Unit 5

Revolutions and Enlightenment

Revolutions: Political and Economic

• This unit covers both political revolutions and the Industrial Revolution (economics).

The Enlightenment

• The Enlightenment is a philosophy that started with science.

Scientific Revolution

• The Enlightenment began around 1750.

• The scientific revolution preceded the Enlightenment by 100-200 years.

• During this time, the scientific method of testing and observing emerged.

• Empiricism: knowledge gained from observation and testing, not from religion or culture.

• Science challenged religious beliefs, creating tension between the two. The Protestant Reformation and Catholic Reformation are examples of religions having to reform.

• Science and religion are often at odds, though one can hold contradictory viewpoints.

• Scientific advancements, such as understanding gravity (Isaac Newton) and the heliocentric theory (Copernicus, Galileo), contradicted religious teachings.

• Philosophers applied scientific ideas to human societies, emphasizing reason over intuition or tradition.

Enlightenment Ideas

• Reason: Decisions should be based on provable facts using the scientific method.

• Natural Rights: Rights are inherent and not granted by rulers or religion. These rights lead to ideas of equality, justice, and freedom.

• The Enlightenment challenged artificial barriers based on race, gender, and class.

Social Contract

• The Enlightenment questioned the relationship between people and the state.

• Social Contract: An agreement between individuals and the state.

• People give up some freedom and money (taxes) to the state.

• The state promises to protect citizens and provide services.

• Legitimacy of the state is based on fulfilling its promises.

• If the state fails, people have the right to revolt and replace it.

• John Locke's ideas on the social contract influenced thinkers like Thomas Jefferson.

• The American Declaration of Independence reflects Enlightenment ideas and a desire for a new social contract.

• Enlightenment ideas inspired revolutions and rebellions against existing governments.

• The Enlightenment challenges authority, questions religion, and attempts to apply scientific principles to social structures.

Negative consequences of the Enlightenment

• Social Darwinism, scientific racism, and eugenics emerged from attempts to apply science to society.

• Phrenology, the idea that skull shape determines a person's quality, was a widely believed pseudoscience.

Feminism

• Feminism and the challenge to gender hierarchies are outcomes of the Enlightenment.

• While ideas about equality existed before, the Enlightenment saw an explosion of feminist thought.

• Examples include the expansion of suffrage, abolition of slavery, end of serfdom and push for equal rights.

• Some argue that the Enlightenment's promises have not been fully realized, as inequalities persist.

• Suffrage means the right to vote. The desire for universal suffrage is an impulse coming out of the enlightenment.

• Enlightenment thinkers like John Locke, Thomas Jefferson, Toussaint Louverture, and Simon Bolivar shared similar ideas.

Serfdom

• Serfdom: A form of coerced labor where peasants were bound to the land and lacked freedom of movement.

Enlightenment Defined

• The Enlightenment was a political philosophy based on natural rights, freedom, and equality, regardless of family, race, or gender.

Nationalism

• Everything discussed from this point can be traced back to this time period since everything is continuous through unit nine.

• Nationalism is a powerful ideology that both unites and divides.

• It can unite people of a similar culture or ethnicity.

• It can also fragment large empires with diverse ethnicities, where groups seek to form their own nations.

• The U.S., despite having a flag and national anthem, contains many nations and subcultures.

• Not all nations have their own state, which can lead to conflict and war.

• Nationalism can justify conflict as people fight to break off from empires and form new nations.

• The establishment of new nation-states is tied to decolonization (Unit 8).

• Nationalism was a key point on an LEQ last year, evaluating lasting change during the era of 1750-1900 and evaluating the extent to which monarchists and imperial rule led to lasting change.

• Nationalism can have a negative aura today.