The Age of Reason

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 View in the 1800’s
• Primary religious and theological
• Political theory based on divine right of
kings
• Society largely governed by Church
views, traditions and practices
• Superstition played major role in the
lives of the people.
• Scientific thought in the early 16th
century was still based on Medieval
ideas
– Views about the universe were
largely influenced by the ideas of
Aristotle
– The geocentric view held that the
earth was the center of a static,
motionless universe
– Science was essentially a branch of
theology
 Causes of the Scientific Revolution
• Medieval universities provided the framework
– By 1300 philosophy had become an accepted discipline
– Medieval philosophers developed a degree of independence
from the theologians and a sense of free inquiry
– Leading universities established new professorships of
mathematics astronomy and physics within their departments
of philosophy
– Major scientific figures either studied or taught at universities
 Causes of the Scientific Revolution
• The Renaissance stimulated science
by rediscovering ancient mathematics
– Renaissance patronage was often
scientific as well as artistic and
humanistic
• Navigational problems on sea voyages
in the age of overseas expansion
created a need for scientific advances
– New instruments: telescope, barometer,
thermometers pendulum clock,
microscope and air pump
– Gresham College England – became the
main center if scientific activity during
the first half of 17th century
• Scientific Method
– Bacon formalized empirical, experimental
research
– Descartes emphasized deductive
reasoning
Causes of the Scientific Revolution
• The Scientific Revolution
became the major cause of
the new world view of the
17th and 18th century
– Secularism emerged and
many educated people
became openly hostile to
religion
– The revolution in learning
became a major foundation in
Western society
 Nicolaus Copernicus (1473 – 1543)
• On the Revolution of Heavenly
Spheres
– Did not intend for theories to
challenge church doctrine
– Heliocentric view – the earth
revolves around the sun which is
the center of the universe
» Universe seems infinite
» Directly challenged Ptolemy’s 2nd
century AD view of a geocentric
universe
» Seemed to challenge the Bible’s
Book of Genesis that also put forth
a geocentric view
 Nicolaus Copernicus (1473 – 1543)
• Religious reaction to the Copernican theory
– Martin Luther and John Calvin condemned Copernicus’ theory;
pointed to biblical passages supporting the medieval view
– Catholic Reaction initially less forceful as the church didn’t always
interpret the Bible literally
– By 1616, the Catholic Church proclaimed the Copernican theory as
false and persecuted who advanced his views
 Tycho Brahe (1546-1601)
• Europe’s leading astronomer in
the late 16th century
• Built the best observatory in
Europe and collected massive
data on his observations of the
universe
– This data became the cornerstone of
astronomy for centuries
• His data later proved Copernicus’
theory
– Ironically, Brahe did not accept the
Copernican theory; he believed that
while the planets revolved around
the sun, the sun revolved the earth.
 Johannes Kepler (1571 – 1630)
• First great Protestant scientist; assistant to Brahe
• Mathematically proved the Copernican theory
• Developed three laws of planetary motion
– Orbits of the planets are elliptical
– Planets do not move at uniform speed while in their orbits
– The time it takes for a planet to orbit the sun is directly based
on its distance from the sun.
 Galileo Galilei (1546-1642)
• Developed the laws of motion
– Used the experimental method
– Acceleration experiment:
gravity was a universal force
that produced uniform
acceleration
» All falling objects descend with
equal velocity regardless of their
weight
– Laws of inertia: an object that is
in motion remains in motion
until it is topped by some
external force
 Galileo Galilei (1546-1642)
• Validated Copernicus’
heliocentric view with the
aid of a telescope
– Galileo was the first to use
the telescope as a scientific
instrument; he built one
himself
– Demonstrated that the moon
and other planets were not
perfectly round like a crystal
sphere
– Discovered the 4 moons of
Jupiter thus refuting the
notion that Jupiter was
embedded in an impenetrable
crystal sphere
 Galileo Galilei (1546-1642)
• Galileo’s findings became controversial in Catholic countries
– His views were largely supported in Protestant northern Europe where reformers
had questioned Catholic doctrines had questions Catholic doctrines
– The Catholic Church in 1616 declared Copernican theory to be heretical
– 1632 Galileo published Dialogue Concerning the Two Chiefs World Systems in
which he wrote about the Copernican system as a mathematical proposition
– 1633, The inquisition of Pope Urban VII forced Galileo to retract his support of
the Copernican theory
» He remained under house arrest the rest of his life
Galileo in front of the Catholic church
 Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
• Formalized the empirical
method that had already been
used by Brahe and Galileo
• Inductive Method for
scientific experimentation
– Begin with inductive
observation, form a
hypothesis, conduct
experiments and then organize
the data
• Bacon’s inductive method,
coupled with Descartes
deductive reason formed the
backbone of the modern
scientific method
 Rene Descartes (1596-1650)
• Discourse on Method advocated the use of
deductive reasoning
– Employed deductive reasoning to prove
existence: cogito ergo sum (“I think
therefore I am”)
– Depended on logic alone
– Believed that science must:
» Start with clear and incontrovertible facts
» Subdivide each program into as many parts
as necessary, using a step-by step logical
sequence
• Demonstrated the relationship between
algebra and geometry
• Developed analytical geometry
• Cartesian Dualism – divided all existence
into the spiritual and the material
– The spiritual can only be examined through
deductive reasoning (logic)
– The material is subject to the experimental
method
 The Scientific Method
• Inductive method (of Bacon) +the deductive
method (of Descartes)
 Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727)
• Incorporated the astronomy of Copernicus and Kepler with the physics
of Galileo into an overarching theory explaining order and design to the
universe
• Principal of universal gravitation
– Detailed in Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1687) (known
as Principia)
– Natural laws of motion – gravitation – are evident in the movement of
heavenly bodies and earthly objects
» Newtown developed a set of mathematical principles to explain motion
 Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727)
• Every body in the universe attracts
every other body in the universe in a
precise mathematical relationship
• Since these natural laws are
unchangeable and predictable, God’s
active participation in the natural
world is not needed to explain the
forces of nature
– Challenged Medieval beliefs
– This came to the be the foundation
of the Enlightenment view of God:
deism
William Blake’s Newton, 1795
 Anatomy and Physiology
• Scientists began challenging Greco-
Roman medical views (especially
those of the Roman physician, Galen
in the 2nd century AD
• Vesalius: The Structure of the
Human Body(1543): renewed and
modernized the study of anatomy
• William Harvey (1578-1657)
– On the Movement of the Heart and
Blood (1628): Explained how blood
was pumped by the heart and
circulated throughout the body
• Anton van Leeuwenhoek (1632 –
1723)
– “Father of Microscopy”: developed
powerful microscopes
– First to see and write abut bacteria
and circulation in capillaries
 Royal Scientific Societies
• Governments/monarchs encouraged
scientific inquiry as a means to
further the prestige of the state and
remain at the cutting edge of
technology
• Scientific societies created a means
by which scientists could
communicate with each other
internationally; this helped forge an
international scientific community
• The Royal Society in England was
perhaps the most successful and
prestigious founded in 1660
• Other royal societies were created in
Naples, France and Prussia and
Russia
The Royal Academy of Sciences, Paris
 Zoology & Biology

A dissection at the Royal Academy,

London.
 Impact on Society
• Led directly to the Enlightenment
• Improvements in exploration
• Spirit of experimentation perhaps
helped accelerate the Agricultural
Revolution
• Improvements in medical
knowledge helped improve the
quality of life later
• Science and religion were not in
acute conflict until the 19th and 20th
centuries
– No attempt in the 17th and 18th
centuries to secularize science
– After Catholic counterreformation the
church became more hostile to science
and science declined in Italy
– Protestant countries became the
leaders of the Scientific Revolution,
Especially England
 Women & Science
• Margaret Cavendish, a seventeenth-century
aristocrat, took part in some of the most important
scientific debates of that time.
• She was however, not inducted into the
English Royal Society, although she was once
allowed to attend a meeting.
• She wrote a number of works on scientific matters,
including Observations upon Experimental
Philosophy (1666) and Grounds of Natural
Philosophy.
• In these works she was especially critical of
the growing belief that humans, through
science, were the masters of nature.
• The 1666 work attempted to heighten female
interest in science.
• The observations provided a critique of the
experimental science of Bacon and criticized
microscopes as imperfect machines
Women & Science
• The German astronomer Hevelius & his wife
examine the heavens.
• Overall, the Scientific Revolution did little to
change people's ideas about the nature of women -
more specifically - their capacity to contribute to
science just as men do.
• According to Jackson Spielvogel, 'Male scientists
used the new science to spread the view that
women were by nature inferior and subordinate to
men and suited to play a domestic role as nurturing
mothers.
• No woman was invited to either the Royal
Society of London nor the French Academy of
Sciences until the twentieth century. Most people in
the seventeenth century viewed a life devoted to
any kind of scholarship as being at odds with the
domestic duties women were expected to perform.
Chemistry Labs & Botany Gardens
Natural History Collections

► Cocoa plant
drawing.

► Sir Hans
Sloane
(1660-1753).

► Collected from Jamaica.

Natural History Collections

James Petiver’s Beetles

(London apothecary)
 Private Collections

The Origins of Modern Museums.

 The Enlightenment

• What is the Enlightenment?

• What caused the Enlightenment?
 An Overview of the 18c
► Political History >>> Reform
► Intellectual History  Newtonian Physics
 Reason
► Cultural History  Individualism

► Social History  Increased Literacy

 “Age of Aristocracy”
► Economic History > Mercantilism
to Capitalism
Characteristics of the Enlightenment
• Rationalism
• Secularism
• Scientific Method
• Utilitarianism
• Tolerance
• Optimism
• Freedoms
• Education of the Masses
• Legal Reforms
• Constitutionalism
 English Thinkers
• Thomas Hobbes:
– Wrote Leviathan
– People are naturally cruel, greedy, and
selfish
– If not strictly controlled, they would
rob and oppress one another
– Life in the “State of Nature” would be
“solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and
short
– To escape – people enter into a Social
Contract: an agreement by which they
give up the state of nature for an
organized society
– Only a powerful government could
ensure an orderly society
 English Thinkers
• John Locke
– People were moral and reasonable
– Natural Rights – rights that belong to all
humans from birth – life liberty and property
– Two Treatises on Government – people
formed governments to protect their natural
rights
– Best government had limited power and was
accepted by all citizens
– A government has an obligation to those it
governs / if a government fails its people
have a right to overthrow it
– Influenced the Glorious Revolution of 1688
– Education is key to society’s advancement
» Each person is born a “Tabula Rasa” or blank
slate
The Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755)

► Persian Letters,
1721

► On the Spirit of
Laws, 1758
 Montesquieu’s Philosophy

► Three types of government:

 Monarchy.
 Republic.
 Despotism.

 A separation of political powers

ensured freedom and liberty.
 Principle of Checks and balances
 Supported the parlements in France
 French Thinkers
• Paris is home to the
Enlightenment &
French Revolution….
coincidence?
• Philosophes – applied
scientific methods to
better understand and
improve society – lovers
of wisdom
Marquis de Condorcet (1743-1794)

► Progress of the Human Mind,

1794
 An expectation of universal
happiness.
 Every individual guided by
reason could enjoy true
independence.
 He advocated a free and equal
education, constitutionalism,
and equal rights for women.
 Identified 9 stages of human
progress that had already
occurred and predicted that
the 10th stage would bring
perfection.
 French Thinkers
• Francis Marie Arouet – Voltaire
– Candide
– “My trade is to say what I think”
– Exposed abuses of his day
» Targeted corrupt officials
» Wrote about inequality, injustice, and religious
prejustice
» Outspoken attacks offended government and
Catholic Church
– Voltaire imprisoned and forced into exile
– His books were censored and burned
– But he continued to protect freedom of
speech
– Advocated Enlightened Despotism
– He was a Deist – religion that saw God as the
“clockmaker” he made the world but does not
intervene in it.
 Voltaire’s “Wisdom” (I)

►“Ecracsez l’infame” – Crush the infamous

thing!
►Every man is guilty of all the good he
didn’t do.
► God is a comedian playing to an audience
too afraid to laugh.
► If God did not exist, it would be necessary
to invent him.
► It is dangerous to be right when the
government is wrong.
► Love truth and pardon error.
 Voltaire’s “Wisdom” (II)

► Judge of a man by his questions rather than

by his answers.
► Men are equal; it is not birth, but virtue
that makes the difference.
► Prejudice is opinion without judgment.
► The way to become boring is to say
everything.
► I may not agree with what you have to say,
but I will defend to the death your right to
say it.
 French Thinkers
• Denis Diderot
– Purpose was to change the general way of
thinking
– 25 years to produce 28 volume encyclopedia
– purpose was to change the general way of
thinking – by explaining the new thinking on
government, philosophy, and religion
– Included Montesquieu and Voltaire articles
– Denounced slavery
– Praised freedom of expression and education
for all
– French government said the Encyclopedia
was an attack on public morals
– 20,000 copies printed
– Helped shaped French public opinion in the
mid 1700’s
– Translated into other languages – helped
spread Enlightenment ideas
Pages from Diderot’s Encyclopedie
Pages from Diderot’s Encyclopedie
Pages from Diderot’s Encyclopedie
Subscriptions to Diderot’s Encyclopedie
Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)

► A Discourse on
the Sciences and
Arts, 1750

► Emile, 1762.

► The Social
Contract, 1762.
 French Thinkers
• Rousseau
– People in their rural state were good
but corrupted by evils of society,
especially unequal distribution of
property
– Some control was necessary but
should be minimal, but by a freely
elected government
– “general will” best conscience of the
people
– Individual subordinate the community
– “The Social Contract”
– “Man born free, everywhere he is in
chains.” The chains of society
 Rousseau’s Philosophy (II)
 Virtue exists in the ”state of nature,” but
lost in “society.”
 Government must preserve “virtue” and
”liberty.”
 Man is born free, yet everywhere he is in
chains.
 The concept of the ”Noble Savage.”
 Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.
 Civil liberty  invest ALL rights and
liberties into a society.
 Rousseau’s Philosophy (III)
► In The Social Contract:
 The right kind of political order could make
people truly moral and free.
 Individual moral freedom could be achieved
only by learning to subject one’s individual
interests to the “General Will.”
 Individuals did this by entering into a social
contract not with their rulers, but with each
other.
V This social contract was derived from
human nature, not from history, tradition,
or the Bible.
 Rousseau’s Philosophy (IV)
► People would be most free and moral under
a republican form of government with direct
democracy.
► However, the individual could be “forced to
be free” by the terms of the social contract.
 He provided no legal protections for
individual rights.
► Rousseau’s thinking:
 Had a great influence on the French
revolutionaries of 1789.
 His attacks on private property inspired the
communists of the 19c such as Karl Marx.
 French Thinkers
• Marquis de Beccaria
– “On Crimes and Punishment”
– Reason and equality before the law
– Punishment should be based on harm
done to society
– Opposed to torture
– Influenced the Despots:
» Fredrick the Great abolished torture
» Catherine the great restricted the use of
torture
» Joseph II abolished the use of torture and
capital punishment
 Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)

► Critique of Pure
Reason, 1781

► “What is
Enlightenment?”,
1784

► Metaphysical
Foundations of
Natural Science, 1786
 Kant’s Philosophy
► Separated science and morality into separate branches of
knowledge
► Science could describe nature, it could not provide a guide for
morality.
► He introduced the concept of transcendentalism  some things
are known by methods other than empirically.
 The belief in the existence of a non-rational way to
understand things.
 The existence of neither time nor space is determined by
empirical understanding.
 These type of things are a priori.
V They transcend sensory experience.
V They are pure, not empirical [[concepts like
faith, pre-existence, life after death].
 Women During the Enlightenment
• Women did not have the natural
rights of men
• Rights limited to the home and
family
• By mid 1700’s women protesting
this view
• Mary Wollstonecraft (British
Female Critic) – argued that
women had been excluded from
the social contract
– Woman’s first duty is to be a good
mother
– 1792 – “A Vindication of the Rights
of Women” – called for same sex
education
 Economics
• Physiocrats – economic reforms
– Looked for natural laws to define a
rational economic system
– Laissez faire – allowing business to
operate with little or no government
interference
– Real wealth came from making land
more productive
– Agriculture, mining and logging
produced new wealth
– Supported free trade and opposed
mercantilism
• Francis Quesnay – leader of the
Physiocrats
 Economics
• Adam Smith – “The Wealth
of Nations”
– Argued free market, the
natural forces of supply and
demand should be allowed to
operate and regulate business
– Showed how manufacturing,
trade, wages and profits were
all linked to supply and
demand. (The invisible hand)
– Market place better without
government regulation
 The American “Philosophes”

Ben Franklin Thomas

John Adams (1706-1790) Jefferson
(1745-1826) (1743-1826)

…...…life, liberty, and the pursuit of

happiness…………...
 Enlightenment Ideas Spread
• Achieving a Just Society
– People began to challenge the old
ways
– People saw the need for reform to
achieve a just society
– During the Middle Ages, people
accepted a society based on
Divine Right and a heavenly
reward for life’s suffering
– In the Age of Reason, such ideas
seemed unscientific and
unnatural
– A just society should ensure
material, well-being, social
justice, and happiness in this
world
Centers of the Enlightenment
An Increase in Reading
“Must Read” Books of the Time
 Enlightenment Ideas Spread
• Censorship
– Government and church
authorities felt they had a
sacred duty to defend the old
order.
– The old order has been set up
by God
– They banned books, burned
books, and imprisoned some
writers
– Some publishers had their
work published under fake
name
– Some published their ideas in
fiction
 Enlightenment Ideas Spread
• Salons
– The new literature, arts, science and
philosophy were regular topics of
discussion in the salons
– Informal social gatherings at which
writers, artists, philosophers, and
other exchanged ideas
– Originated in the 1600’s when a
group of noblewomen in Paris began
inviting a few friends to their homes
for poetry readings
– Only the most witty, intelligent and
well read people were invited to the
salons
– By 1700’s some middle class
women began holding salons
– “Women Ruled Then”
A Parisian Salon
Madame Geoffrin’s Salon
 The Salonnieres

Madame Geoffrin Madame

(1699-1777) Mademoiselle Suzanne Necker
Julie de Lespinasse (1739-1794)
(1732*-1776)
 Other Female Salons
► Wealthy Jewish women created nine of the
fourteen salons in Berlin.
► In Warsaw, Princess Zofia Czartoryska
gathered around her the reform leaders of
Poland-Lithuania.
► Middle-class women in London used their
salons to raise money to publish women’s
writings.
 Female Philosophes
► Emilie du Chatalet,
a French noblewoman
(1706-1749).
► Wrote extensively about
the mathematics and
physics of Gottfried
Wilhelm von Lebnitz and
Isaac Newton.
► Her lover, Voltaire, learned much of his
science from her.
 Enlightened Despotism
• Enlightened Despots – a ruler
who used their power to bring
about political and social
change
– Philosophes tried to convince
European rulers to adopt their ideas
– If they could enlighten ruling
classes. They thought they could
bring about reform
– Some monarchs did accept
enlightenment ideas
– They became enlightened despots –
Absolute rulers who used their
power to bring about political and
social change
 Enlightened Despotism
• Frederick the Great
– Exerted tight control over his subjects, BUT
saw himself as the first “servant of the state,”
with a duty to work for the common good.
– Frederick lured Voltaire to come to Berlin and
help develop a Prussian academy of science
– Not fighting wars – had swamps drain and
forced peasants to grow new crops such as the
potato
– Had seeds and tools distributed to peasants
who had suffered on Prussia’s wars
– Freedom of the Press
– He tolerated religious differences, welcoming
victims of religious persecution
– Fredericks’s reforms directed mainly at
making the Prussian government more
efficient
– Recognized the civil service and simplified
laws
– Rationalized bureaucracy also meant a
stronger monarchy
 Enlightened Despotism
• Catherine the Great
– Exchanged letters with Voltaire and
Diderot
– “Voltaire – someone who fought the
united enemies of humankind,
superstition, fanaticism, ignorance,
trickery.”
– Made limited reforms in law and govt’
– Granted nobles a charter of rights
– Spoke out against serfdom
– Restricted the use of torture
– Education for boys and girls
– Limited religious toleration
» Jews were given civil equality
– Catherine intended to give up NO
power
– Catherine’s contribution to Russia was
not reform, but an expanded empire
 Reformer? OR Despot?
1767: Catherine summons the Legislative
Commission.
1768-1774: Russo-Turkish War.
1771-1775: Pugachev Rebellion is suppressed.
1772: First partition of Poland.
1785: Charter of Nobility.
1793: Second partition of Poland.
1795: Third partition of Poland.
The Partitions of Poland

- 1772
- 1793
- 1795
Russian Expansionism in the Late 18c
 Enlightened Despotism
• Joseph II
– Most radical enlightened despot
– Son of Maria Theresa
– Joseph traveled in disguise to learn the
problems of his subjects
– Because of these efforts, nicknamed
“peasant emperor”
– Joseph continued Maria Theresa’s reforms
– Chose talented middle class officials rather
than nobles to head depts.
– Imposed a range of political and legal
reforms
– Granted toleration to protestants and Jews
in Catholic Empire
– Ended censorship and attempted to bring
the catholic church under royal control
– Sold the property of many monasteries and
convents which he saw as unproductive and
used the proceeds to build hospitals
– Abolished serfdom
 Effects of the Enlightenment
• Constitutional Government &
Enlightened Despotism
• New economics
• Will cause the American,
French and Latin American
Revolutions
• New Ideas
– Relationship between
government and society
– Women’s rights
– Social justice
– Violence and torture
– Basic liberties
 Growth of Constitutional Government
• Politics and Society
– Peace and Prosperity
– Gov’t was an oligarchy – a
government in which the ruling power
belongs to a few people. Right to vote
limited to a few male property owners
and votes were bought
• George III Reasserts Power
– Set out to make the crown powerful
again
– Started to give seats in parliament to
his friends
– Passed legislation that American
colonists would pay for the Seven
Years war
– Triggered American Revolution and
French Revolution
 The American Revolution
• What were the causes to the
American Revolution?
• How did the Enlightenment
influence the Revolution?
– Thomas Paine
• What were the effects of the
American Revolution?
• What thinkers and their ideas
are present in the Declaration
of Independence and later, the
US Constitution?