Chapter 17 Flashcards
(48 cards)
Two most important influences on Enlightenment**
Isaac Newton and John Locke
Uniqueness of Britain politically and socially leading up to Enlightenment***
MOST FREE EUROPEAN COUNTRY OVERALL
Religion:
EX: Religious toleration for all except Unitarians + Roman Catholics, not actively persecuted
Politics:
EX: Relative freedom of speech + press, Limited monarchy, Political sovereignty, Courts protect citizens
Economics:
EX: Less regulation
Britain’s influence on the Enlightenment**
- After 1688, political + economic stability in England = living example of a society where enlightened reforms seemed to benefit everyone.
- Place where enlightened ideas where working for everyone.
Public Opinion**
- The collective effect on the political and social life of views circulated in print and discussed in the home, workplace and centers of leisure. Relatively content.
- Government could not operate wholly in secret anymore
Print culture*
Culture where books, newspapers, journals, and pamphlets have achieved a status.
Voltaire’s views and literary works on Britain**
- Letters on the English (1733), Praised virtues of England’s religious toleration.
- Liked Britain’s moderate political atmosphere, scientific + economic prosperity
Voltaire’s Literary works and main ideas of works***
1733: Letters on the English
- Praised virtues of England’s religious toleration, criticizes abuses of French Society
1738: Elements of the Philosophy of Newton
- Popularized Isaac Newton’s ideas across the continent
Candide
-Satire attacking war, religious persecution what he considered unjustified optimism about the human condition
Philosophes criticism of Christian Church**
- Believed that ecclesiastical institutions obstructed any human improvement
- Saw Church as hindrance to rational life and scientific study of humanity and nature.
- Doctrine of “Original Sin” = any improvement in human nature on earth = IMPOSSIBLE!
- Philosophes say Calvinists belief in predestination denied that virtuous behavior could affect the fate of a person’s soul after death
Major points of the Deists Creed**
RATIONALITY APPLIED TO RELIGION –> SET OF BELIEFS = DEISM!!!!
1. God = divine watchmaker who created mechanism of nature, set it in motion, then departed and therefore, there was no such thing as divine intervention.
- Existence of God can be justified through the study of nature (empirical evidence)
- Life after death, believed a rational God must favored/preferred rational mortality
- Empirical, tolerant, reasonable, encouraged virtuous living
Ethics***
- Written by Baruch Spinoza
- Closely identified God and Nature, pantheistic idea ( doctrine that identifies God with the universe) that God is not a distinct personality, but really present everywhere in nature
- Interpreted by Christians + Jews that human beings might not be personally responsible for their actions and that there would be no personal individual immortality (eternal life) of human soul after death.
Moses Mendelssohn*****
(1729-1786)
1. Known as “Jewish Socrates”
- Jewish Philosopher
- Advocated assimilation of Jews into modern European life
- Wrote “On Ecclesiastical Power and Judaism”
- Argued for religious toleration and maintenance of distinct Jewish communities.
- Believed Jewish communities shouldn’t excommunicate members over different theological opinions or acceptance of modern secular ideas.
Pascal’s views of Islam*
- Wrote “Pensees”
- Portrayed Islam as a false religion and Muhammed as an imposter and false prophet
Editors of “The Encyclopedia”*
Denis Diderot & Jean Le Rond d’Alembert
Contributors of “The Encyclopedia”*
100+ contributors of other French philosophers of time
Topics/Themes of “The Encyclopedia”**
- Critical of ecclesiastical institutions, authoritative governments, + philosophy
- Articles on manufacturing, canal building, ship construction, + improved agricultural methods
Effects of “The Encyclopedia”*
Secularized learning!!!! Spread Enlightenment ideas
“On Crimes and Punishments”*****
- Written by Marquis Cesare Beccaria
- Published in 1764
- Scorned torture + capital punishment
- Encouraged judicial systems to have speedy trials and give out punishments designed to discourage further crime
- Believed in Utilitarianism!
Adam Smith and views on Mercantilism***
- Wanted mercantile system in England to BE ABOLISHED!
- Disagreed with mercantilist assumption that earth’s resources were limited/scarce
- Believed earth’s resources = limitless and that they should be exploited to improve human comfort.
“The Wealth of Nations”***
- Written by Adam Smith
- Published in 1776
- A.K.A. “Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of nations”
Role and purpose of government according to Adam Smith**
- Limited role in economic life
- Should provide school, army, navies, and roads
- Should open new dangerous trade routs that were economically desirable
- Believed economic freedom = foundational to natural economic system
Believed best way to encourage economic growth = unleashing individuals to pursue their own selfish economic interests
Adam Smith’s four-stage theory**
BARBARISM –> CIVILIZATION
1. Hunter-gatherer
- Pastoral-herding
- Agricultural
- Commercial
Laissez-faire economics*
- Economic policy that favors limited role of government in economic life
Beliefs of physiocrats***
- French economic reformers
- EX: Francois Quesnay & Pierre Dupont de Nemours
- Believed existing legislation + regulation of trade in mercantilist economic system hampered the expansion of trade, manufacturing, and agriculture
- Believed primary role of governemts = protecting private properties and permit owners to use it freely
Rousseau & human nature*
- Hated the world because it seemed to him impossible for human beings to achieve moral or virtuous lives in the commercial society that they lived in.