1. Toward a New World View
The Enlightenment

2. The Enlightenment
 Intellectual
movement of
the late 17th and
18th centuries…a
product of the
Scientific
Revolution.

3. The Enlightenment
 Key Principles of the Enlightenment:
 Belief that natural science and reason
can explain all aspects of life
 The scientific method can explain the
laws governing human society
 Progress—the creation of better
societies and better people—is possible.

4. Bernard Fontanelle 1657-1757
 Made the new
science
understandable to a
large nonscientific
audience.
 Stressed the idea of
progress.
 Doubted the concept
of absolute truth.

5. Pierre Bayle 1647-1706
 Famous Skeptic.
 Argued that nothing
can be known beyond
all doubt.
 Stressed open-
mindedness.

6. John Locke 1632-1704
 An Essay Concerning
Human Understanding
(1690)
 Experience is the only source
of knowledge.
 The human mind as birth is a
Tabula rasa.
 Consequently, the knowledge
of which we are capable is
quite limited.

7. The Philosophes
 Committed to bringing the new thinking to an
educated Public, not necessarily to the Masses.

8. Baron de Montesquieu 1689-1755
 French social
commentator and
political theorist.
 Articulated the
concept of the
separation of
powers in
government.

9. Voltaire 1694-1778
 French writer,
essayist, deist and
philosopher.
 Opposed injustice
and unequal
treatment before the
law.
 Defender of civil
liberties and social
reform
 écrasez l'infâme!

10. Diderot and Alembert
 Edited the famed
Encyclopédie
beginning in the
1740’s.
 The self-professed
aim of the
Encyclopédie
was to change the
way people think.

11. Baron d'Holbach 1723-1789
 Argued that humans
are completely
controlled by outside
forces.
 He is most famous for
being one of the first
self-described
atheists in Europe.

12. David Hume 1711-1776
 Argued that the
human mind was
nothing but a bundle
of impressions that
originate in sense
experiences.
 all ideas are
representations of
sensory experience.

13. Immanuel Kant 1724-1804
 Believed that although all
knowledge begins with
experience, it does not
follow that it all arises out
of experience.
 The Critique of Pure
Reason is an attempt to
answer four questions:
 What can I know?
 What should I do?
 What may I hope for?
 What is a human being?

14. Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1712-1778
 Attacked rationalism
and civilization.
 Claimed that children
must develop
naturally.
 Argued that the
General Will of the
people is sacred and
absolute.

15. Madame Geoffrin 1699-1777
 French hostess who began
to gather her “circle” in
1748.
 She gave two dinners per
week: Monday for artists,
and Wednesday, for the
encyclopedists and
philosophers.

16. Madame Geoffrin’s Salon

17. Enlightened Absolutism
 Many philosophes
believed that
enlightened reforms
could best be
implemented by
enlightened
monarchs.
 Changes were best
made from above
rather than be forced
from below.

18. Frederick the Great of Prussia
 Frederick used the
War of the
Austrian
Succession to
expand Prussia into
a Great Power.
 Many reforms were
enacted, but the
conservative social
order remained.

19. The War of the Austrian
Succession 1740-1748
 Begun by
Frederick of
Prussia by seizing
Silesia from
Austria.
 The War was
ended by the
Treaty of Aix-
la-Chapelle in
1748

20. Seven Years War 1756-1763
 The War represented a
failed attempt by
Austria to regain
Silesia with Russia’s
help.
 Described as the first
world war, it
enveloped both
European and colonial
theaters.

21. Catherine the Great of Russia
 Catherine imported
western culture to
Russia, supported the
philosophes, and
began a program of
reform.
 Pugachev’s Revolt
in 1773 led her to
reverse the trend.

22. The Partitions of Poland

23. Maria Theresa of Austria
 Introduced reforms that
limited church power,
revised the tax system
and bureaucracy, and
reduced the burdens of
serfdom.
 One of Europe’s most
dynamic women of the
18th century.

24. Joseph II of Austria
 Maria Theresa’s son
and successor.
 A dedicated
reformer, he
abolished serfdom,
taxed all equally,
and granted
religious freedom.
 Joseph’s reforms
were short-lived.

25. The Duke of Orleans
 Governed in a regency
in the minority of
Louis XV.
 The French nobility
regained much of the
power and influence
lost during the reign of
Louis XIV.

26. The Parlement of Paris
 Judicial functions
evolving out of
customary rights of
consultation and
deliberation.
 Traditionally “rubber-
stamped” royal
decrees.
 Won two decisive
victories against
taxation.

27. Louis XV of France
 Enjoyed a favorable
reputation at the
beginning of his reign
in 1715.
 His inability to reform
the French system, lack
of morals and foreign
policy setbacks lost
him the support of his
people.

28. Maupeou
 Abolished the
Parlement de Paris.
 His attempts at
financial reform in
France signaled the
demise of enlightened
despotism.

29. Enlightened Absolutism
 By combining state-
building with the
culture of the
Enlightenment,
absolute monarchs
succeeded in
expanding the role of
the state in the life
of society.