WH CH. 17 essay questions

Discuss the significance and the influence of John Locke and Isaac Newton on the Enlightenment.

• Basically jump started the Enlightenment and got people interested in beliefs other than religion. • Newton worked out the theory of gravity and had a mechanistic view on the earth, people, and nature. He ushered the entire scientific revolution and is the sole reason that people began seeing through reason rather than religion. • John Locke influenced the idea of deism. • Locke rejected the notion that the "identity of the soul makes the man" • Many philosophers drew off of Locke and Newtons ideas and expanded to create their own philosophies.

What were the major ideas of jean Jacques Rousseau? In what ways were Rousseau's ideas unique, differing from those of his predecessors?

• He believed that we are inherently good but corrupted by the evils of society. • We are born in a naturally good and wholesome state. • He wrote the Social Contract, saying "Man was born free but everywhere he is in chains." • Believed people should have a general will, and what is good for the society and community as a whole. • He wrote Emile; focusing on the principles of natural education. • Many people believed that humans are evil, he didn't believe that they are necessarily evil, but can be turned evil.

Define "High Culture". In which ways was high culture expressed in the eighteenth century?

• High culture usually means literary and artistic world of educated and wealthy ruling classes. • It was the learned world of theologians, scientists, philosophers, intellectuals, poets and dramatists. • Development of magazines for the public was an important event. • Schools and colleges began to dwell in clubs and assemblies at tea tables and coffee houses. • High culture was basically for people in a higher social class, hence "high culture." • It's more of press, such as magazines, newspapers and books.

What kinds of experiences would you associate with the popular religion of the eighteenth century? How did the intellectual and emotional debates of the enlightenment play themselves out in the realm of human spirituality and the churches?

• I would say that bad experiences would be a cause for their disbelief in god, or at least them not believing that he helps people out on a daily basis (called deism). • The churches did not like that the philosophers were "conspiring" against them.

Discuss the major intellectual changes that led to the enlightenment

• Initiated by the Renaissance • Events 1605 Kepler discovers first law of planetary motion 1609 Galileo develops his first telescope 1618 Thirty Years' War begins 1625 Grotius publishes On the Law of War and Peace 1633 Pope prosecutes Galileo for promoting sun-centered theory of the solar system 1648 Thirty Years' War ends 1687 Newton publishes Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica • The first important people of the Enlightenment were John Locke, Voltaire, Pierre Bayle and Isaac Newton. • "For Kant, Enlightenment was mankind's final coming of age, the emancipation of the human consciousness from an immature state of ignorance and error."

How do the art and literature of the eighteenth century reflect the political and social life of the period?

• Like the ideas of the Enlightenment, the style of Rococo was different and took on a new perspective. It took more of an abstract turn just like the philosophers minds did. Rococo stressed grace and gentle action. • Rococo's lightness charm spoke to the pursuit of pleasure, happiness and things like that- which sounds eerily similar to some of the ideas that philosophers stressed. • Neoclassicism stressed dignity and simplicity of the classical style of ancient Greek and Rome. This was similar to the people who thought that the best way to better their community was to revert to the old ways; such as dictatorship.

What new ideas did the philosophers contribute on the following subjects: politics, the new science of man, economics, education, and religion?

• Montesquieu came up with the idea for separation of powers (judicial, executive and legislative) which is actually the government that America uses today. • They created deism (the belief that god does not tamper with humans everyday lives) and also created a non-religious movement, moving out and away from religion and into reason. • The women philosophers showed that women can do just as much as men IF they are properly educated and they proved that they can be intellectual as well. • Newton's ideas on gravity and the universal laws created a new thing to be educated of and turned around science. • Laissez-faire is an economic principle saying that government should not be able to interfere in businesses and personal lives. • Science of man= Social Science • Natural laws that they believed governed human actions.

What specific contributions did Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Diderot make to the age of the enlightenment? Compare and contrast their political ideas with Thomas Hobbes.

• Montesquieu had the idea to separate the powers into judicial, executive and legislative. He created spirit of laws. • Voltaire used reason over religion and he thought differently than many people, including the way he approached thinking. He wrote many books. He fought for civil rights. • Diderot wanted to "liberate God from the shackles of the church." He wrote The Encyclopedia which proved further that reason and knowledge could overcome ignorance and religion. • Thomas Hobbes believed in dictators, that the only way to control government was to have one man do it all. Have one man in complete control and reject the idea of citizens having a say. He believes in commonwealth. Everybody's rights becoming one. All of the philosophers above basically believed the exact opposite.

What is "popular culture" and how was it expressed in the 18th century? How do you explain the differences between high and popular culture at the times?

• Popular culture was fine arts, such as drawings, paintings, theater and music. • Art spread to the middle classes. • Popular culture is middle class and deals with music, theater, drawings and paintings whereas high culture was for higher classes (important people) and was the written word such as magazines, newspapers and books.

What role did women play in the development of the enlightenment?

• They ran salons which were places where the men of the Enlightenment could gather to talk which also further spread the Enlightenment ideas to new people and allowed women to influence the choices of kings and people of power. • Mary Astell and Mary Wollstonecraft were female philosophers who wrote books on the power of women and how they are able to do anything that men do if they have equal education. • Many women married philosophers and became philosophers themselves. also published books under other names whoop