The Enlightenment Worksheet PDF

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Western Civilization Winter 2020

Name: Melissa Zouaoui (1931909)

The Enlightenment (1720-1790) The purpose of this activity is to provide you with notes and an understanding of how the Enlightenment impacted the evolution of Western civilization. Read the suggested sections scanned from Levack, Muir, and Velman, The West: Encounters and Transformations (2014) and answer the assigned questions. When finished, submit your completed assignment on Lea.

Section: Reason and the Laws of Nature (pp.595-597, read all but last paragraph) How did the philosophes understand reason? They placed greater emphasis on reason alone, which they believed to be superior to religious faith and the final arbiter of all philosophical and theological disputes.

What did they believe governed human behavior? They believed that scientific laws governed not only the operation of the natural world but also the functioning of human society.

Section: Religion and Morality (p.597, 599) Describe the ways that the philosophes’ viewed God. Many believed that God was still the creator off the universe and the author of the natural laws that governed it, but they did not believe that he was still actively involved in its operation.

Describe the religion believed and followed by the philosophes. For them, all religions were important and valid, even those of non-Western people. They were critical of Christianity. They minimized the importance of religious belief in the conduct of human life. David Hume epitomized the new religious outlook of the Enlightenment in “An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding” (1748). He challenged Rene Descartes claim that God implants clear and distinct ideas in our minds, from where we are able to deduce other truths. Instead, he argued that our understanding derives from sense perceptions. He even denied that there was any certain knowledge, thus calling into question the authority of revealed truth and religious doctrine.

Section: Progress and Reform (pp.599-600) What are some examples of the ways philosophes believed that progress could be achieved?  By reforming the corrupt institutions. Many campaigns arose to eliminate the administration of judicial torture and capital punishment in order to have a more humane, civilized society.  Abolition of capital punishment and the imprisonment of convicted felons. Cesare Beccaria, an Italian jurist, argued that punishment should be used not to exact retribution for crimes, but to rehabilitate the criminal and to serve the interests of society. (“Essay on Crimes and Punishments (1764)) Prison then became a symbol of the improvement of society.

Section: Voltaire and the Spirit of the Enlightenment (pp.600, 603-604) Who was Voltaire? Francois Marie Arouet (Voltaire) was one of the most prominent writer and philosopher of the eighteenth century. Born into a French bourgeois family, his audience was predominantly bourgeois people. In his writing he decries the injustices of aristocratic society and his commitment to scientific rationality, contempt for established religion, and unflagging pursuit of liberty and justice.

What were his views toward science, religion, and liberty? Science: Voltaire had a big interest in science. He acquired from his mistress, Madame du Chatelet, a scientist and mathematician, an understanding of newton’s scientific laws and a commitment to women’s education and equality. Religion: For Voltaire, Christianity was not only unreasonable but also vulgar and barbaric. He condemned the Catholic Church for the slaughter of millions of indigenous people. Liberty: Inspired by the English legal institutions, he became a tireless advocate of individual liberty and defender of victims of injustice.

Section: Baron de Montesquieu: The Separation of Powers (pp.604) What did Montesquieu believe was the key to good government? He argued that the key to good government was the separation of executive, legislative, and judicial power. Separation of powers became the most durable of his ideas and it profoundly influenced the Constitution of the United Stated of America in 1787. For him, the key to maintaining moderation and preventing degeneration of civil society was the law of each country.

Section: Jean-Jacques Rousseau: The General Will (pp.604, 606) What did Rousseau idealize? He had a negative view of the achievements of civilization. He idealized the uncorrupted condition of human beings in the state of nature supporting the theory of the “noble savage”.

How were laws to be determined? Laws were to be determined by the General Will, by which he meant the true and inherent interest of the community, not the vote of the majority. He proclaimed the sovereignty of the people.

Section: Women and the Enlightenment (pp.607) What were the two views of women in the 1700s? 1. Women are different in nature from men, they should be confined to an exclusively domestic role as wives and mothers. (Diderot & Rousseau) Theory of separate sphere which held that men and women should conduct their lives in different social and political environments. (patriarchal argument) 2. A small minority wanted the full equality between men and women. (Condorcet) He published “On the Admission of Women to the Rights of Citizenship” in 1789, where he proposed that women who owned property should have the right to vote and he late called for universal suffrage for all men and women since they shared a common human nature.

Describe Mary Wollstonecraft’s view of women? She published “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” in 1792, where she argued that girls should receive the same education as boys and learn how to support themselves so they can take control of their lives and become socially and politically equal to men.

Summary (Note that this will be your Focus Question for today’s class): After having read the assigned readings and answered the above questions, how would you explain the main ideas of the Enlightenment and how they affected western civilization? The Age of Enlightenment promoted a confidence in reason or intellectual enquiry to bring greater happiness and progress to humanity; a belief that all aspects of the human and natural worlds are susceptible of rational explanation; and the desire to battle against ignorance, superstition, injustice and oppression. During the Enlightenment, revolutionary thinkers brought new ideas as to how to better understand and improve society. They were all modern philosophers and they all centered around one main theme: equality and human freedom. They emphasized individualism and reason over tradition to reform society by challenging those ideas that were based primarily on faith and tradition. Skepticism and scientific thought were promoted. For example, Francois-Marie Arouet, more commonly known by his pen name, Voltaire, is another influential Enlightenment philosopher, known for his support of tolerance of all kinds, especially religious. He was concerned about the lack of religious equality in France and praised England for their religious tolerance....