What was the Enlightenment?
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
·
German
·
Protestant
·
Pious
·
Prolific composer
·
Not a philosophe
·
Represents death of old, Baroque world
The Calas Case and Voltaire (1762)
• Jean Calas,
1698-1762
•
French
•
Cloth merchant
•
Protestant
•
Convicted of killing son, March 9, 1762
•
Tortured to death, March 10, 1762
Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet,
1694-1778)
1762, already famous
• Took up Calas
case
• Because the
case revealed:
•
Intolerance
•
Ignorance
•
Fanaticism
•
Infamy
March 9, 1765, conviction reversed;
government paid the family compensation
So, what was the Enlightenment?
- The power of human reason
- Self-confidence
- Applying Newtonian methods
- “Dare to know!” (Kant)
- The cultural project of the
Enlightenment
- Spreading knowledge and free
public discussion
- Wrote for a larger audience,
because of the expansion of literacy
- Created a public sphere
- Criticism, Satire and the Church
- Irreverence toward custom and
tradition
- Belief in human perfectibility
and progress
- Scathing critique of the Church
- Deism: God as “the clockmaker”
Diderot and the Encyclopedia
Salons: Madame de Geoffrin
But…most people were not
philosophes…
So, who were they?
Peasants
Conclusion:
A.
Promoted Science
as a form of knowledge
B.
Raised social
problems to public awareness
C.
Promoted and
spread a new language of discourse: Liberty and Equality
D.
Progress as a
central belief of modern world
E.
Increased rift
between peasants and literate society
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