Enlightenment + Scientific Revolution

Sci Rev to Enlightenement

•In the 18th century, (skepticism, challenging of classical knowledge) were taken a step further

•Thinkers (philosophes) took those same principles of questioning authority and know focused on human institutions (gov & society) rather than science

• This was an era, (Mostly France) where absolutism reigned supreme: that God and monarch → unquestionable authorities

•Many European states had no fair trials, had censorship, laws were → by kings and nobles, gentry → struggled to protect what they had earned

•The Enlightenment was essentially applying these principles of challenging authority to new ideas and reforms to government and religion

Knowledge

• Began in the 18th century quest for knowledge, and a man named Denis Diderot

• Diderot's used their knowledge of science and understanding and logging all of it into one single source known as The Encyclopedia

• Diderot + other philosophes agreed to not include anything that could not be proven scientifically with evidence (observation or deduction)

• A problem arose when they came to topics of religion: Christianity, nor any other religions, could not give scientific evidence

• All religious relied heavily on visions, old documents, trust, faith, and magic

These proofs' were not considered scientific at all → caused many philosophes to begin questioning the idea of God and religion entirely

Challenging Religion

• One key figures to first question & oppose the idea of religion all together → a Frenchman named Voltaire→wrote Candide revealed a world of horrors and folly

• Voltaire did not suggest God did not exist, but that religion, and all the rules, traditions, regulations, etc. had no factual basis and were, essentially, 'made up'

• In fact, Voltaire also argued organized religion was actually a negative thing as it split groups of people and started hundreds of bloody conflicts (i.e., Euro. religious wars)

• Voltaire and Diderot → propounded Deism: the clockmaker theory

• This believed that there was a perfect God who created a perfect universal system, but that he wasn't involved in our world/lives

• While most maintained God still existed, some, Baron d'Hollbach developed atheism→that there was no God or great Creator

Social Thought

• Once philosophes had begun to question God and religion as an authority, it challenged the view that monarchs received their absolutist authority through God

• To philosophes like Voltaire, religion was considered a personal, private issues not one that should be involved with the public life / government

• Now monarchs who ruled absolutely and unquestionably seemed selfish, evil or tyrannical as they made laws, jailed, killed, and censored people at will

• The next step was to take ideas started by John Locke and apply them to new ideas about natural rights, religion, and government

• In effect, that governments and laws should be designed to protect the rights of people (religion, speech, etc.), not take them away

How Government Should Run

• One of the themes shared by most philosophes was that governments should always include regular people / citizens

• The idea that God worked through kings, or that nobles were entitled to rule because of their birth wasn’t fair and had no scientific basis

• Enlightenment thinkers argued instead that not only should regular people be much more involved, but that no one person or group could be trusted

• These ideas were spelled out in Montesquieu’s book The Spirit of Laws in which he argued for the separation of powers

• According to this system, law making, enforcing, and interpreting should be divided into three groups, not held by just one or two

• This way, no one person or group could control or misuse the government

Jean-Jacques Rousseau 

• Believed that no government (king or parliament) could ever truly represent the people, and that the gov. should be all of the people (except women)

• Social Contract,→all individuals participated and made laws according to the ‘general will’

• Individuals make laws, to which all submit  and obey it.  By doing this, they are following and obeying themselves, not one or few rulers.

• These ideas on freedom, participation, and consent of the governed became extremely popular among people, and extremely unpopular among kings and nobles

• Argued all people should be involved in government instead of one person or group, but did not trust women to be involved in public life

Voltaire

• French man

• Freedom of speech, Freedom of religion

• Supported the separation of church and state

• Suggested God did exist but religion with all the rules, traditions, regulations, etc. were made up

• Propounded Deism: the clockmaker theory

• Wrote Candide revealed a world of horrors and folly

• Letters on the English

• Believed religion should be a personal, private issues—not involved with the public life / government

• Against organized religion because he notes that it divided people and starts wars.

• Disliked religion→ because Violence/persecution

Montequieu

• Three branches of government

• The Spirit of Laws: The Separation of Powers →law making, enforcing, and interpreting  should be divided into three groups, not held by just one or two→ to prevent anyone from getting too much control over the govt. 

• Influenced the U.S. Constitution

• Wrote The Persian Letters (1721)→criticized many European tyrants, including Louis XIV

Denis Diderot

• Made the Encyclopedia→ did not include things that could not be proven scientifically with evidence

• attempted to log all knowledge in the world?

• propounded Deism: the clockmaker theory

Which branch makes laws?

Which branch enforces laws?

Which branch interprets laws?

Leg

Exec

Judic

Francois Quesnay

• French financial advisor to Louis XV

• Made laissez-faire economics

• Influenced by the philosophes, he denounced French mercantlism

• Insisted that land was the only source of wealth

• Since land is a source of wealth, there should be only one tax (property tax)

Adam Smith

• Scottish economist

• Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776)

  • Advocate of laissez-faire economics

  • Production comes from the working class

• Smith is seen by some historians as the father of modern capitalism

• Influential to the early economy of the United States

Greco-Roman Logic

• an idea reborn in European society during the Renaissance was a little concept →rediscovered the idea skepticism: to doubt and question things that accepted as ‘true’

• to question the knowledge established by the ancient Greeks and Romans themselves

• the 16^th century, new inventions, technologies, and math provided a way to effectively test these ideas

  • Telescopes, microscopes, vacuum pump, and thermometers 

The three primary thinkers who were brought into question were 

• Ptolemy’s idea of the universe 

• Galen’s work on human anatomy

• Aristotle’s idea gravity and pretty much everything else

One of the first and biggest questioning of the classics came from who in the 15^th century

Copernicus →asserted that the Earth was not the center of the universe—and that we, in fact, orbited the Sun

• Challenged Ptolemy’s geocentric model, replacing it with a new, heliocentric model of the solar system

• Ptolemaic Model→Earth in middle

• Copernican Model- Sun in middle

Old Ideas Overturned

• opericus, his heliocentric model was dismissed by the Church as heretical and went unknown by most people

• the late 16^th century, Galileo had invented the telescope and he was able to confirm Copernicus’ theory

• Galileo disproved Aristole’s theory that heavy objects fall faster than lighter objects

•  Vesalius began dissecting cadavers, they found that Galen’s theories on anatomy were completely wrong

The Scientific Method

• Something is only true if it can be tested, observed, and repeated

• A combination of skepticism and proof: that you should doubt or not believe anything that could not be proven by mathematics or testing

• This change in thought is what was known as The Scientific Revolution— a new process of proving what is true, and using new inventions to help accomplish that

Issac Newton

• Thinkers such as Isaac Newton established a set of laws for the universe based on testing/mathematics known as Newtonian physics

• He also designed and developed calculus which has allowed mathematicians to solve far more complex problems

Inductive reasoning (Francis Bacon)

• using evidence, patterns, and observations supply strong evidence for the truth

Example:  Population in 1950 = 1 million, 1975 = 1.5 million, 2000 = 2 million

What will the population be in 2025?

Deductive reasoning (Rene Descartes)

• using logical deduction to make a certain, logical conclusion.  

Example:  All men are mortal.  Harold is a man.  Therefore, Harold is mortal.  

Knowing Without Knowing

• the ideas of Bacon, Newton, and Descartes, monarchs and governments began to publicly fund scientists to ‘figure out’ the universe

• They began forming Royal Societies → scientists whose job and lives were dedicated to questioning, developing, and testing new ideas (Royal Society of London)