The Enlightenment Cultural Matrix 1648 - 1815projects.vir2novations.com/BEING/images/ECM... · 5. overlapping layers of government within nations With the political transition underway

The Enlightenment Cultural Matrix: 1648 - 1815

For the better part of a millennium, the story of Europe was about the ambition of the Roman branch

of the Christian Church to create a universal state. The state would take the Roman Empire as its

model, and the political rulers would follow the guidance of ecclesiastical authority. This idea of

"Christendom" (a vision of a "Holy Roman Empire" incorporating all of Europe into a harmoniously

ordered and governed sphere including the sacred and profane/secular ruled by the Pope and Emperor)

proved to be an enduring but controversial vision.

It endured so long as there was a dominant commitment to

hierarchical relationships between existing political entities on the

one hand, and Pope and Emperor on the other. Over the centuries,

however, powerful intellectual, political, and social forces opposed

both the aspirations and the realities of the unified control of Pope

and Emperor. The momentum developed by these forces

culminated in the emphasis on the individual that characterized the

Renaissance (the Dynastic European Cultural Matrix). From a

religious perspective, the aspect of the Dynastic Europe known as

the "Reformation" signaled the end of Christian unity in Europe by

splitting the Roman Church. From a political perspective, a

growing sense of NATIONALISM – the sense that this is my

country and these are my people, and they cannot be intertwined

with larger entities – expressed the values of the individual.

Ironically, it was also during the Dynastic European Cultural Matrix (including the Reformation) that the vision of

Christendom seemed most likely to come true. The paired values of European rationalism and the Reformation urge to

enforce an ultimate "truth" generated momentum for the ideal of a universal state. Backed by widely-held political faith in

the absolute authority of rulers, an authority granted by God, the coronation of Charles V of Hapsburg as Holy Roman

Emperor in 1519 (as the Reformation was beginning!) marked the start of a 130-year period in Europe when it seemed that

the two macro-institutions of Latin Christianity, (1) the empire and (2) the church, might finally join forces to create a

universal state ruled by and through the ideology of a universal church. If these tendencies had triumphed, the world as we

know it would not exist today.

But the ancient Christian ambition for political power was

bound to conflict with the value of the individual,

manifested in the desire for independence by local

sovereigns of western and central Europe. The conflict

reached its pinnacle during the first half of the 17th

century

with the "Thirty Years' War" (1618-48). The Thirty Years'

War ended in a treaty called the Peace of Westphalia,

ratified on 24 October 1648. With this treaty, Europeans

formally abandoned the idea of a hierarchical structure of

society in favor of a new notion of the state. The "old"

world of Feudal and Dynastic/Renaissance Europe,

represented by the ideal of Christendom, began to pass

away, and a "new" world, our world, began to take shape.

The Peace of Westphalia was of absolute,

constitutive importance for future political and

social developments. Without it, for instance,

the democratic revolutions of the late-18th

and

early-19th

centuries could not have taken place,

and the rapid rise of Russia and the United

States to the status of world powers cannot be

imagined. The Peace of Westphalia provided

such a turning-point because it brought an end

to (1) the old idea of a unified Christian

commonwealth in Europe and (2) claims by

leaders of the Roman Catholic Church to

political power. In addition, it gave birth to a

new notion of the state: the "nation" in the

modern sense of the word, that is, as the

fundamental units of world politics.

We might think of nations as the natural form of political organization, but until the Peace of

Westphalia there had been only four basic types of political units in the Mediterranean Tradition: city-

state, kingdom, empire, and manor. While the new type of political unit did not obliterate all the

traces and ideals of previous political structures, it did mark a major turning-point in human

experience, and in a real sense it marked the beginnings of what might be called the "modern world."

As outlined by the Peace of Westphalia, the nation-state system has five basic characteristics:

1. the coexistence of national units of organization

2. the sovereignty of each nation over its own territory,

so that there is no political authority or organization

above the sovereign states

3. the political equality of all nations, with each having

its own interests as its primary goal

4. the freedom of each nation from any outside

authority, so that relationships among nations are

based on international law and the balance of power

that operate between rather than above nations

5. overlapping layers of government within nations

With the political transition underway from kingdom/empire to nation, a new Cultural Matrix,

eventually called the "Enlightenment" by its major participants, began to take shape. As indicated by

its name, the Enlightenment was an era of intellectual and social upheaval. At the center of this

upheaval stand two events: (1) the publication of Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis

Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, using the traditional term

"natural philosophy" for science) in 1687, and (2) the Glorious Revolution of 1688 (which, without

bloodshed, established a constitutional monarchy and set William and Mary on the throne of England).

The first event initiated an overthrow of the intellectual establishment, and the second initiated an

overthrow of the political establishment. Together, the two events mark the defining moments of

the Enlightenment. Before the two events, the era was deeply bound to its previous traditions; after

the two events, there was a rejection of tradition among the intellectual elite and an aggressive pursuit

of new directions that would fundamentally alter nearly every aspect of Enlightenment thought and

society, and in turn change the nature of the world as a whole.

In looking to a new era in European and world affairs, the Enlightenment had to gradually find its way

out of the past. The split between backward and forward momentum during the Enlightenment

Cultural Matrix reveals itself in the major arcs of art and music: Baroque and (Neo)Classical. We

might date the Baroque Arc from around 1590 to 1750, and the (Neo)Classical Arc from around 1750

to 1825, with Rococo (1715-1825) as a lengthy and overlapping middle ground. Baroque style, suited

to the aspirations of Christendom and the world before nations, would endure a century after the Peace

of Westphalia, with Rococo as a kind of long experiment in re-visioning Baroque to stall the emerging

cultural situation. But it's the triumph of (Neo)Classicism that most distinctively marks the

Enlightenment from previous eras and reveals its most elemental drives.

In general, the drives of the Enlightenment

towards (Neo)Classicism derives from a

commitment to scientific method, as laid

out by Newton, and to freedom, as

anticipated in the Glorious Revolution. In

art, it's not so much a matter of stylistic

change as a matter of emphasis. Instead of

glorifying the Church or providing

pleasure, (Neo)Classic art would present

a moral challenge to citizens of nations.

With music the situation is different.

Rejecting much of their musical heritage,

Classical musicians began to experiment

with a new, simplified, more "scientific"

approach to composition, using keys and

their corresponding scales instead of

modes.

Experiment on a bird in the Air Pump

Joseph Wright of Derby, 1768

The spirit of the (Neo)Classic tradition emerged long before the eras of NeoClassic art and Classical

music. In philosophy, René Descartes (1596-1650) anticipated the new era by initiating a discussion

of how we know what we (think) we know. This discussion would last for more than two centuries,

and it defines the "Modern" period in philosophy. In economics, Adam Smith published An Inquiry

Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations in 1776, using Newton's scientific method to

define a "free market" approach to economics that would initiate the "Classical" era of economic

thought. In the realm of political thought, democracy as we conceive it began to take shape,

culminating in revolutions in the United States and France. In the realm of social thought, a growing

consideration of the human plight resulted in diverse efforts to make society more human and more

humane. There was a general decline of religious persecution, an increasing concern with the value of

children, and the spread of literacy among the masses of the people.

Literacy serves as one of the most distinctive ideals of the

Enlightenment. With the spread of literacy came the

invention of mass media. During the Enlightenment, mass

media took the form of novels, magazines, and newspapers.

The aim of these media was to convey essential

information about society to a public that should appreciate

its own worth and should be the source of decisions about

its own future. One of the most significant spin-offs of the

new mass media was the birth of "public opinion."

During the Enlightenment, the idea of public opinion developed as an

alternative to traditional authority. In its broadest sense, public opinion

was an intricate circuit of writing, reading, and talking. Initiated by the

media of print, it flowed next to the "public," which took form anywhere

people gathered to discuss ideas circulated in print. For the upper

classes, such discussions typically took place in elegant salons, for

others in modest coffee houses. The expansion of print, although

minuscule by contemporary standards, had a ripple effect that generated

new kinds of conversations. For example, the novel became a means by

which educated, middle-class households began to examine their own

moral standards. This self-examination proved crucial to the emergence

of a public that could stand apart from the government and criticize it.

The process of self-examination and criticism evolved into the ideal of public opinion. At the core of

the ideal was the principle of "publicity." According to this principle, governments should reveal

enough truth about their operation that they would make themselves available to public scrutiny, with

a resulting open and egalitarian exchange. Under such scrutiny, an unselfish view of the public

welfare could develop through a consensus of "opinion," an expression of a society's collective

conscience, to which even the government would be subject.

In the sphere of "public opinion," then, the

Enlightenment gave birth to a notion that has mutated

into something a bit different in our own time. For the

purpose of delimiting the Enlightenment, a related

notion is the most helpful. This is democracy.

The Reader

Fragonard, 1770

As the nation-state system developed during the Enlightenment, a crucial question emerged, that is:

should political power depend on the will of one strong individual who rules or on the consent of

those who are ruled? In arguing for the "consent of those who are ruled," Enlightenment thinkers

invented a new vision of democracy based on the value of widespread equality. The identification

of political power with the will of a single individual was on the way out, while identification of

political power with the will of the masses began to inch its way forward.

The evolution of European society during the Dynastic European

Cultural Matrix (1347-1648) was symbolized most dramatically by the

reign of Louis XIV, the Sun King, in France. This king, who claimed

to be the state, made France into the most powerful nation in Europe,

emphasized refinement and culture, and encouraged the arts and

literature. But he also strengthened the powers of the central

government and silenced domestic criticism. He was a ruthless despot

who would tolerate no opposition to his ambitions. For political

theorists of the Enlightenment, Louis XIV epitomized an "Old Regime"

of government run by special privileges for the king and also for

particular interest groups within the government bureaucracy. He

represented an 18th

century ruling class which may be described as

frivolous and relatively unconcerned with the affairs of their subjects.

There was a building in Paris called

the Bastille. It was a massive fortress-

prison, a threatening symbol of the

royal power to punish at will anyone

who displeased the king. By 1789 it

held only seven prisoners and was due

for demolition. But the crowd of

thousands who smashed their way into

the fortress on 14 July 1789 thought

that Louis XVI was preparing an

armed attack on Paris. When the

guards opened fire, ninety-eight people

were shot dead. The battle raged for

several hours, until the governor and

the guards finally surrendered to

overwhelming numbers, and the

Parisians rushed in. Although they did

not find any guns or ammunition, they

killed the governor and carried off the

prisoners in triumph. Far more

significantly,

The French revolution thus began with the “common people” toppling

the most hated symbol of absolute monarchy and creating an enduring

symbol of modern democracy.

The French Revolution and the "New Regime" born with it was founded on the principle that

political power must depend on the consent of those who are ruled by that power. The "National

Assembly" that spearheaded the Revolution first decided to abolish the feudal privileges that remained

in France, wiping out the feudal system. Then it devised and adopted the "Declaration des droits de

l'homme et du citoyen" (Declaration of the Rights of "Man" and of the Citizen), which proclaimed

that "men" are born and remain ("naissent et demeurent") free and equal in rights. In less than

three months from the storming of the Bastille, a new constitutional democracy replaced the old

system of absolute monarchy. The French Revolution was also the keynote to a larger series of

political changes that in some way affected every important European country.

At the same time, the Revolution, symbolized by a rioting mob,

led to war against other countries of Europe and a bloody "reign

of terror" in France that resulted in the executions of over

15,000 people. The last years of the 18th

century became a

succession of political coups in a general atmosphere of venality

and corruption. The only tangible element in this anarchy was

the war against Europe. With military successes leading to an

increase in the army's authority, the power vacuum in the

government was soon filled by a brilliant young Corsican

general, Napoleon Bonaparte. He took over leadership of the

country in a coup in November 1799 and became First Consul.

Five years later, the first French Republic died when Napoleon

declared himself emperor.

Napoleon's attempt to establish a new European empire came to its final end at Waterloo on June

18th, 1815. Meanwhile, the Congress of Vienna (1814-15) was determining the political future of

Europe. Guided by Prince Clemens von Metternich (1773-1859), the Congress strengthened absolute

governments at the expense of all liberal movements. In the short run, the French Revolution marked

a failure of such magnitude that it raised fundamental questions about the validity of the

Enlightenment itself, especially as far as this validity was tied to the use of "reason." However,

Metternich's effort to return Europe to the old order could not ultimately succeed, as the ideals of the

French Revolution prevailed.

Based on the political events described above,

the ENLIGHTENMENT extended

from October 24th, 1648 (the end of the Thirty Years' War)

to June 9th, 1815 (the signing of the Congress of Vienna)