Enlightenment

“The 17th Century”

“The Age of Reason” 

The Scientific Revolution16th-17th century

•Printing presses introduced in 1480s

•Basic assumptions of scientific fields overthrown

•Main fields astronomy, anatomy, botany, physics, mathematics

•Confined to scientific communities, texts in Latin

Medieval Sciences—Older Views•Aristotelian physics: four elements –

earth, air, water and fire

•Ptolemaic view of universe - the

Earth was the center of the universe

•Medicine: four humours of the body

•Genetics: inherited learning

•Philosophy: deductive think

Essentially, this theory held that the human body was filled with four basic substances, called four humours, or humors, which are in balance when a person is healthy. All diseases and disabilities resulted from an excess or deficit of one of these four humors. The four humors were identified as black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and blood

Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)

•Astronomia Nova “The New Astronomy,” 1609 •Looking at recorded sightings of Mars •All planets moving in elliptical orbits                                       

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)

•1609 telescope

•1632 Dialogues on the Two Chief Systems of the World (forced by Church to recant)

•Universe subject to mathematical laws

•Nature inherently logical

Isaac Newton (1642-1727)

•Overhauled principles of physics

•Principia Mathematica, 1687

•Three Laws of Motion, Principles of inertia, gravity                                     

Isaac Newton (1642-1727)Newton’s Three Laws of Motion

I. Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it.

II. The relationship between an object's mass m, its acceleration a, and the applied force F is F = ma.

III. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

John Locke (1632-1704)

•Father of modern psychology, sociology

•Essay Concerning Human Understanding

–all knowledge is derived by experience

•Two Treatises on Government (1689) — Natural rights

•Letter Concerning Toleration (1689)

Enlightenment

“The 18th Century”

Philosophy of the Enlightenment

•“philosophes,” “Republic of Letters”•Stress on reason, optimism, civic

reform•Religious tolerance and political

equality•Faith in science and education

•Believed in improvement and experimentation

•Secular and cosmopolitan

18th Century Changes

•Stable food supply

•Industrial Revolution

(approx. 1750s-1850s)

•Commercial revolution

•Social mobility

•New strains on government

Science v. Religion

•End to witch trials, ca. 1700

•Criticism of the French Monarchy and the French Church

•Deism

•Toleration, hatred of

superstition                              

Belief in God based on reason rather than revelation or the teaching of any specific religion.A form of natural religion, Deism originated in England in the early 17th century as a rejection of orthodox Christianity. Deists asserted that reason could find evidence of God in nature and that God had created the world and then left it to operate under the natural laws he had devised.

Voltaire (1694-1778)

•Granddaddy of Enlightenment

•Defender of religious toleration

•Critic of French church and

state•Favored enlightened monarchies                       

Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755)

•Spirit of the Laws, 1748

•Balance of Powers theory •Admired British system, critic of French

•Inspired American Constitution

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)

Social Contract, 1762•Theory of the “General Will”•Civilization corrupting influence•Inspiration to French Revolution in a democratic society the state represents the general will of the citizens, and that in obeying its laws each citizen is pursuing his own real interest

Diderot and D’Albert’s Encyclopedie

•Literary compilation of Enlightenment thought

•Published 1751-1772

•28 volumes with over 70,000 articles                         

“Enlightened Despots”

•Joseph II of Austria (1780-1790)

•Frederick II of Prussia (1740-1786)

•Catherine II of Russia (1762-1796)

•Reduced power of clergy, aristocrats

•Centralization, legal reform, education              

Consequences of the Enlightenment

•Urban Reforms

•Educational reforms

•Abolition Movement

•Challenges to the Church

•Spur to Revolution: American, French, Haitian