Enlgihtenment and the Scientific Revolution

Enlightenment

refers to the general belief that human reason could serve as a guide for religious, philosophical, and scientific understanding.

beginning of the Enlightenment in the late seventeenth century was a time of

much political and religious turmoil, particularly in France and England.

Thinkers and writers were divided between those who

valued the stability and permanence of the past and those who advocated new ideas in social organization and intellectual thought.

Enlightenment thinkers assumed that a permanent ________ applied equally to the natural world and to human social organization.

universal order

Deism

the belief in a world designed by God but governed by natural laws and revealed to man through observation and the application of reason.

In a period that emphasized hierarchical social structures and codes of behavior, writers increasingly focused on _________________

society and social institutions

Although education and literacy remained privileges granted primarily to men, _______ assumed increasingly important roles in public society, gaining rights to education, presiding over social gatherings, and writing fiction.

women

________ emerged as an important genre through which writers such as Swift, Pope, Johnson, and Voltaire could comment upon the discrepancies revealed in social law and actual societal practice.

Satire

Satire

to acknowledge a problem in society + attempt to reform the problem in a comincal manner while still educating the public 

__________ emerged as a frequent literary subject, particularly in France where Molière, Racine, and La Fayette examined the social implications of domestic situations.

marriage

Emphasizing decorum and stability, eighteenth-century writers typically relied on established literary conventions in every genre, avoiding ____________ in favor of elevated diction and stylized formats made standard by tradition.

realism and imagination

Writers concerned with permanence and continuity with the past often turned to _____________ models as standards of excellence.

Classical Greek and Roman

Alexander Pope, imitates the characteristics of the Homeric epic to satirize aristocratic life in _________.

The Rape of the Lock

Jean Racine adapts the formalities of classical tragedy in _________.

Phaedra

A number of writers (the "moderns") broke with tradition to challenge the more conservative ideas of the period.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, for example, believed that social institutions….

corrupt rather than edify and celebrated the importance of the individual over that of society.

What was a leading factor to the rise of nationalism?

The French Revolution

nationalism

the ideology where the borders of the state should match the homeland of a people, a nation!

German literature cultivated feelings of emotional grandeur + powerful expression called:

Sturm und Drang (“Storm and Stress”) 

Greatest names is German literature

1. Johann wolfgnag von Goethe

2. Friedrich Schiller

Benedict Anderson traced the beginnings of modern nationalism to the…

Atlantic revolutions of the late 18-early 19th century 

After Napolean rose to power in 1799 he…

• extended the central gov of France into all the countries he conquered across Europe 

• Military victories → created sense of identity, nationality strongest in France 

• Led to increased sense of competition among nation states 

• New constitutional governments led by citizens of these nation-states would take their place. 

The development of Nationalism during The Enlightenment would ultimately lead to

World War I

Nationalism is both a cultural and political project, makes two big arguements 

1. Cultural: nations exist

2. Political: nations have a right to govern themselves 

Leader of the French Revolution, Smith wrote the Comte de Mirabeau, presented vision of

functioning global economy + free trade  

Idea laissez-faire meaning “let it happen”

• Believed modern states should provide public services + education when market mechanisms could not 

After the Glorious Revolution, John Locke published ____________, arguing that gov should be formed thru contract between ppl and their ruler rather than thru religious hierarchy or divine will 

Two Treatises of Government (1690)