The Enlightenment - class presentation

The European Enlightenment

Our modest presentation :P

Contents

Historical background of the Enlightenment

Post-Enlightenment change in knowledge acquisition

Rationalism, Individualism and Relativism

Conclusion

THE ENLIGHTENMENT - WHAT?

An eighteenth-century intellectual movement advocating rationality and reason as a way to understand the world, breaking from religion, mystification and spirituality

BACKGROUND: PRE-ENLIGHTENMENT Witch-hunts, religious wars, inquisition Protestants and Catholics denounced each other

as followers of Satan All publications subject to prior censorship by

church and state Slavery was widely practiced and defended by

leading religious figures. Monarchs were supported by the doctrine of the

"divine right of kings”.

BACKGROUND:KEY DEVELOPMENTS The Renaissance in the 14th century led to a

revival of the classical teachings of Aristotle by Thomas Aquinas which heightened interest in discovering regularities in the natural world.

BACKGROUND:KEY DEVELOPMENTS Protestant Reformation in the 16th Century

led to weakening of the authority of the church Anti-church and anti-government sentiments

spread due to their corruption and usage of violence and intimidation.

The Scientific Revolution led to scientists seeking to discover the laws governing the phenomena they observed in nature based on a system of verifying predictions.

∆ Musical Knowledge

Baroque

• Rigid structure

• binary- AB or ternary- ABA)

• Fixed cadences (eg. Ic-V-I)

• Church music

Classical

• More secularized

• Balance and order: Emotions discouraged

• Inspiration from folk music

Romantic

• Free to express oneself

• Chromatism

The enlightenment

Increase in individualism and reason

Musically pleasing works shifted from conforming to rigid rules of harmony (in

Baroque) to attention to intricacies in the work.

The EE and Rationalism The adoption of rationalism

spread from top down:Upper class

• Scientists, Philosophers, Theologians

Middle classes

• With the help of literary figures

Common

people• Simplified

terms

The EE and Rationalism

Faith in

nature

Belief in human progres

s

Concept of Enlightenment

Spinoza Supernatural events

do not occur. Reason=knowledge In ethics and morals,

the highest good is equated with our human understanding

What humans decided with their human reason was right is right and was wrong is wrong.

Rationalism in morals Nature = a complex of interacting

laws governing the universe. People were naturally good

Reason would also cause actions to increase others’ happiness.

No need for church to impose set of religious values.

Logical values > religious values Progress only achievable by

education

Rationalism in morals

Miracles in the Bible = divine power, but reason explains and accepts them.

Christian revelation can be reduced to a few doctrinal essentials about God

Locke:

Previous lesson: Enlightenment theories still

conform to religion

Rationalism in morals

Philosophes(men: analyze

evils in society solve using

reason

Salonnieres: (women entertain

philosophes, provide insights into ideas)

Rationalism in science Advent of Math Nature

viewed as computational process not divine action. Eg. Coordinates of a planet

determined by a function f(x) Rationalism seeks to unravel

the functionFunction f(x)Input data output data

Rationalism in state/religion Voltaire, Montesquieu and Rousseau

believed that they could combat tyranny and ignorance convince public

French civilians rationalized that society was unfair French Revolution

No longer conform to ethos, use logos to think for themselves

The Enlightenment opened peoples eyes.

Montesquieu Persian Letters – wrote about

how other cultures perceive French society

Shows misinterpretations Expose French public to

different POV, stimulate rationalism

Rationalism to be employed to reconcile differences in POV

Rationalism in genders Individualism:

Women Men

Some philosophers: equal education for women

Women to receive same opportunities as men

Stimulate rationalism amongst uneducated women

Eg. Olympus Rogues

CHANGE IN KNOWLEDGE STRUCTUREReligion VS. ScienceAbsolute explanation from church (authority) trends concluded from observation i.e.the formation of thunder god is angry vs. electric charge

unfalsifiable interpretation from the bible falsifiable, tangible theories superstition/ metaphysical explanation explanation which can be backed up with evidence (if you set up the situation in lab, a similar outcome will be observed)

*note though, that many thinkers were still religious. The perception of God changed, though, to a ‘divine Clockmaker’ in control of the universe in a mechanistic sense.

PERCEPTION CHANGE understanding of one’s place in the world i.e. serving the god master over one’s life

Understanding of relationship with others All men are equal. (human rights)

Understanding of one’s behavior pre-decided by destiny future is in one’s hand

moral values what god says/ likes reason & arguments

Perspectives towards the worldMystical Mechanical/ predictable

COMPARISON

Knowledge gained from science is more reliable than religion when explaining natural phenomenon

Science- proven via experiment Religion- purely on authority When individualism and rationalism were

advocated, the trust on authority was being doubted.

Individualism

The shift from religious doctrine to reason as man’s key to knowing ‘freed’ him in one sense. Where before man could only explain Nature and the world as being controlled by the divine, now he could use his reason and scientific knowledge.

For example, pre-Enlightenment, it rained when and where and on whom God willed it so. (‘Nothing we can do about it.’)

But post-Enlightenment, rain could be explained, understood and predicted.

The individual was now empowered; no longer subject to a remote divine influence but capable, by reason, of interpreting the world around him and advancing by acquisition of knowledge.

Take an example...MENTAL ILLNESS

Pre-Enlightenment one would have thought that he was being punished or possessed by a demon.

Post-Enlightenment mental illness was approached scientifically instead. It was now an ‘illness’ as opposed to a sin.

At the same time, even though they were opposing epistemic schools of thought, rationalism and empiricism both put the individual at the centre of their theories.

The individual acquires knowledge either by his own reason or experience.

All this culminated in the Enlightenment idea of individualism, which gave an emphasis to the worth and rights of an individual.

Relativism

At the same time, rationalism and relativism developed in tandem during the Enlightenment which coincided with the Age of Exploration.

• Relativism was the belief that different cultures, beliefs, ideas and value systems have equal merit.

In a sense, relativism can be seen as the respect for individual beliefs found in individualism, practiced on a large scale.

It also reflects how morally, people moved from expecting objective, universally true answers, to accepting different versions of the ‘truth’ at the same time.

CONCLUSION Most will agree, therefore, that the

enlightenment was a period of great positive change, giving people greater freedom, power and ability to gain knowledge and progress.

From religious theory of everything to rational theory of everything