18th century – the age of Enlightenment

Everywhere, a feeling that Europeans that at last, people had emerged from a long twilight

Forward looking thinkers, and writers known as ‘philosophes’

Forward looking monarchs, Enlightened despots

Optimistic beliefs in historical advance of reason, science, education, social reform, tolerance, and enlightened government

The ideas of the 18th Century were drawn from the scientific revolution of the 17th

Carried the ideas of Bacon and Descartes

Carried the ideas of Natural Law and Right

Belief, in a non religious way, that life gets better as time goes on

Faith of the age in the natural faculties of the human mind

PhilosophesFrench for philosopherIn the 18th, meant to approach any

subject in a critical and inquiring spirit

Social or literary criticsAll written under censorshipTo protect people from ‘harmful’

ideasFrance, the center of the

enlightenment, had both censorship and large reading and writing public

It discourage writers from openly or explicitly questioning

Examples: customs of Persians, double meanings, innuendos, jokes

Paris the heart of the movementMingling of people of ideas in Salons,

conducting by women

Rousseau, Diderot, Montesquei, and Voltaire

Major Works:Discourse on the Sciences and MathCriticizes educationNot progressing us to anything goodEducation just makes us decieve

ourselves and others – we try to fit inLeads to individuality, makes us self

interested consumersTeaches us ‘reason’

Puts flowers on our chains – just hiding inequality

Where ever science and math flourished, luxury and leisure flourish

They are born from our vices, and do nothing to improve the moral well being of society

Don’t contribute anything to love of country, friends, or the unfortunate

Science does not give any guidance for making people more virtuous citizens

We learn to hate ourselves because the masks we have to wear

To cope, we hate the people below us

Science is based on a sense of a need for luxury

Science becomes a means for making our lives easier and more pleasurable, not morally better

Bacon and Descartes avoided this corruption

Discourse on the Origin of InequalityHe creates his own state of natureHumans physically strong, but

simple, very independantHobbes had it wrong, he tried to

create the state of nature without stripping what humans have learned

All he did was strip laws

For us to understand the state of nature, there can be no laws, property, understanding of threat, minimal language skills

Natural man is isolated, timid, peaceful, mute and without the foresight to worry

Humans have two principles – self interest, and empathy

But we have reason

We have adaptability – leads to progress ie fire

Humans forced to settle down, but roughly equal

Series of events move us from the ‘noble savage’

Organize into temporary groups – hunting

Very basic language Next is small families based on love If we stayed here, there would be no

inequality But, agriculture and metallurgy change

this

Crucial point develops – we start to make comparisons to others –develop self image

Things become valuable Division of labour Distinct social classes, workers, rulers Leads to invention of private property Unnatural, but education teaches us

its legit

Some people left out of property grab – see it as illigetimate

Great Deception – rich convince the poor private property needs to be protected

All accepted their chains

Very difficult work of his1st step – make us all equalGive up the ‘natural right’ to

propertyHelp us to distinguish between needs

and wantsHelp us to resurrect empathyEveryone has enough so they don’t

have to sell ourselves

When we see each other as equals, we are able to see one another as citizens

We’ll look forward to what people say

Outlines how governments could exist to protect equality of citizens

Concept of general will – difficult to interpret

Based on the well being of the whole, protects the rights of all individuals

Protected by a sovereign, protects the public good

Not the collection of individual wills Ultimately my will, and general will merges Example – majority- collection of individual

wills

If you have: lack of prosperity, no population growth, legislative body silent, disparity, religious faction – no social contract

If the one is being sacrificed by the many – no social contract