Enlightenment Despotism Before the Enlightenment Traditional Society is
Enlightenment & Despotism
Before the Enlightenment Traditional Society is a society in which its: Basic arrangements were strictly hierarchical Government were mostly monarchical and authoritarian Religions were national state churches
Before the Enlightenment Changes in Traditional Society: The Dutch Republics pioneering non-monarchical government and religious toleration The English Civil War that aired notions of equality, religious toleration and popular sovereignty. The Glorious Revolution installing a constitutional government in which now the king had to answer to someone.
Enlightenment Ideas that made the 17 th century an Age of Reason: Suspicion of prior reasoning, authority, and tradition Attraction to natural and rational explanations, rather than spiritual Revulsion against religious intolerance and persecution Scientific method Idea that government was a contract among the people and with a ruler. The spreading of these ideas is called Enlightenment.
Enlightenment 1720 -1820 A period when intellectuals applied the methods of the scientific revolution to problems in these areas: political social economic philosophical religious
Philosophes were writers who were more interested in a wide audience than an academic career: Wrote in the vernacular, often French Wrote pamphlets, plays, and novels
Philosophes Writers had different views: In Christianity Not Mysterious (1696), John Toland argued that nature itself is proof of God’s existence; and anything that couldn’t be reduced to reason was nonsense. David Hume believed that nothing could be proven and that there were no discernible facts, including the existence of God, which he attributed to fear and superstition.
The Heart of the Enlightenment The Enlightenment flourished across Europe. France was the heart of the Enlightenment. Many 18 th century philosophes were French France seemed to be the most perfect ground to try their theories: It was in desperate need of reform It had a growing middling class
Voltaire (Francois Marie Arouet) He grew up in the reign of Louis XIV and educated by Jesuits. He got in trouble as a young writer for satirical writings on the government, and was eventually ordered to leave France.
Voltaire In England, Voltaire saw: The relative intellectual freedom The tolerance of different religious beliefs The openness of political life Writers able to criticize, even ridicule, the authorities
Voltaire’s Letters on England In 1733, he published the Letters of England, which launched the Enlightenment. In this book, Voltaire contrasted the openness, rationality, and intellectual vitality of Hanoverian England with the traditions, aristocratic privilege, state religion, censorship, and inefficiency of Bourbon France.
Voltaire His basic idea was to attack irrationality, intolerance, and superstition. Voltaire expressed what in the 19 th century would become the common view: that when government and religion have been mixed and when churchmen have been given power, they have proven throughout history to be intolerant and cruel.
Voltaire He believed that religion was a private affair, not to be imposed by the state. He wanted to reform authoritarian institutions persuade them to act for the common good
Denis Diderot agreed with Voltaire on the need to banish bigotry and superstition. In his novel, The Nun, he was unsympathetic to Church corruption. He didn’t like feudal aristocracy. He saw new science as a way to banish ignorance.
Diderot’s Encylopédie It was intended as a complete compendium of human knowledge, and contained articles by many famous writers, including Voltaire. There was an emphasis on reason and science It was banned by the French Monarchy after the first 10 volumes. Diderot secretly published the rest until 1780.
Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu He argued that scientific study of man and his environment would yield the best possible government. He contributed to the Encylopédie. In 1721, he wrote Persian Letters, which satirized French politics, society, and the French Church.
Montesquieu argued that the best form of government is a mix of both absolutism and constitutionalism. He stated that governments should divide their powers and separate and balance them among kings, nobles, and commons in England.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was introduced to other philosophes in Madame Louise de Warens’s salon. He is considered an anti -philosophe
Rousseau argued that man is happiest in the state of nature: Nature doesn’t corrupt him as society does. He doesn’t have to pay taxes or fight religious wars He had enough to eat and gets exercise. While Voltaire and Diderot agree that civilization needs some work, Rousseau is the first to advocate going back to nature and starting from scratch.
Rousseau He stated that government policy was to be the will of not a king, but the “general will” of the people: democracy. While other philosophes wanted to reform the traditional society, he suggests that the whole system of the traditional society should be eradicated.
Britain & France Neither Britain’s Georges nor France’s Louis paid much attention to the philosophes. They saw themselves as the instruments of reform for their bureaucracies, nobility, the Church, and their economies. “I am the state. ”– Louis XIV “I am the servant of the state. ”– Frederick the Great These rulers felt a responsibility to look after the responsibility of their people’s and their own interest, so we call them “enlightened”.
Catherine the Great Catherine continued Peter the Great’s policies of reform and westernization. She read a number of the philosophes and claimed that Montesquieu’s Spirit of the Laws was her bible.
Catherine the Great Reformed Russia Divided Russia into 50 provinces with a governor each, then further with 10 districts in each province. Increased the power of the aristocracy in the Charter of Nobility of 1785 Exempted Nobles from taxation and military service and gave them full ownership of their estates.
Frederick the Great of Prussia He understood what the philosophes were about. He wrote the Antimachiavell as a crowned prince. Agreed with the philosophes that his role as king was to: combat popular ignorance and superstition enhance general welfare promote religious toleration Believed in the hierarchical structure Developed new law code that strictly defined ranks and gave aristocrats increased legal control over their serfs.
Joseph II of Austria He saw that Austria needed reform after the Seven Years’ War: Centralized bureaucracy and separated government power Forced nobles to pay taxes and established tariff barriers Limited labor required by serfs Devised new law code Declared religious toleration and limited Austrian Catholic Church Imposed German on the whole empire Eventually, abolished serfdom
Joseph II of Austria Reaction to his reform was revulsion: Roman Catholic Church and clergy hated him for disestablishing them as the sole legal religion and for confiscating Church property. Belgians and Hungarians revolted at having to learn and use German Aristocrats hated him for weakening, then abolishing, serfdom.
Conclusion The hope of some writers that a single rational philosopher king could reform the traditional society and promote general welfare was impractical as long as the hierarchy remained strong. Later, Europe saw a more radical attempt to put Enlightenment ideals into action– one that came from America.
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