MWH 1.C

Unit I Part C: The Enlightenment

New Social Sciences

Scottish Philosopher Adam Smith

wrote in 1776 Smith released The Wealth of Nations in which he discussed Laissez-Faire meaning - To Let Do - or let the people do what they want.

Laissez-Faire - the idea that the

government should not interfere in the economy.

The Spread of Ideas

Ideas of the Philosophes

Jean-Jacques Rousseau developed the idea of the

Social Contract - The people give up some rights in order to be governed and protected.

Mary Wollstonecraft often wrote on the rights of

women. She argued that the same people who argued that women must serve men were those same people who were saying that government based on the arbitrary powers of monarchs over their subjects was wrong.

More printing meant more books and more books

meant more information can be spread further. The growing popularity of reading and fictitious novels based on realistic social themes

The Enlightenment - An 18th century philosophical movement of

intellectuals who were greatly impressed by the achievements of the Scientific Revolution.

One of the favorite words of the movement was Reason. Meaning

the application of the Scientific Method to the understanding of all life.

Intellectuals of the enlightenment were influenced greatly by John

Locke and Isaac Newton.

Locke suggested that everyone was molded by their experiences,

having been born with Tabula Rasa - the idea that everyone is born a blank slate to be written upon.

Newton was also influential. His idea of the universe being a clock,

would by god and then left to tick on its own, governed by natural laws.

Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Diderot

The Role of Philosophy

Religion and the Enlightenment

In his famous work, The Spirit of Laws, Montesquieu

stated that England had three branches of government. A Separation of Powers - each branch has the ability to check each other and preforms their own duties.

Taking a page from Newton, Voltaire developed the idea of

Deism - An 18th century religious philosophy where God created a universe and then let it run, governed by the natural laws.

Diderot , who attended the university of Paris, became a

writer and eventually wrote the Encyclopedia. Becoming a weapon against old french society.

The name for these intellectuals of the Enlightenment is

Philosophe - the French word for Philosopher.

A philosophe being a person who studies Philosophy - a

way of thinking about questions, the big questions:

While many philosophers attacked Christian

Churches, they remained Christians. The desire of ordinary Protestants for greater depth of religious experience lead to new religious movements.

Methodism - a Christian sect based around

traveling ministers who offer sermons several times a day where people often have conversion experiences.

Notable they caused the abolition of the slave

trade in the early 1800s. Today, Methodism and Methodists are a separate Protestant group.

• What is the world like?
• Why are we hear?
• What is real?
• Good v Evil
• What is God like?
• Do we have souls?

The Enlightenment and the Arts

By the 1730s a new style of art had

spread all over Europe.

Rocco - following the Baroque era, it

emphasized grace, charm, and gentle action.

Musically there was the raising of both

Mozart and Haydn, writing what is now considered classical music, as opposed to the Baroque of Handel and Bach.