Chapter 8.docx - Chapter 8: The Age of Enlightenment I....

Chapter 8: The Age of Enlightenment
I. Intro
A. The 18th century pre french revolution(1789) is commonly known as the
enlightenment
B. Optimistic themes of historical advancement
C.
Critiques of existing regimes and traditions
Section 35: The Philosophes and Others
I. The spirit of Progress and Improvement
A. Drawn from the scientific and intellectual revolution of the 17th century, natural
law and natural right, bayle, spinoza, locke, newton, Bacon, Descartes, first time
that europeans were skeptical of tradition
B. Progress, belief that human life gets better as time goes on, ancients believed the
work of the greeks had never been surpassed, moderns disagreed
C. Witchcraft mania abruptly died, as people embraced radical skepticism, new
image of god, no longer saving grace but instead a divine watchmaker who set the
universe in motion
D. Certainly people were still religious, some like watts and Bach wrote church
hymns
E. John wesley was england's john whitfield, and they preached together in the
colonies as well
F. Few elite joined new movements, these were started by the uncomfortable
G. “Age of reason” did not stop people believing in things without explanation,
Mesmer---(mesmerized) cured with “faith/magic” in an early form of hypnosis
but it was significant that this was disproven by the academy of the sciences as
having no real logical foundation
H. Freemasonry- held enlightenment views, and respected god as an architect of the
universe, but met secretly, with a kind of occult feel

II. The Philosophes
A. In the 18th century a philosopher is simply someone who approached a subject
with a critical nature or intent
B. The reading public had expanded, women were reading, all readers wanted
matters made interesting and clear, which greatly benefited writing which was
often long winded and incomprehensible
C. New style was clear, fluent, and exact, people began to talk of “public opinion”,
debates were had in coffee houses, newspapers, and journals, the bourgeoisie was
becoming educated
D. Impacted by social conditions: in many countries writing was done under
censorship to “protect the population from harmful ideas” these standards were
determined by church, parliament, royals, printers guilds. Authors tended to attack
matters in general instead of in particular and filled their works with jokes and
references to make their original point to maintain deniability. The public,
meanwhile, began to purchase illegal books
E. This movement centered in Paris, Helvetius who wrote “on the mind” and “on
man” was a rare wealthy philosopher. Salons were run by women who played a
crucial mediating role in what was to be called “the country of letters”
F. Salones became well organized meeting places: notable people like Suzanne
Necker, Julie de Lespinasse. This set up gave women influence in the republic of
letters
G. Diderot wrote seventeen volumes of the encyclopedia. The first encyclopedia to
have a distinguished list of contributors, carried a strong tone of skeptical