What was the Enlightenment?

A time period also known as the Age of Reason

It took place in Europe during the 18th century
(1700s)
What was the Enlightenment?
During this time, thinkers called philosophes
began to use reason to try to understand how the
world worked and how to make it better
Old superstitions were rejected and religious beliefs
were challenged
There were many political, social, and scientific
advances that affect us still today
Ideas that originated during the
Enlightenment
Right to happiness
Science should be practical
Discrimination is wrong
Separation of church and state
Right to privacy
Governments should not be all-powerful
Freedom of speech
Education and prison reforms
Seeds of Democracy
WHAT EVENTS WERE CATALYSTS
FOR THE ENLIGHTENMENT?
The religious warfare of the 1600s
So many had died, people began to realize that
intolerance wasn’t working
When Louis XIV revoked (got rid of) the Edict of
Nantes
200,000 Protestant refugees fled France
 OTHER CAUSES OF THE
ENLIGHTENMENT
Pre-Enlightenment Thinkers
Rene Descartes
 The father of modern rationalism
 “I think, therefore I am”

The Scientific Revolution

Francis Bacon
 Scientific
Method: systematic observations and
careful experiments would lead to correct principles
Isaac Newton
 Natural laws can be discovered
The Scientific Revolution
(16 and 17 century)
th th
Nicholas Copernicus
Heliocentric model
challenges both
established science and
the Church
Opens the door to the
questioning of other
realms
Francis Bacon
Scientific Method – man
can now use reason to
explain the world around
him – no need for God in
science
Nicolaus Copernicus- Polish scientist, first to write
that the sun (not the earth) was the center of the
universe-- the heliocentric theory (1543)
The ancients believed the planets were
made of a substance called ether and
were contained in clear spherical orbs
Ideas at first rejected as most people still believed the Greek
astronomer Ptolemy who believed the earth was the center of
universe-- the geocentric theory (150 AD)
 Saturn
Jupiter
Mars
Sun
Venus
Mercury
Moon

Earth
Saturn
Jupiter
Mars

Earth/Moon
Venus
Mercury
C. Galileo Galilei- Italian scientist, experimented with new
invention, the telescope,

Galileo’s
telescope Galileo Galilei
(1564-1642)
1. Galileo also discovered the rings of Saturn, that Jupiter had
moons, and features on the moon

Saturn
2. Enemies convinced the Catholic Church to put Galileo
on trial (1633), forced Galileo to deny all his discoveries
although his ideas became well known and soon
accepted

Galileo at Madame
Tussaud’s Wax
Museum (London)
Bacon’s Scientific Method
A. The Scientific Method- logical method of gaining
knowledge based on experimentation and evidence
 Isaac Newton
Develops mathematical
ideas that explain the
physical universe
Laws of Motion
1) An object in motion
will remain in motion
2) Force = mass X
acceleration
3) For every action, there
is an equal and
opposite reaction
18th century Enlightenment – The Age of Reason
Revolution in philosophy
Philosophers, inspired by scientists, started
questioning God and God’s role in society
Particular emphasis was placed on criticizing
government and the church
Paris, France was the hotbed of reason – rather
ironically, it was also the center of Absolutism and
Divine Right
Philosophers wrote the words that inspired
revolutionaries, both in America and in France
THE INFLUENCE OF THE
ENLIGHTENMENT
One of the main issues that was discussed during
this time was the role of government
Enlightenment thinkers (philosophes) contributed
many ideas to this debate:
John Locke
Voltaire
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau
 John Locke and Jean Jacque Rousseau
Locke Rousseau
English philosopher French Philosopher
Believed that men are Believed that all men are
entitled to life, liberty and entitiled to life, liberty
PROPERTY and EQUALITY
Inspiration for the Inspiration for the French
American founding fathers revolutionaries (many
(all were rich, white, women and poor
educated men) commoners)
Government should protect
Government should
us from us – first priority
promote equality among
was to provide security and
order
all men
 The “Social Contract”
Men form governments.
Governments must respond to the
needs of men.
If a government does not respond
to the needs of men, men have the
right to change the government.
 Voltaire
French philosopher who
attacked the Church and
the French government
through his short novel,
Candide and other works
Advocated freedom of
religion and separation of
church and state
Advocated the right of
citizens to a fair and
impartial trial
 Adam Smith
English economist and
philosopher who attacked
the idea of government
intervention in the
economy
Advocated “laissez-faire”
economics (hands off)
Believed in a pure
capitalist system where
the “law of supply and
demand” would determine
prices
 David Hume
English philosopher who
questioned the existence of
God
Used a logical and scientific
argument to question faith
Since faith itself is
irrational, what makes one
faith right for everyone?
Heavily criticized by the
Anglican Church, of which
he was a member, but never
wavered in his views
Montesquieu- French writer, detailed in 1748 the structure of
an ideal government that would have three branches:
executive, legislative, & judicial (separation of powers)

“The love of democracy is the

love of equality”

“Men are equal in a democracy

because they are everything;
equal too are men under
absolute monarchy because they Baron Montesquieu
are nothing.” (1689-1755)
Knowledge to All- Denis Diderot published first
encyclopedia in Paris, France (1751), hoped to
spread Enlightenment ideas to all

Denis
Diderot
(1713-1784)
 •28 volumes
•18,000 pages
•75,000 entries
•20,000,000 words
 Deism and the Watchmaker Theory
Enlightenment age religion that advocated a belief in God (even if that
belief was irrational)
God was there in the beginning, and will be there in the end, but in
between we’re on our own
Imagine an old style windup watch……God made the watch and
wound it up, but then left it alone. He’ll be back when the watch
needs to be rewound
No need for prayer or worship – it’s counterproductive – God’s not
listening anyway
Humans have ultimate free choice and free will
Many of the American founding fathers believed in Deism – Thomas
Jefferson was probably the most famous
Voltaire also advocated Deism and the right to freedom of religion
The Results of the Enlightenment
Encouraged equality, education, technological
advancement, religious tolerance, governmental
reform, and personal liberty (freedom)
Reason is used to justify different forms of
government-not everyone agreed on what was best!
Voltaire-Monarchy, Rousseau-Democracy
Inspired revolutions in the United States, France,
and Latin America in the 18th and 19th centuries
Citizens questioning the role of government
The American Revolution
 The American Revolution
Not really a classic “revolution” in the sense that a social class did
not revolt against the one above it
Really more of a war for independence, but it did incorporate
rhetoric from the Age of Reason
American revolutionary LEADERS studied Locke and others –
they certainly believed in the rhetoric, but the average “patriot”
in the street paid little in the way of taxes, so “no taxation
without representation” was little more than a slogan.
The new government formed after the revolution was at least
outwardly based on enlightenment principles, although it would
be decades before most of those principles were actually put into
practice – think of how long it took women to receive the vote.
 Declaration of Independence
Written by Thomas
Jefferson
Restatement of the social
contract
List of grievances – what
King George III did to
break the contract
Considered the first true
government document
containing enlightenment
principles
Used as a pattern for
revolutions around the
world
Enlightened Despotism in
Central and Eastern Europe
 Enlightened Despotism
Idea found in Central and Eastern Europe whereby
monarchs and emperors made changes to their societies in
which modernized the states while the people earned some
political and social rights
Monarchs still maintained absolute control, but instead of
justifying their rule by divine right (God), they instead saw
themselves at the head of the people
Most of the ideas were really designed to PREVENT
revolution (governments must serve the needs of men)
Many of the reforms were eventually rescinded after the
people tried to get even more rights (revolutions were often
brutally repressed
 Fredrick the Great of Prussia
•Emperor of Prussia in the
Northern Germanic Lands
•Modernized the military
and opened officer
positions to middle and
lower classes
•Modernized the Prussian
government and opened
positions to people of
merit instead of cronies
 Catherine the Great of Russia
Modernized the Russian army
and government
Studied in France during the
Enlightenment
Tried to link Russia to the
West through trade and
diplomatic relations
Increased Russia’s territory,
especially against the
Ottomans (Turks) – sought to
link Russia to its Slavic
neighbors to the south
Maria Theresa and Joseph II of the Hapsburg Empire (Austria)
Note – mother and brother to Marie Antoinette (Queen of France)
Serfdom abolished in the
Hapsburg Lands
Granted freedom of religion
(very radical idea, especially
in a Catholic empire)
Established a national
education system
Developed equality before the
law, even for the nobility
Many of the reforms were
rolled back after revolutions
broke out among the minority
populations of the Hapsburg
Empire