Conditions in Europe

1
Conditions in Europe

• 1) Catholic Church and Absolute Monarchs are
  strong
• 2) Crusades -gt Renaissance leads to trade and
  cultural diffusion and Humanism

2
The Scientific Revolution (1500 1800 Age of
Reason)

• A new way of thinking about the world develops
  based on observation and willingness to question
  assumptions
• Questioned Greco-Roman ideas
• Questioned Church teachings
• Use of scientific method and human intellect.

3
Galileo

• Supported Heliocentric Theory
• Used a telescope that he made
• Church did not like his ideas
• Put on trial, threatened with death
• Had to publicly deny his ideas

4
Copernicus

• Heliocentric Theory
• Sun is the center of the universe
• Planets revolve around the Sun

5
Newton

• Used math to prove the ideas of Copernicus and
  Galileo
• Called the force gravity, or that all objects
  fall towards Earth
• Said all of nature follows laws

6
Descartes

• Believed in the power of human reason

7
Francis Bacon and the Scientific Method

• The scientific method
• Observation and experimentation
• Testable hypothesis

Sir Francis Bacon
8
Question

• Do you exist to provide for the government, or
  does the government exist to provide for you?

9
Definitions

• What are natural/ unalienable rights?
• What are natural laws?
• What is a philosopher?

10
Scientific Revolution influences the Enlightenment

• Use of reason
• natural laws govern human behavior
• Apply the scientific method to solving the
  problems of society
• The Enlightenment rejected traditional ideas and
  supported a belief in human reason

11
What Was the Enlightenment?

• The Enlightenment was an intellectual movement
  in Europe during the 18th century that led to a
  whole new world view. New theories about
  government, philosophy, economics and religion.

12
Enlightenment Principles

• Religion, tradition, and superstition limited
  independent thought
• Accept knowledge based on observation, logic, and
  reason, not on faith
• Scientific and academic thought should be secular

A meeting of French Enlightenment thinkers
13

• According to the 18th- century philosopher
  Immanuel Kant, the motto of the Enlightenment
  was Sapere aude! Have courage to use your own
  intelligence! (Kant, What Is Enlightenment?
  1784)

Immanuel Kant
14
Thomas Hobbes (15881679)

• People are cruel greedy and selfish
• If not strictly controlled they would fight, rob
  and oppose each other
• The state of nature is cruel
• The Leviathan publication

15
John Locke

• More optimistic view of human nature
• All people had natural or unalienable rights
• The rights of life, liberty and property
• Govts power should be limited
• Should protect natural rights/ if not had a right
  to rebel
• Two Treaties of Versailles
• Influenced the Declaration of Independence and
  the US Constitution

16
Voltaire (16941778)

• Championed social, political, and religious
  tolerance
• Freedom of speech, freedom of religion,
  toleration, use of reason
• I do not agree with a word you say but I will
  defend to the death your right to say it
• His ideas found In the US Constitution except the
  abolition of slavery.

17
Baron de Montesquieu

• Separation of Powers
• Three branches of govt
• Legislative, judicial, and executive branches
• System of checks and balances/each branch will
  keep the other from getting too powerful
• US Constitution
• Separation of powers would prevent tyranny
• Power Should be a check to Power

18
The U.S. Constitution

• Separation of powers
• Checks and balances
• Bill of Rights

Painting depicting the Constitutional Convention
19
Jean Jacques Rousseau

• Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains
• Civilization corrupted mans natural goodness/
• General will of the people creates a
  society/direct democracy
• Wrote the Social Contract
• Majority should work for the common good

20
Impact of the Enlightenment

• People have confidence that human reason can
  solve social problems
• A more secular outlook emerges as scientific
  thinking replaces superstition, fear and
  intolerance
• The individual becomes more important as people
  use their own ability to reason and judge

21
Impact of the Enlightenment

• Governments and the Church did not like the ideas
  of the Enlightenment and many books were burned
  and scholars tortured and killed
• Influenced the American, French , and Latin
  American Revolutions.
• Influenced the writing of the Declaration of
  Independence, the US Constitution, and The French
  Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen
• Political impacts such as the Separation of
  Powers and Enlightened Despots, or rulers who
  believed in Enlightenment ideals

22
Enlightened Monarchs

• Most of Europe ruled by absolute monarchs
• Receptive to Enlightenment ideas
• Instituted new laws and practices

• Enlightened Monarchs
• Frederick II, Prussia
• Catherine the Great, Russia
• Maria Theresa, Austria
• Joseph II, Holy Roman Empire
• Gustav III, Sweden
• Napoleon I, France

23
Enlightened Despots

• Some monarchs accepted Enlightenment ideas. They
  were known as Enlightened Despots.
• Maria Theresa of Austria improved the tax
  system/ Tax the clergy and the nobles/ made
  primary education available in her kingdom.
• Joseph II practiced religious toleration, ended
  censorship and abolished serfdom.
• Catherine the Great asked the nobles for advice,
  freed some of the peasants, built schools, and
  hospitals. Practiced religious toleration and
  promoted education for women.