FINAL EXAM: 9.30 am–12.30 am Thursday, July 25

Instructions for Exam:

• Given ~3 short essay questions

• Given 1 long essay question

• Show you have read/understood the text

  • (not just sat in for class discussions)

• Recommended structure:

  • Intro

  • 1st author focus on theme

  • 2nd author focus on theme

  • Etc.

  • Interactions between the ideas of the authors

  • Conclusion (?)

• Could also organize by themes, though this is harder

• INCLUDE SPECIFIC EXAMPLES / THEMES / CONNECTIONS

AUTHORS

Baruch Spinoza, Theological-Political Treatise (1670)

• We should use the Bible as HISTORICAL CONTEXT

  • Bible is written by humans

Freedom and Equality:

– advocates for freedom of thought and expression (individuals should be free to think and express their ideas without fear of persecution or censorship; 

 this is essential for the development of human potential and the flourishing of society. 

• The state should not interfere in matters of personal belief, as this infringes on individual liberty and equality (rooted in his belief that everyone possesses the same natural rights and should be treated equally under the law)

Progress/Comparative Civilizations

– societies that suppress free thought and expression (hinder moral & intellectual progress)

– societies that promote freedom and the pursuit of knowledge are more advanced (the health and progress of society are closely linked to the degree of freedom it grants its citizens) 

Reason/Religious Dogmas: 

– emphasizes reason to understand the world and improve (rational understanding leads to true enlightenment which is why he criticizes organized religion) 

– organized religions tend to create dogmas and impose them on individuals which he posits that it is a source of oppression and conflict

EXAMPLES: miracles (the laws of nature are universal and miracles are natural events whose causes are not yet understood; attributing unexplainable events to divine intervention stems from ignorance of natural causes)

Prophets (individuals with a great imagination rather than actual messengers from God; rationalizes that the true value of prophetic teachings lies in their ethical content and ability to guide people towards virtuous living. 

Molière, Tartuffe (1664-1669)

• Critique of Religious hypocrisy 

• Christianity itself is not bad, just particular hypocrisy which can exist

• Deus ex Machina at the end highlights the King’s political/divine power 

Mainly analyze how the text relates to Enlightenment when thinking about the dynamic between the characters without the ending and then including the ending (What changes?)

Voltaire, Letters on England, Letters 1-10, 11-14, 18-19 (1733)

• Voltaire:

  • TLDR: against abstract thought

    • Focus on empirical evidence

  • Had enormous appeal (17th-18th century); publishing for the elite

  • Was obsessed w/ Newton

  • Attached to life as it is 

  • Against dogma’s that take away the appeals of the complexity of life & how to live

• Historical Context

  • Pro Britain, Anti France for the most part

Admires the English system for its relative freedom of speech and political liberty compared to France (praises English for religous tolerance in contrast to the absolutist monarchy and censorship in France)

• Began career after Louis XIV’s death, during the era of the beginning of the Enlightenment

• There was a broader movement to move to England (Montesquieu) 

• Voltaire is engaged in the political environment; pro economic progress, not much mention of cerebral progress

• Discussion

  • 3rd letter:

    • Mixed attitude towards the Quakers

    • They reject outward ceremonies, don’t have priests, and emphasize equality (do not use titles or show deference to social rank), focus more on spirituality

  • 6th letter:

    • Asserts that having multiple churches secularized society so that one church does not dominate in power, pro pluralistic

Denis Diderot, The Definition of an Encyclopedia (1751)

Historical document (royal edict): “Le code noir” (“The Black Code”) (1685)

Freedom and Equality

Baron de Vastey, The Colonial System Unveiled (1814) 

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Second Discourse (1754)

Freedom and Equality

Rousseau believes that repose is complacency

• Specifically believes that people should be fiercely independent and defend their freedom

• “All men are born free, and everywhere are found in chains” - Social Contract

Enlightenment

Critiques the Enlightenment because he says that it has corrupted the natural goodness of humanity

• Says that in the state of nature, humans are inherently good, peaceful and content, but the development of society and control was the source of inequality and led to moral corruption.

• Says the Enlightenment emphasizes individualism and personal achievement, which leads to social fragmentation, therefore weakening the sense of collective responsibility that is essential for a good society.

Francoise de Graffigny, Letters of a Peruvian Woman (1747)

Main ideas:

Immanuel Kant (selections, 1784-94): 

• “What Is Enlightenment?” (1 - 11), 

• “Is the Human Race Continually Progressing?” (67 - 86)

• “Note” in “Conjectures” (95 - 98)

Madeleine de Scudéry, Promenade at Versailles (1679, excerpts)

Depositions from the Women’s March on Versailles in 1789,

Declaration of the Rights of Man, 1789 (237-239)

Viefville des Essars, On the Emancipation of the Negroes, (1790)

Marie Olympe de Gouges, Declaration of the Rights of Women, (1791)

The Revolutionary Calendar, (1793)

Jean-Jacques Dessalines, the Haitian Declaration of Independence, (1804)

Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution (1790) 

“Nature..is wisdom without reflection” Defines nature as an instinct (one that is above primitive nature as in the animal kingdom; one with divine intervention)

→ Religion is based on the idea of inheritance (a natural law supported by the divine) which Burke posits.

– conformity to nature: reason is feeble, so we need to come back to nature (maintain archaic socratic order)

Freedom/Equality

Asserts that the medieval feudal system is obsolete and the “proud submission”  man to woman is a reflection of man’s pride (pride is gendered here to establish that there is a hierarchy)

→ Hierarchy is natural and needs to be preserved, but civilization softens or humanizes the primitive characteristics of nature. 

“Collar of social esteem”

Traditions uphold a form of noble equality that preserves social rank. Maintaining this “collar of social esteem” is crucial and should be preserved, as it does not dismantle social structures. However, he recognizes the falsehoods inherent in the illusion of equality that these traditions impose on society.  

Mary Wollstonecraft, selections: (1790-94)

• Vindication of the Rights of Men (p. 258-265)

• Vindication of the Rights of Women (p. 5-21)

• View of French Revolution (p.265-270)

• Does not care for the state of nature, but focuses on civilization (stresses early the nobility uses hope and fear to gain power)

• Cerebral equality

Let’s start by building on women’s education; humans are social creatures from the beginning 

– 

Germaine (Madame) de Staël, selections from On Literature & On Germany (1800/13)

Notes from Larry convo:
Kant

• Freedom and Equality

• Progress/Comparative Civilizations

• Enlightenment

• Critique of Religion/Secularism (less of a driving force in the text)

  • Churches can’t create dogmas, etc.