The Enlightenment
When was the American Revolution over?
When the French signed the treaty of Paris.
What things triggered the Enlightenment?
1. The revoking of the Edict of Nantes 2. Constitutional crisis of England 3. The Scientific Revolution
What asked the question "What is Enlightenment" & what was the answer?
Immanuel Kant - Using reason to lead you to the truth.
What was really being stressed during the Enlightenment?
Individual independence - being able to think for oneself based on reason.
Who wrote Philosophical Letters on the English & what was it about?
Voltaire - He speaks greatly of the virtues of England.
Montesquieu believes in different sections of government. What are those?
executive, legislative, & judicial
What is deism and what is it's significance during the Enlightenment?
A belief that God created the universe and then left it and no longer intervenes. Many Philosophes began to think this way.
Who wrote Wealth of Nations & what was it about?
Adam Smith - The government shouldn't be controlling trade and nations should only manufacture what they're good at.
What is Enlightened Despotism?
Ruling according to reason. It's a type of absolutist rule where someone is King because they have the most reason.
What were the difference in salons and masonic lodges?
Salons were for everyone (upper class and aristocracy), which the masonic lodges were very secretive and only for aristocrats that way they could share secrets.
What was Neo-Classical art called?
"Aesthetic of the age of reason".
What does Jean-Jacques Rousseau believe that society needs in order to have true freedom?
"General Will"
Who was a french Physiocrat?
Francois Quesnay
What is Liberalism?
The stress on individual liberty.
Who was mainly reading the Encylopedie?
Urban Bourgeois (rising middle class)
What sides do Locke and Smith add to liberalism?
Locke - political Smith - economic
What term did the Physiocrats coin?
Laissez Faire
What did Jean-Jacques compare society to?
A machine, saying that if the machine doesn't work correctly, fix it.
How did Philosophes improve society?
By taking ideas from the scientific revolution and using reason to improve social questions and create progress.
Who wrote On Crimes and Punishments & what is it about?
Cesare Beccaria - applying reason and rationality to crimes & punishment by saying that we need to understand the causes of crime to produce and adequate punishment.
Who wrote the Encylopedie & what was it about?
Denis Diderot - Massive work by philosophes with information on everything in an attempt to spread reason and knowledge.
What were Philosophes?
Enlightenment thinkers
What other movement is also taking place during the Enlightenment? What are both of these telling you?
Evangelical, where people are beginning to stress individual faith and not just going to church. Essentially, they both are stressing the importance of trusting yourself.
Who were the Physiocrats?
French, economic thinkers.
Voltaire wanted religious tolerance and freedom of thought, but what did he not want?
He didn't want the poor voting.
What did Frederick II of Prussia do?
He started reorganizing Prussia to align more with merit and enforced religious tolerance.
Who wrote The Social Contract & what is it about?
Jean-Jacques Rousseau - Man was good and then entered society, created government, and became corrupted. He says that civilization is the problem as to why men are so bad. This "badness" can be improved by reconstructing society.
Who introduced "Natural Rights" & what are those?
John Locke - Government is meant to just protect these three things: Life, Liberty, & Property.
Who wrote Two Treaties on Government & what was it about?
John Locke - He believes government has limited, not absolute, sovereignty.
Who wrote Essay Concerning Human Understanding & what was it about?
John Locke - He vocalizes his empiricist views and says that man is born a blank slate, therefore the education of a child is important. He really stressed education in general.
Who wrote The Spirit of Laws & what was it about?
Montesquieu - He argues that Natural Laws are the best laws to govern because humans are fallible, therefore any law they make will be to.
Who wrote A Historical and Critical Dictionary & what was it?
Pierre Bayle - An "early encyclopedia" where he wrote a ton, but in the footnotes, he wrote many of his own ideas, specifically on why there should be religious tolerance.
What is the difference in Rococo and Neo-Classicism art?
Rococo was the art of the old regime that was frivolous and put an emphasis on the rich. On the other hand, Neo-Classicism was the the new art that stresses rationalist and public virtue.
What was a major problem that the Bourgeoisie had during this time?
That aristocrats were still in control of things.
What did Mary Wollstonecraft circulate?
The idea that inherited privilege is incorrect. This challenges the traditional Europe regime.
What is General Will?
The true interest of the majority, but the majority cannot vote because they can be tricked. So the majority needs to be willing to submit to the general will even if it's not what they want.
What does Adam Smith redefine?
The word "market", turning it into a set of relationships and how people behave economically.
Why do most philosophes have little care for the masses?
They don't think most people are capable to govern themselves.
What did the Physiocrats believe?
They think mercantilists have misunderstood wealth and real wealth is based on the land and what it produces. They believe natural laws better govern natural resources than government.
