The Enlightenment

5 Things About the Enlightenment

1. Enlightenment thinkers had controversiall ideas. They thought things which went against the norm. This included speaking out against absolutism.
2. Called the Age of Reason, they felt change was desirable, reason was possible for humanity’s sake.
3. Truth comes from reason.
4. Many followed the ideas of Newton. Natural law governed the universe. Things exist naturally. Thinkers believe in natural rights. Such of these thinkers include John Locke. All phenomena had a cause and an effect. They also evaluated theories of the past, from philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, etc.
5. Progress should always take place, people should strive for change.

Characteristics of the Enlightenment

Must provide at least three of these that your person exhibits for the Enlightenment project

1. Rationalism – Used logical reasoning, based on fact.
2. Cosmology – New world view based on Newtonian ideas, analyzed natural phenomena.
3. Secularism – Use scientific theories as an explanation.
4. Scientific Method – Emphasized experimentation rather than just theorizing.
5. Optimism – Belief that anything was possible.
6. Tolerance - Read/Heard the belief of others. Did not necessarily accept those ideas.
7. Freedom – Free from prejudice based on thought.
8. Mass Education – Everyone should be educated.
9. Utilitarianism – Laws must be created with the majority in mind. “Greatest good is the greatest number”
10. Constitutionalism - Belief in a written document of rights.
11. Cosmopolitanism - A city or an area of international ideas. The ideas of many peoples were present.
12. Legal Codes/Reform

The Philosophes

•  Applied reason and common sense
• No one set of ideas
• Attacked Christianity for rejecting science
• France was the center of the Enlightenment

1. France was a popular and somewhat universal language.
2. There was less censorship in France.
3. Religious conflicts caused them to attack religion
4. Was the pinnacle of absolutism, had to fight for reform

The Salon

• A gathering place for all peoples, mostly upper classed.
• School for women
• Discussion of new ideas
• Allowed for the spread of those ideas and literature
• Promoted literacy and tolerance

 Diderot and the Encyclopedia

• Collective of information over a wide range of subjects.
• No bias

Effects of the Enlightenment

• Ideals contributed to the American and French revolutions
• Changes in people as well as rulers and their ruling styles.
• European society became centered on beliefs in reason, science, and individual rights

http://plato.stanford.edu/

1. Outline chapters
2. Post assignments (no direct answers, just hints… I do enjoy being cryptic) like essay prompts, chapters we were supposed to read in books, etc.
3. Post things we did in class

Things I will NOT do

1. Summarize books we read for you. They’re not that bad, just read them.
2. Grammar… grammar is simple. You don’t need my help.
3. Post any direct answers, like _____ is connected to _______ and _________ because of ________. Or Louis XIV did _______ so that is why he is considered _________.

Ahhh… a topic I enjoy, science.

The Scientific Revolution

• During the 18th century, science became a primary focus in European life
• Some have said the development of modern science is the true beginning of the modern world
• There are both “internal” logical factors and “external” economical, social, and religous factors

Early Scientific Thoughts

Do not use this info for any science class…

• Most scientists worked to glorify the creations of God, rather than disprove the existence of God
• Early scientific views were focused on the ideas of Aristotle, the Greek philosopher of the 4th century BCE
• One of these views were geocentric universe, one where a motionless Earth was the center of the universe. Around the Earth were ten transparent crystals sphere orbiting in perfect circles, and beyond them the realm of Heaven. The first 8 spheres contained the moon, the sun, the 5 known planets, and the stars. The other 2 spheres were to account for slight changes in the positions of the stars
• They also focused on the four classical elements of fire, air, earth, and water
• There was a fifth element, quintessence, which made up the celestial spheres
•  The earth was made up of the four classical elements
• Fire and air were the light elements, which naturally moved up
• Water and earth were the heavy elements, which naturally moved down
•  Elements could be mixed and affected by outside forces, such as a person
• A uniform force moved objects at a constant speed, the object would stop when the force was removed
• Aristotles views were accepted for over 2000 years
• They supported Christian theology

A New Challenger Aproaches: Copernicus

• Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) was a Polish clergyman and astronomer
• Observed that astronomers still relied on the work of Ptolemy, the last great astronomer who lived in Alexandria in the 2nd century CE
• Ptolemy worked out complicated rules to explain the movement of celestial bodies
• Many people believed that the relationships between the stars and the planets predicted the future
• Copernicus believed in a heliocentric universe, one where the sun was the center of the universe
• He worked on this theory from 1506 to 1530
• He also believed in the crystal spheres of Aristotle
• He did not publish his work, On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres until 1543, the year of his death

Three implications of this Copernican hypothesis:

1. This theory put the stars at a resting position, disproving the crystal spheres
2. This theory suggested a very large universe
3. This theory categorized the Earth as just another planet, destroying the idea that the earthly was different from the heavenly

• This theory brought on the attacks of many religious leaders, particularly the Protestants
• Martin Luther saw Copernicus as a fool who wanted to ruin astronomy, citing the story of Joshua, who bid the sun stand still
• John Calvin also condemned Copernicus
• 1616 – The Catholic Church declares Copernicus wrong
• The theory and reaction were quite slow to catch on.

Two events created doubt in the current astronmoical system:

1. In 1572, a new star appeared and shone bright for 2 years, it was actually a distant exploding star which contradicted the view that the universe was perfect and static.
2. In 1577, a comet streaked across the sky and cut a path through the “impenetrable” crystal spheres.

Tycho Brahe to Galileo

• Tycho Brahe (1546-1601)  was a Danish astronomer and noble
• Impressed when a solar eclipse happened as predicted
• Observed the “star” from 1572 (see above)
• Spent 20 years observing the skies with the naked eye
• Lost a piece of his nose in a duel, replaced the bridge with a gold and silver alloy
• Arrogantly exploited peasants, humbly viewed the sky
• Compiled mass amounts of data
• Had few math skills which prevented him from making sense from his data
• Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)  was Brahe’s German assistant
• Believed the universe was built for mystical mathmatical relationships

Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion

1. 1609 – The orbits of the planets are elliptical
2. Planets do not move at a uniform speed in their orbit
3. 1619 – The time a planet takes to make a complete orbit is related to its distance from the sun

• Galileo Galilei (1594-1642)  was a Florentine astronomer and mathematician
• Became a professor of mathematics in 1589 at age 25
• Galileo used the experimental method, experimenting rather than speculating
• Proved that a uniform force produced uniform acceleration
• He formulated the law of inertia, where an object will keep moving unless it is stopped by an external force
• The telescope was invented by Collin in Holland
• Galileo used this telescope and discovered 4 moons of Jupiter
• 1610 - Galileo used his telescope and saw that our moon was inperfect
• Employed in Florence by the Medici grand dukes of Tuscany
• 1624 – Pope Urban VII allows Galileo to write about the different systems of the world, as long as he didn’t judge which one was correct
• 1632 – Published the widely read Dialogue on the Two Chief Systems of the World and was later arrested for it and he recanted his ways
• This is a classic example of the conflict between science and religion
• The accomplishmets of the scientists had taken effect in 1640
• The single explanatory system for these theories was created by Newton
• Issac Newton (1642-1727) was an English scientist
• He united the experiment and theoretical-mathmatical sides of modern science
• Was fascinated by alchemy and sought the elixir of life and a way to turn base metals into gold and silver
• Was also very religious
• Called the “last of the magicians”
• Studied optics
• 1684 – Took 18 months  to work on physics
• Never left his room except to read his lectures and had food brought up to him yet he rarely ate

Newton’s 3rd Book - Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosopy (1687) opened with these lines:

In the preceding books I have laid down the principles of philosopy [that is, science]… These principles are the laws of certain motions, and powers or forces, which chiefly have respect to philosophy… It remains from the same principles I know demonstrate the frame of the System of the World.

• Newtonian synthesis was the unification of the scientific theories of his Newton’s predecessors
• The key to this was the law of universal gravitation which stated every body in the universe attracts every other body in the universe in a precise mathematical relationship, where the force of the attraction is proportional to the quantity of matter of the objects and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.

Causes of the Scientific Revolution

• Long term contributions from the middle ages, such as universities and institutions where one could pursue knowledge with subjects such as law, medicine, and theology, as well as philosophy
• Science could emerge as a minor but distinct branch of philosophy
• The recovery of Greek math, because of the humanist movement, allowed for the improvement of European math
• Renaissance patronage extended to scientific as well the artistic and humanistic.
• Ship captains needed the aid of science and math to create navigational devices for finding latitude and longitude
• The King of Portugal in 1484 commisioned mathematicians to do so
• Finding longitude was the most difficult
• Sir Thomas Gresham financed a college, Gresham College, in London
• Three of the seven professors were to teach science specifically
• The study of astronomy  was directed at the science of navigation
• Became the main center of scientific activity in England from the 1600s-1650s
• Better instruments were also a factor in the scientific revolution, allowing for the creation of the telescope, barometer, thermometer, pendulum clock, microscope, and air pump
• This also lead to the development of better thinking
• Francis Bacon (1561-1626) was an English politician and writer
• He formalized the expermimental method into empiricism which he claimed would allow for more useful and highly practical knowledge
• René Descartes (1596-1650) was a French philosopher who made the first great discovery in mathematics
• He was a 23 year-old soldier fighting in the Thirty Years’ War when he saw one night in 1619 that there was a perfect correspondence between geometry and algebra, geometric figures could be expressed as algebraic equations and vice versa
• He believed that one should doubt everything that can be reasonably doubted
• Cartesian dualism reduces all to matter and mind, the physical and the spirtual
• These two principles, empiricism and Cartesian dualism, are combined today in our modern scientific method
• Some historians say that Protestantism, especially Calvanism, allowed for the rise of  modern science.
• The truth is that all religions  opposed the Copernican system until 1630 when the Scientific Revolution was already in progress.
• The Catholic church was initially the least hostile and Italian sceintists played an important role until the trial of Galileo
• The Counter-Reformation became very anti-science
• Protestant nations, such as the Netherlands and Denmark, were very proscience because of their lack of a strong religious authority
• After 1630, English religious conflicts became so great, they lost all control
• Science became neutral and independent of religion in England

Results and Consequences of the Scientific Revolution

1. It helped the rise of a new class, the internation scientific community
2. Science became competitive and more advances were inevitable
3. Introduced new knowledge and a new way of gaining knowledge
4. An intellectual, not technological, revolution.

The Enlightenment

• The beginning of a new age, a new world-view
• The most important idea was methods of natural science could be used to examine and understand all apsects of life
• Everything was to be rational, the idea of rationalism
• The scientific method could be used to find human laws as well as the laws of nature
• This led to social science and progress, it was possible to create a better socieite and better people.
• The Enlightenment was secular and more popular with the higher class
• Peasants resented the Enlightenment because of it’s attack on popular beliefs.
• Bernard de Fontenelle was a versatile French man and wrote many letters
• He wanted to make science fun and witty even for those who are not scientific.
• His most famous work was Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds (1686)
• Scientists viewed their work as exalting God
• Eulogies of Scientist by Fontenelle followed a theme of rational, progressive scientists vs predjudiced, reactionary priests
• Skeptics questioned whether religion was necessary
• Skepticism is the belief that nothing cannot be known without any doubt
• One of these skeptics was Pierre Bayle (1647-1706), a French Huguenot
• He despised Louis XIV and lived in the Netherlands
• He examined religious beliefs in his Historical and Critical Dictionary
• John Locke wrote Essay Concerning Human Understanding and established the theory of tabula rasa, where at birth, people are blank slates and the envirnoment around them writes the beliefs and understanding of a person
• A new group emerged called philosophes who were a group of intellectuals who proclaimed they were ‘bring the light to their fellow man’

Okay, no time left, I have to sleep, you only have to read from 608-624, here’s some links that may help.

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/hum_303/enlightenment.html

http://countrystudies.us/germany/19.htm

http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/ENLIGHT/ABSOLUTE.HTM

You should also know

Fredrick the Great

Catherine the Great

Enlightened Absolutism in France

The Austrian Hapsburgs

Voltaire

Montesquieu

Rousseau

and Jean-Baptiste just kidding, there’s no Jean-Baptiste in this chapter.

Good night, and good luck on the quiz tomorrow

• The church was corrupt
• Critics targeted clerical immorality, pluralism, and ignorance.
• Many higher leveled clerics had multiple benefices, or offices they reigned
• Aristocrats and nobles occupied the highest church positions
• Late 15th – Early 16th century : The Church was actively working for reform.
• The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis urged people to hold Christ as their role model and following a life similar to his teachings.

Martin Luther

• 95 Theses – Spoke out against the sale of indulgences by the Church
• Began the Lutheran movement
• Called before the Diet of Worms in Worms, Germany where he was persecuted and declared an outlaw.
• Translated the Bible into German
• Grew into Protestantism

The Rise of Protestantism

1. Salvation is from faith alone
2. Religious authority rests in the word of the bible alone
3. The church is the entire community of Christian believers
4. All ways of life has equal merit whether secular or spiritual

• Transubstantiation (Bread and Wine = Christ) vs Consubstantiation (Christ is present spiritually)
• Some towns established preacherships, angered by the irregularity and poor quality of sermons
• Several peasant revolts occured during the 15th and 16th centuries. Martin Luther first sided with the peasants then turned against them when they opposed the legally established secular power.
• The invention of the printing press allowed for the spread of Luther’s beliefs.
• He believed the home was the place of the wife.
• Marriage (Monogamy) is the ultimate goal for a couple.
• He wanted to allow clerical marriage

Germany and the Protestants

• No central power
• Defined by weak borders, localism, chronic disorders.
• The Hapsburgs gained power during the time of Luther, beginning with the 19 year-old Charles V
• 1477 – Maximilian I of the Hapsburgs marries Mary of Burgandy. This union instantly birthed an international power.
• Charles V is their grandson through their son Philip of Burgundy and Joanna of Castile.
• Charles V becomes the Holy Roman Emperor
• The German princes felt they had the right to chose their area’s beliefs. They were looked upon to reform the church.
• Luther instilled a sense of nationalism among the Germans.
• This put Germany and the Holy Roman Empire into conflict.
• Charles V knew nothing the situation in Germany. Thought two relgions could not coexist.
• Ferdinand, brother of Charles V, sought Protestant support to defeat the Turks, who captured Vienna in 1529

Growth of the Protestant Reformation

• In 1555, Northern Europe was mostly seperated from the Catholic Church
• Calvanism started by John Calvin.
• Believed that God had preselected certain people to do certain things
• God had also predestined whether people who are saved or are damned.
• Geneva was a very religious town. They enforced both God’s and man’s laws.
• Geneva was led by Calvin himself, the citizens were had a very high standard of morality.
• Crimes were investigated and persected whether they were serious offenses or just un-Christian.
• Michael Servetus was burned at the stake for rejecting the Trinity and child baptism.
• Calvin believed being married was the only role for women and the wife should be obedient to her husband.
• Calvanism was the most dynamic force of the 16th and 17th century.
• Anabaptists believed in freedom of religion and were against baptism.  Allowed women in the ministry, attracted the poor, pacifist, literal view of the teachings of Luther.
• Anabaptists were a minority.
• The Quakers and the Baptists trace their roots back to this group

English Reformation

• The Anglican Church
• Book of Common Prayer by Thomas Cranmer (Guide for Anglicans)
• Elizabeth I let people practice any religion they wanted behind closed doors as long as they attended the Church of England.
• Catholics began to reform as well
• The Society of Jesus, whose members were Jesuits, spread the Christian ideals around the world. They were very modern and attracted many recruits.
• Overall, religion played a major part in the lives of the European, to the point of dividing entire nations.
• This time of Reform marked the beginning of the modern world.

Okay, while the northern Europeans were all dying and stuff, the Italians were going through a period of economic and cutural rebirth, a Renaissance.

Beginnings of the Italian Renaissance

From 1050 – 1300 there was phenomenal economic growth that allowed for the Renaissance to occur.  The city states of Italy were also growing in strength. Another factor that allowed Italy to enter this great period was an expansion in population. Then between the 14th and 16th centuries, the Renaissance occured starting with Northern Italy. Cities like Venice, Genova, and Milan exploited their geographical positions as crossroads of trade. The first artistic and literary expansions occured in Florence.

Florence

• Very wealthy
• Inland city, no sea ports
• End of 13th Century: Florence gained control of Papal banking
• Florentine mercantile families controlled all of European banking
• The most powerful families, such as the Medici family, controlled the culture and politics of their city.
• Very strong economically, not affected by severe crises.
• 1344 – King Edward III of England forced many Florentine bankers into bankruptcy.
• Black Death killed ½ of the pop. of Florence
• 1378 – Ciompi Revolts: A period labor unrest
• Florence survived because of their driving enterprise, technical know-how, and competitive spirit.

 Italian Government

• Northern Italian cities = Communes (Free men who unite against nobles)
• Formed by merchant guilds
• Built city walls, regulated trade, raised taxes, kept civil order.
• Some communes were Milan, Florence, Genoa, Siena, and Pisa, who won their independence from surronding feudal nobles.
• Nobles often settled within these cities for such oppurtunities as long distance and maritime (sea) trade, public office, and marriage into rich families.
• Popolo were people excluded from power. Won the support of some, the organization died overall.
• 1300-1500 – Majority of Italian Rule = Signori or Oligarchy
• Signori were ruled by despots (one person)
• Oligarchy - Group ruler, merchants in Italy
• 15th Century focused on the princely courts, or people around the rulers.
• Many people were loyal to their city
• Five powers dominated Italy: Venice, Milan, Florence, the Papal States, and Naples
• Republics in Italy were false, ruled by aristocrats.
• Central Italy = Papal States
• Southern Italy = Naples, disputed between Aragon and France
• Major city states controlled smaller ones.
• Major city-states united against threats
• The Italian governments were vastly unorganized; weak as a whole
• Girolamo Savonrola predicted the invasion of Italy by the French King Charles VIII 
• In the late 15th century, Italian faced invasions by many different states
• In the 16th Century, life in Italy was devastated and would not be united again until 1870.

The Renaissance

•  Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374) was an early humanist and believed he was living in at the start new age
• Renaissance artists and writers identified with Greco-Roman thinkers and artists

Individualism = I want to be the best, I will be the best

• Pre-Individualism Christian humility discouraged self-absorbsion
• Individualism stressed personality, uniqueness, genius, and using the full extent of one’s abilities.
• Individualists competed to be the best

Humanism = Let’s be like those cool Greco-Romans

• This aspect of the Renaissance involved studying the Latin classics for new insight into human nature. They often emphasized human achievements, interests, and capabilities.
• Mirandola wrote On the Dignity of Man an essay that states that man has great dignity because man is modeled after God. No limits to man.
• Humanist rejected ideals that opposed Christianity or reinterpret them to fit with their views.

Secularism = “The afterlife? I wanna buy new clothes now”

• The secularist movement were more concerned with the earthly things.
• A move away from the spiritual beliefs.
• Life was to be enjoyed
• The Decameron by Florentine Giovanni contains tales of the worldy things
• The Church fostered the growth of Secularism, even supporting the views by rebuilding St. Peter’s Basilica.

Other Stuff… (Art, Culture…)

• High Renaissance – Period of Artistic Growth, centered in Rome
• Art was highly demanded, religious, and/or similar to those of Greco-Roman time.
• During this period, education and political thought was promoted.
• Machiavelli and The Prince, machiavellian is a synonym for politically devious, corrupt, and crafty.
• Start of the use of paper and printing, inspired by Chinese money and playing cards.
• First use of the modern clock.
• The status of women declined. Women were to be at home with the kids.
• Many of the scandalous occurences happening now, occured in the past.
• Slaves used.
• Northern Renaissance – Renaissance focused on Christianity and faith.
• Erasmus, a northern humanist, two fundamental themes of Erasmus were education is the means to reform, moral and intellectual improvement and his thoughts are “the philosophy of Christ”
• Rabelias was Eramus with wild and gross humor
• Thomas More wrote Utopia, a revolutionary view of society

Politics During the Renaissance

• Rulers began using more agressive methods implied by Renaissance ideas. The rules of the period were tough, cynical, and calculating. Utilizing fear rather than love, the rulers followed the word of Machiavelli.
• The Renaissance saw the revival of many political ideals as well.
• In France, the Hundred Years’ War left France devasted.
• The recovery of France was begun by Charles VII
• The gabelle and taille taxes were the main sources of income for the French until 1789.
• The Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges gave the French crown power over the papacy.
• Louis XI = Spider King (Treacherous character)
• Louis XII married Anne of Brittany and added Brittany to France.
• Concordat of Bologna was voided the Pragmatic Sanction and allowed the pope to recieve the first year’s income of new bishops and abbots.
• Leo X allowed the French crown to control the appointment of Church positions
• The aristocrats had controlled much of the government of Henry IV
• War of the Roses plagued England. The Tudors took over and began the restoration.
• The monarchs avoided costly wars and conducted foreign policy on the basis of diplomacy.
• Henry VIII’s royal council governed at the national level, the were mostly of the lesser landowning class (middle class).
• This council had a judicial offshoot, known as the court of the Star Chamber which applied principles of Roman law, there were to be no evidence, no juries, torture was permitted.
• The Tudors lack of a standing army or professional bureaucracy forced them to use unpaid local officials, justices of the peace.
• The Spanish persecuted Jews and forced many to become Christian or die
• Most rulers of the period utillized Machiavellian ideals to preserve their rule
• These monarchies moved gradually toward nation-states.

And please, if you have something to add, no matter how minor, please do so. If you have something you want removed, don’t hesistate to ask… Collin.