MMW 14 Final - People

Immanuel Kant

German philosopher who wrote “What is the Enlightenment” in 1784, talked about the concept of escaping nonage - inability to use one’s own understanding without another’s guidance. He was elitist because he believed only a select few had the ability to become Enlightened. 

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

18th century Swiss philosopher who argued for individual freedom, democracy and popular sovereignty. He believed that humans are inherently good and that society corrupts them. 

Raja Rammohun Roy

Indian writer, founder of Brahmo Samaj social movement. Framed Hindu enlightenment in Western framework, for example monotheistic rather than traditional polytheistic practices. Introduced reforms that appealed to the British for the purpose of getting constitutional representation in parliament. Example of local literati dictating what can/can’t stay in the Enlightened age. Created space for “acceptable” Indian/Hindu culture in a colonial context

Thomas Paine

Founding father who wrote Common Sense in 1776 to argue for American independence from British. Believed mankind originally equals, equality only destroyed by distinctions like rich/poor, so distinction of men into kings and subjects was unnatural. Also believed government by kings had no religious reason and was Devilish, a sin in scripture. Believed independence was a bond that kept people together, and a free and independent USA was a right of mankind.

Olympe de Gouges

female French revolutionary who directly challenged the presumed inferiority of women by the Declaration of the Rights of Man in 1791 with the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen. She was charged with treason and executed by guillotine in 1793. Believed women should free themselves, married women give their husbands wealth which doesn’t belong to them, need for national education, restoration of morals, conjugal conventions. 

Adam Smith

Scottish economist. Invisible Hand (laissez faire): selfish individual action in the market unintentionally helps the common good. Wrote “The Wealth of Nations” in 1776, division of labor = greatest improvement in the productive powers of labor. Pro industrialization, assembly line factories, believed it helped the poor. 

Andrew Ure

Scottish physician. Wrote “The Philosophy of Manufacturers” in 1835. Avid proponent of industrialism and its social benefits, viewed division of labor as a hallmark of progress. Believed in British supremacy for the development of factory wealth. Believed manufacturing follows Enlightenment values because it helps the poor. 

Friedrich Engels

19th century German philosopher, wrote “The Condition of the Working Class in England” about industrial Manchester in 1844. Anti industrial, described the area as hell on earth. Close with Marx

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher, coined “survival of the fittest” - Social Darwinism 1857. Believed society is evolving toward increasing individual freedom, government intervention ought to be minimal in social/political life. Believed progress = producing greater quantity/variety of things to satisfy man’s wants, increasing security, widening freedom, changing social structure, heightening human happiness, heterogeneity in government. Progress = change from homogeneous to heterogeneous. 

John O’Sullivan

19th century American journalist who coined “Manifest Destiny.” Wrote “the Great Nation of Futurity” in 1839, believed in American exceptionalism and moral superiority. Anti-European imitation and reliance. Colonialist rhetoric masks dispossession of Indigenous people, positions America as embodiment of Enlightenment. 

E.D. Morel

British Pacifist journalist who criticized slavery in the Congo Free State. Wrote “King Leopold’s Rule in Africa”: describes atrocities by Belgian imperialism, extreme racism, exploiting Congolese people for rubber profit

Johann Herder

1744-1803, Ethno-Cultural Theory of Nationalism: nationalism fueled by language, customs, memories, environment, cultural and emotional concept

Ernest Renan

Political Theory of Nationalism: people need to work towards national identity, they are not born into it, it is a conscious decision to remain united. 

Simon Bolivar

1783-1830, led independence movements in Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador Peru, and Panama from the Spanish Empire. Enlightened ruler and thinker: abolitionist, believed economic interest > race and class.