Carol Rioux, Kingwood High School, Kingwood, Texas

Primary interests of the philosophes were humanity and secular values

Through reason, mankind could be freed of intolerance and bigotry, and society could be reformed

Few philosophes included women when speaking of mankind; had little interest in expanding women’s intellectual and social opportunities; held very traditional views of women

John Locke

•Social Contract between the government and the people

•Concept of inalienable rights – life, liberty, property

•Duty of people to ensure government respects natural rights of people

Montesquieu

Persian Letters

• Criticized Catholic Church

• French monarchy

• Promoted religious toleration

• Denounced slavery

• Promoted use of reason to liberate humans from prejudice.

The Spirit of the Laws• Comparative study of governments; tried to apply scientific

method to find natural laws governing social relationships. • Three basic types of government

• republics for small states• monarchies limited by rule of law for middle size state;

His analysis of England is an example of a middle size constitutional monarchy.

• despotism for large states that depend on fear to inspire obedience.

• This book was most noted for the idea of separation of powers and system of checks and balances. Ideas that would be embraced by the framers of the U.S. Constitution

Jean Jacques Rousseau

Discourse on the Origins of the Inequality of Mankind

• State of nature all humans are equal and happy until one person made claims to property.

• To protect property peopled adopted laws and governments. Government evil but necessary.

The Social Contract• Suggested government rests on the “general

will” of the people• Legislation is the business of ALL the people.• Those who disagree with the general will

must be forced to conform.

Casare Beccaria

• Author of On Crimes and Punishment

• Suggested that punishment should fit the crime; torture and capital punishment should be abolished

• By end of 18th century a decline in corporal and capital punishment had occurred

• New type of prison in which prisoners were placed in cells and subject to regular work and discipline in hope of reforming them

Francois Quesnay

• French physiocrat

• Believed that land constituted the only source of wealth and that wealth itself could be increased only by agriculture, including exploitation of natural resourses (mining)

• Rejected mercantilism

• Natural law of supply and demand should be allowed to operate

• Coined term, “laissez-faire”

• Author The Wealth of Nations

• Believed that labor constituted the true wealth of a nation

• Describe three laws of economics

•Law of supply and demand

•Law of self-interests

•Law of competition

Espoused a four stage theory of human development and

social development from barbarianism to civilization:

• Hunting and gathering - no settled groups• Pastoral - nomadic groups that acquire some private

property

• Agricultural - settled with clear cut property arrangements

• Commercial - Advanced cities, manufacturing of items for wide consumption, extensive trade, elaborate forms of property and financial arrangements

• Duty of state was to provide army, police, and public works

• His ideas were later used to justify imperialism

Mary Astell

A Serious Proposal to the Ladies•Argued that women needed to be better educated.

Some Reflections Upon Marriage•Argued for equality of the sexes in marriage.

Quotes:•If you don’t need an absolute ruler to govern the state, why does the male have to govern the home?

•If all men are born free, how come all women all born slaves?

Mary Wollstonecraft

•Founder of modern European feminism

Vindication of the Rights of Women•if all humans possess reason, one can conclude women have reason; therefore, women should have same rights as men.

Quotes:•If men want to prove the inferiority of women, they must first treat them as equals.

•There can be no justice until the last king is strangled with the guts of the last priest.

• Salons: hosted by wealthy women for men; noted hostesses include Madame Marie-Therese Geoffrin, Julie de Lespinasse and Claudine de Tencin

• Coffeehouses, cafes, reading clubs

• Secret societies such as the Freemasons

Rococo Art of Watteau and Neumann

Fondness for

• curves, contours & wandering lines

• highly secular

• emphasis on pursuit of pleasure, happiness, and love

The Neoclassic Art of Jacques Louis David

• Tried to recapture the classical style of ancient Greece and Rome

• His work displayed moral seriousness, emphasized honor and patriotism

Baroque Music of Bach and Handel

Classical Music of Haydn and Mozart

The Development of the Novel

• Pamela, or Virtue, Rewarded by Samuel Richardson

• The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding

Changes in Education evolved slowly

• Still mostly for the elites

• Universities criticized for sticking with old fashioned curriculum

• By end of 18th century had begun to introduce physics, astronomy, and mathematics to curriculum

• Literacy rates increased

• Periodicals and daily newspapers helped to spread new ideas

• Books received wider circulation thanks to lending libraries.