Upload
gabriella-lawson
View
226
Download
1
Tags:
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
A Graphic Model of Enlightenment Philosophy KEY!- The Enlightenment = the application of the methods developed in the natural sciences (logic and reason) to the social sciences
Fundamental Question Where does sovereignty come from and who should wield it?
God? People- Social Contract Theory
But what is the proper social contract?
Conservative- Hobbes
Absolute Monarchy- people are bad- Interregnum
Moderates (majority!) Montesquieu and Voltaire
Enlightened Absolutism- Perhaps some breaks are needed on Absolute Power
Prevent Tyranny? Checks and Balances. Freedom of Speech.
More Radical- Locke
Constitutional Monarchy/Republic
Natural Rights, Right of Revolution
Out There
Rousseau – Direct Democracy?
Noble Savage. General Will. Education
Key Ideas of the Enlightenment
• No Divine Right – Why not? Not based on
________________
• Social Contract Theory– Humans enter freely into a contract with
each other to form a government in order to create order and protect their rights
• Natural Law – Classical foundations – Gravity- Newton …. _____- philosophes
– Hobbes• People are bad• “If people are good, why do we have locks on our
doors?” • An absolute monarch is needed to save people
from themselves • Key work- Leviathan
I. Conservative Philosophes
– Change will come through Enlightened Absolutism (we’ll come back to this)
– Why maintain absolutist power? • people are dumb – they need a strong ruler
– A democracy would put the power in the hands of this mob (most reject democracy)
• However, that doesn’t mean that a ruler shouldn’t make changes to society
– Freedom of religion? – Outlaw torture? – Fair taxes, etc.?
• Also, the alternative is bloody revolution to remove monarchs… that is no fun!
II. Moderate PhilosophesThe majority of philosophes
In this Enlightened Absolutism, how does society defend against tyranny?
– Montesquieu – checks and balances • Not in favor of full democracy… (nobility,
but not the mob!) checks king• Voltaire … freedom of speech … reason
will eventually triumph if it is unrestrained
– Censorship, particularly in France, results in satire and ‘under the cloak’ bookselling
• Before the French Revolution in France, it was supposedly not hard to buy pornography about the royal family
• Examples of satire– Persian Letters – Culture is relative!
– Galileo- Dialogues on Two Chief Systems of the World
Voltaire’s “Wisdom” (I)
► Every man is guilty of all the Every man is guilty of all the good he good he didn’t do. didn’t do.► God is a comedian playing to an God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.audience too afraid to laugh.► If God did not exist, it would be If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.necessary to invent him.► It is dangerous to be right It is dangerous to be right when the when the government is wrong. government is wrong.► Love truth and pardon error.Love truth and pardon error.
Voltaire’s “Wisdom” (II)
► Judge of a man by his questions Judge of a man by his questions rather than by his answers.rather than by his answers.► Men are equal; it is not birth, but Men are equal; it is not birth, but virtuevirtue that makes the difference. that makes the difference.► Prejudice is opinion without Prejudice is opinion without judgment.judgment.► The way to become boring is to say The way to become boring is to say
everything. everything.► I may not agree with what you I may not agree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.death your right to say it.
More Voltaire
• Candide– Pokes fun at irrationality– Spanish earthquake anecdote
• Auto da fe
III. Some philosophes were bit more extreme
– Thus, democracy (Republic or Constitutional monarchy)
– John Locke • People are basically
good and will learn from and correct mistakes
• Natural Rights – Inalienable rights
conferred on all humans at birth
• Universal public Education (why?)
• Right of Rebellion
More Locke
– John Locke- ‘Tabula Rasa’ • Babies are a ‘blank slate’. Their culture is not
congenital, but learned. – If I had been moved to Saudi Arabia when I was a month old,
what religion would I be now?
IV. Others Were Very Extreme • Rousseau
– Hippie– Favorite of Revolutionaries
• Society is the source of all problems- noble savage idea – Ultimate personal freedom is needed – Reason can be misleading… emotion, spontaneity – Education must be guided by those to be educated
• General Will should guide the government – Will of the people, but the majority doesn’t always
know what this is– Sometimes leaders need to guide the people – Close to direct democracy– Get rid of existing system completely
• Some have blamed him for Hitler/Mussolini…• How/why?
Unrepentant • Louis XV (France)
– Weakened by the rise of Parlement during his regency
• Courts of nobles/bourgeois • Had the power of remonstration
– At first Louis XV was weak against this group
• He had to back off attempted tax increases– Finally, Louis XV, who is pleasure
loving, hands off power to Maupeou, who crushes the Parlements
• Louis XVI – Wants to be loved– Backs off Maupeou’s harsh stances
towards Parlements, bourgeois, and nobles
Somewhat Enlightened (Some Change) • Reasoned reform, but guided by monarchs
– More rational bureaucracy, tax collection, courts, laws, punishments for crimes, etc.
– Religious toleration of all Christians – Often done (cynically) to maintain power in
European political climate
• Examples… Frederick the Great, Catherine the Great, Maria Theresa
Frederick the Great
• Frederick the Great- Basics– Interesting childhood v adulthood – “I am the Servant of the State”
• Should remind you of…?
– Prussia becomes a dominant European power after eating up Silesia and parts of Poland
• Frederick the Great- Enlightened aspects– freedom of the press (personal friends with Voltaire),
religious toleration, honest bureaucracy– Limitations? serfdom remains… no
Catherine the Great• Basics
– Complicated coup d’etat – Great success in completing Peter the
Great’s foreign policy• Gobbled up a big chunk of Poland • Got land on the Black Sea by fighting
Ottoman Turks
• Enlightened Policies• Cultural westernization as opposed to
Peter the Great’s military westernization• Encyclopedia, humane treatment of
criminals, some freedom of press and religion, new law codes (rational)
– Backs off of Enlightenment in the face of a peasant (cossack-led) rebellion
• ‘my true allies are the nobles’• No end to serfdom
Maria Theresa • Maria Theresa
(Austria) – Modernizes mainly
to become strong enough to resist Prussia
– Rational gov’t is more efficient
– Attacked papal influence despite her own devout faith
Very (too?) Radical
• Additional Reforms – Religious toleration even of non-Christians– Freed serfs– Taxation of nobles – Attacks and humbles the Catholic Church
• Joseph II– His people (ironically?) hated these reforms– Too much too fast
• His successor (Leopold II) had to undo all of these reforms
Joseph II of Austria (r. 1765-1790)
► 1741 -– 1741 -– 1790.1790.
► His mother His mother waswas Maria Maria Theresa.Theresa.
HansenAP Euro
Lecture Outline – Part I. Enlightenment Philosophy and Enlightened Absolutists
• Key Ideas of the Enlightenment– No _______________________
• Why not? Not based on ________________
• Social Contract Theory– Humans enter freely into a ___________________________ to
form a government in order to _________ and protect their rights
• Natural Law – Classical foundations – Gravity- Newton …. _____- philosophes
• I. Conservative Philosophe– Hobbes
• People are _______• “If people are good, why do we have
_______________?” • An absolute monarch is needed to _________________
_____________________________• Key work- _____________________
• II. Moderate Philosoph– _______ Enlightenment Philosoph were moderates– Change will come through ________________________ (we’ll
come back to this) – Why maintain absolutist power?
• people are _______– they need ___________________– A democracy would put the power in the hands
______________ (most reject _____________)• However, that doesn’t mean that a ruler shouldn’t make
changes to society – Freedom of ___________? – __________________? – Fair taxes, etc.?
• Also, the alternative is ______________________ to remove monarchs… that ________________!
– In this Enlightened Absolutism, how does society ___________ tyranny?
– Montesquieu – ______________________________________• Not in favor of full democracy… (_________, but not the
____________!) checks king– Voltaire … freedom of speech … reason will eventually triumph if
_____________________________________– Censorship, particularly in France, resulted in satire and ‘______
_______________________________’ bookselling • Before the French Revolution in France, it was
supposedly not hard to ______________ about the royal family
• Examples of satire– Persian Letters – ____________________! – Galileo- Dialogues on Two Chief Systems of the
World – More Voltaire
• Candide– Pokes fun at ____________________
• Spanish earthquake anecdote - _________________ __________________________________________
– Auto da fe
• III. Some Philosophes were a bit more extreme – Thus, _____________ (Republic or Constitutional monarchy)– John Locke
• People are basically _____________and will learn from and ______________________________
• Natural Rights – ___________________ conferred on all humans
at birth • Universal public Education (why?- _____________
___________________________________) • Right of _______________• ‘Tabula Rasa’
– Babies are a __________________’. Their culture is not congenital, but learned.
» If I had been moved to Saudi Arabia when I was _________________, what _____________would I be now?
• IV. Others Were Very Extreme• Rousseau
– _________________– Favorite of (French) Revolutionaries
• Society is the source of all problems- _________________ idea – Ultimate personal freedom is needed – Reason can be misleading… __________, _________________ – Education must be guided by ____________________________
• General Will should guide the government – Will of the people, but the majority doesn’t always ____________
______________________________– Sometimes leaders need to _____________the people – Close to _________________________________– Get rid of existing system ______________________
• Some have blamed him for _________________________________…• How/why? - _______________________________
__________________________________________