Enlightenment, Deism and Religion

Voltaire: “Crush the infamous thing”

Deism God established

universe Seen as

Clockmaker who let his creation run

Proposed non-ritual religion based on REASON

Believed in life after death

Rational morality God’s existence Religious

toleration Attacked Catholic

church and Jewish beliefs as superstition

Enlightened Political thought Hobbes: Leviathan

based on Scientific observation

Universe is mechanical as is politics

Natural Law Idea of Reason of

State vs. Divine Right

Locke: Man rational & born equal

Natural state: harmony with one another

People make contract with government to protect their rights

Adam Smith Wealth of Nations

1776 Positive trade

balance should be promoted by government intervention and tariffs

Economic Theory Allow individuals

to promote their interest freely within the law

This will promote interests of society

People will calculate their chances in market

People motivated by pleasure

Proposed existence of laws supply and demand

“invisible hand” will ensure that all will work out for the best

Laissez Faire/Nature and Economics Laissez Faire

government should not interfere with economy;

Government’s role: army, navy police, judiciary, schools, roads, new trade routes

Exploit nature for good of man—common in all systems

Middle class used his theories to believe that greed benefited society, to escape guilt that Christianity had attributed to it

Smith as Equalizer His ideas leveled society: Hunter-Gatherers Pastoral peoples Agricultural societies Commercial societies Europeans felt superior to all others

and justified imperial domination

Montesquieu Charles-Louis de

Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu 1689-1755

Aristocrat President of

Parlement of Bordeux—inherited from his father

Spirit of Laws 14 years of study Published in 1748 Three types of

government: Republics-virtue Monarchies-

honour Despotism-fear

On Governments: No one system was suitable everywhere Governments should reflect traditions,

economy and religion of a country (despotism suited to hot climates to

force lazy people to work!) Separation of powers: executive,

judicial, legislative—based on English government: King, House of Lords, House of Commons

For France Use ideas of separation of powers

in France: Power to parlements, towns,

aristocracy Counter for monarchy Influenced framers of US Constitution

of 1787 (not so much on Declaration of Independence)

Jean-Jacques Rousseau Born in Geneva

1712-1778 Lower class

background Mother died after

his birth Many

psychological problems

Personal Life Wrote Confessions which showed

his problems Paranoid Treated his five children badly Put them in an orphanage Met philosophes of Paris in 1741,

when he moved there

On the Social Contract (1762) “All men are born

free, but everywhere they are in chains.”

Concerned with virtue of people

Political Vision Social contract:

basic law of society Liberty is

obedience to laws that people have accepted

Equality is all equally dependent upon society and not on individuals

Contract should be written by legislator who departs—forces men to be free

Denies that liberty and equality are natural

Wants civil liberty and equality granted by the state

Political vision, continued Rights are those in

the community People give their

natural liberty and equality to community when they join it

Social contract not between government and people, but between people themselves

Best society is participatory democracy: Athens, Geneva

Society depends upon public spiritedness

People are source of legitimate sovereignty: General Will

General Will Principle behind validity of Social

Contract Political society involves total

subjection of every individual to the General Will of the whole.

For Rousseau: General Will not wishes of majority; but what is in their best interest.

Effects of Rousseau’s thought Not popular at first Influential on Jacobins and Robespierre Arguments for democracy and equality

had liberal effect in US and Britain General Will provides framework for

totalitarian governments—do people know what is good for them?

Rousseau and Romanticism Forerunner to romantic period Emile encouraged parents to love their

children (he was bad example) Cult of women readers developed Spread respect for feelings and

common people People inspired by him to look after

their children Began modern humanitarianism

Rousseau’s other ideas Also promoted idea of Noble

Savage in his work Discours sur l’Origine de l’inegalite parmi les hommes of 1755.

Rousseau is contradictory: democracy and totalitarianism

Noble savage and need for education

America and the Enlightenment American thinkers: Ben Franklin

and Thomas Jefferson America as an Enlightened Project Constitution uses many of the

ideas presented here Locke: Life, Liberty, Property Montesquieu: separation of powers

Enlightened Despotism Rulers that embraced enlightened

reforms but strengthened their central absolutist administration at the cost of lesser centers of political power

Marie Theresa and Joseph II of Austria Frederick the Great of Prussia Catherine the Great of Russia

Maria Theresa 1740-1780 Strengthened crown

outside of Hungary Efficient system of tax

collection even from clergy and nobles

Put education under service of crown

Expanded primary education

Limited serf labor

Joseph II 1780-1790 Reduced Hungarian

autonomy Reorganized local

governments German became

official language Religious toleration Internal tariffs

abolished

Joseph’s contributions Built roads and

improved river transport

Uniform law codes Abolished serfdom Personal freedoms

granted to peasants Goal: better

workers

Robot (state work) was abolished

Land taxes imposed upon all members of society

Frederick II 1740-1789 First servant of

the State Allowed freedom

from religious persecution

State benefited economically from foreign workers

Frederick II’s contributions New law codes Rationalization of

existing laws Drained swamps Introduced new

crops Peasants forced

to migrate and paid taxes

Ran state as a military regime

Seized Silesia for Reasons of the state: made it a manufacturing region and imported workers

Prussia emerges as strongest German state

Catherine II 1762-1796 Russia backward

and in need of reform

Assembles 500 delegates to advise her on revisions to law and government

Info gathered: need autocracy

Reforms Limited reforms to

local power of nobility

1777—local governments reorganized

Charter of Nobility, 1785 rights and privileges granted to nobles

Suppressed internal trade barriers

Exports grew Small urban

middle class grows Russian territory

expanded Crimea annexed—

warm water port

1st Partition of Poland 1772 Russia gained

territory along Danube

Austria upset: Frederick II proposes secret plan to split Poland between the three countries

2nd Partition of Poland 1793

3rd Partition of Poland 1795