2, French Revolution Flashcards
(6 cards)
What is the traditional Whiggish view that Enlightenment leads to revolution?
Questioning of/attacking the divine right of kings and religion
Liberal ideas about the government
Public discussion spreading – newspapers, salons
Growth in popular democracy
Revolution in America (1776), France (1789), etc.
What were problems with traditional ‘Whiggish’ view of enlightenment history
Assumes enlightenment is a uniform and autonomous political movement
Disregard for formation of different ideas because of national, regional or personal circumstance
Fails to consider changing perspectives because of class, gender or race
How did enlightenment link to revolution?
Philisophes vital part of the enlightenment but not calling for revolution. Others took their ideas and the effects of them added to revolution
Contemporaries aware something was happening, however: D’Alembert’s phrase ‘L’Age des Lumieres’
Kant, ‘Sapere Aude!’ Have the courage to use your own understanding! (think for yourself)
How did Jean Jacques Rousseau add to enlightenment?
Disagrees with Adam Smith, instead humans are naturally equal and sympathetic towards each other
Civil society resulted in social hierarchies, repression, warfare, selfishness and moral corruption
The Social Contract: argues government originates in a social contract between the people and those chosen to rule them, people retain right to reject ruler and form of social contract with another
Hugely influential on revolution but also controversial
How was the enlightenment limited in terms of race and slavery?
Anti-Slavery arguments made by the Encylopedie, Rosseau, Smith
John Friedrich Blumenbach: differences in anatomy of European and African skull ‘proves’ certain races are inherently inferior to others
How was the enlightenment limited in terms of women’s rights?
Anatomical studies observe women’s brains are smaller than men’s, Laetitia Hawkins (1792)
Resistance to ‘Learned Women’ and emphasis on ‘Separate Spheres’: Thomas Rowlandson (1815)
Rosseau (1762) argues women’s education should be different, their ‘inequality’ is not of man’s making, women were just made that way and should conform to it
