Scientific Revolution Sparks the Enlightenment The Scientific
Revolution of the 1500s and 1600s had transformed the way people in
Europe looked at the world. Scientific successes convinced educated
Europeans of the power of human reason. Natural laws= rules
discoverable by reason, govern scientific forces such as gravity
and magnetism.
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Hobbes and Locke Have Conflicting Views Thomas HobbesJohn
Locke
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Philosophy in the Age of Reason Thomas HobbesJohn Locke Wrote
Leviathan Believed people were naturally cruel, greedy, selfish. If
not strictly controlled (by an absolute monarch) they would fight,
rob, oppress one another. Wrote English Bill of Rights Believed
people were basically reasonable and moral. They had certain
rights: natural rights
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Baron de Montesquieu : (French) studied governments &
cultures throughout history. Created the idea of a three branch
government with checks and balances Voltaire (Francois Marie
Arouet): to say what I think most famous of the philosophes Denis
Diderot : created the first Encyclopedia ( 25 yrs to produce 28
volumes) Jean-Jacques Rousseau : Believed people in their natural
state were basically good
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Mary Wollstonecraft (British) : social critic. Felt womens
first duty was to be a good mother. In favor of equal rights. Adam
Smith (Scottish economist) : Wrote Wealth of Nations. Argued that
the free market should be allowed to regulate business
activity.
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Key Terms: Natural law : laws that govern human nature Social
contract : an agreement by which they gave up the state of nature
for an organized society Natural right : Rights that belonged to
all humans from birth Philosophe : lovers of wisdom, group of
enlightenment thinkers. Physiocrats : (Thinkers) focused on
economic reforms. They looked for natural laws to define a rational
economic system. Laissez-faire : allowing business to operate with
little or no government interference.
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The Enlightened Individual The Philosophe Not really original
thinkers as a whole, but were great publicists of the new thinking
CHANGE & PROGRESS! They were students of society who analyzed
its evils and advanced reforms.
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The American Philosophes John Adams (1745-1826) Ben Franklin
(1706-1790) Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) ...life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness...
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Thomas Paine (1737-1809) Common Sense, 1776 The Rights of Man,
1791
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A Parisian Salon
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Madame Geoffrins Salon
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Denis Diderot (1713-1784) All things must be examined, debated,
investigated without exception and without regard for anyones
feelings. We will speak against senseless laws until they are
reformed; and, while we wait, we will abide by them.
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Diderots Encyclopdie
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Pages from Diderots Encyclopedie
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Subscriptions to Diderots Encyclopedie
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Reading During the Enlightenment Literacy: 80% for men; 60%
women. Books were expensive (one days wages). Many readers for each
book (20:1) novels, plays & other literature. journals,
memoirs, private lives. philosophy, history, theology. newspapers,
political pamphlets.
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An Increase in Reading
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Must Read Books of the Time
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Enlightened Despots Absolute rulers who used their power to
bring about political and social change.
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Frederick the Great of Prussia (r. 1740-1786) 1712 - 1786.
Succeeded his father, Frederick William I (the Soldier King). He
saw himself as the First Servant of the State.
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Catherine the Great (r. 1762-1796) German Princess Sophie
Friederike Auguste of Anhalt-Zerbst. 1729 - 1796.
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Joseph II of Austria (r. 1765-1790) 1741 - 1790. His mother was
Maria Theresa.
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The Legacy of the Enlightenment? 1. The democratic revolutions
begun in America in 1776 and continued in Amsterdam, Brussels, and
especially in Paris in the late 1780s, put every Western government
on the defensive. 2. Reform, democracy, and republicanism had been
placed irrevocably on the Western agenda.
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The Legacy of the Enlightenment? 3. New forms of civil society
arose -- clubs, salons, fraternals, private academies, lending
libraries, and professional/scientific organizations. 4. 19 c
conservatives blamed it for the modern egalitarian disease (once
reformers began to criticize established institutions, they didnt
know where and when to stop!)
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The Legacy of the Enlightenment? 5. It established a
materialistic tradition based on an ethical system derived solely
from a naturalistic account of the human condition (the Religion of
Nature). 6. Theoretically endowed with full civil and legal rights,
the individual had come into existence as a political and social
force to be reckoned with.