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Updated as of 2 October 05
Today in History:
On October 2, 1780, Major John
Andrι, a British spy associated with Benedict Arnold, was
executed on this day in history.
Quote of the Day:
"In my view we are much worse
off now than when we went into Iraq. This is not a partisan position. I voted
for these guys."
A senior figure at a
military-sponsored think tank as told to James Fallows in "Bush's Lost Year" in
The Atlantic Monthly (Oct. 2004)
Was the 2004 Election Stolen?
Take the Ann Coulter
Quiz
Where are you politically? Take
the
Neocon Quiz and find out.
"History
is Far too Important to be left to History Professors"
Teaching isn't such a novel idea
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DDE in War & Peace
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Modern World Civilization
Spring 2008
The Role of Reason
The Enlightenment stressed that
Reason
could cure mankind of all past injustices.
In such a new world a perfect
society was almost insured.
Through reason man could
discover the Natural Laws
that regulated society.
Once that is done man can reach
Progress
that would guarantee human betterment.
The Intellectuals and the Enlightenment
The intellectuals who adopted
this position were called Philosophes.
Not all of them were French.
Few were Philosophers in the
strict sense of the term.
The
philosophes
were social critics, publicists, political
scientists, economists, and social reformers.
The Age of Optimism
This was the work of
Alexander Pope
who believed that it was the best of all possible worlds.
Not everyone agreed.
Once such person was
Voltaire.
Voltaire did this in a satire
called Candide.
While others agreed with
Voltaire, for the most part, the age was overly optimistic.
Concerns of the Philosophes
They attacked laws,
institutions, and practices.
Everything that they considered
to be unreasonable or unnatural.
The Philosophes believed that
the people had the capability to make the changes that would make life better.
Their view of the future was
bright.
A Practical Example
The American Revolution was a
model.
Particularly
The Declaration of Independence.
The Declaration stressed The
Pursuit of Happiness was a fundamental human right.
Which was on par with Life and
Liberty.
The view people could possibly
obtain them was revolutionary.
This was a clear departure from
the Middle Ages.
Descartes
Early Background to the Enlightenment
The key players in this were
Descartes,
Bacon,
Locke, and Newton.
Of these men, Descartes at first
is important.
He sought to find a universal
mathematical formula that would explain everything.
Descartes Methodological Principles
Systematic Doubt.
Logical analysis.
Strict progression of synthesis.
Careful review of procedures.
And Conclusion.
He wanted to use mathematics as
a language of universal precision.
The World of Isaac Newton (1642-1727)
Newton is important for his work
in:
Optics
Light
Gravity
and Mathematics
But more important was he work
on the Social Order of the Universe
Newtons Important Work
Newtons
Mathematical Principles of Natural
Philosophy was published in Latin in
1687.
He should the whole universe
worked according to fixed laws.
Those laws were Natural Laws.
He saw the world as a great
mechanical work of God.
Soon people thought this was
better than Revelation.
John Locke (1632-1704)
He wrote a treatise on the
defense of Englands Glorious
Revolution of 1688.
This was called
Two Treatises of Government
in 1690.
In the Second Treatise he noted
men are free, equal, and independent.
People submit to government
because they find it convenient.
Not because of a divine right of
the monarchy.
People make a compact or contract
with the government to be governed.
Locke
Challenges Tradition
He denied that people submit to
authority from birth.
In his
Essay Concerning Human Understanding
(1690).
Locke believed that the newborn
mind was tabula Rasa,
a blank slate.
In other words, environment and
reason were more important than heredity and faith.
The Result of Lockes Work
Locke paved the way for a
critical examination of the Old Regime.
Consequently the men of the
enlightenment grasped for what they called The Newtonian World Machine.
The Dark Side: A Question of Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) had a
different view.
He believed that man was driven
to government by the fear of extinction.
He supports absolute monarchy.
His main work was the
Leviathan (1651).
The New Thinking Supports the Philosophes
Technological advances were
supported by the public faith in natural law and progress.
The Philosophes cheered each and
every new advance in scientific research.
Advances in Biology
A key player was
Linnaeus
(1707-78).
He demonstrated the natural laws
in family relationships.
He classified every known plant
and animal and classified them by species.
He placed species in a genus and
then into a class.
Work in Chemistry
Two important figures were
Joseph Black
(1728-88) and Lavoisier
(1743-94).
Lavoisier studied gasses and
introduced the term oxygen.
Lavoisier also discovered that
water is composed of both hydrogen and oxygen.
Lavoisier believed that all
substances were composed of a relatively small number of basic elements.
That number was 23.
Astronomy
One important person was
Laplace
(1749-1827).
He was called The Newton of
France.
He worked on celestial mechanics
and explained the movement of the solar system in as a series of mathematical
formulas and theorems.
Physics
An significant American was
Benjamin Franklin
(1706-1790).
He demonstrated that lightening
and electricity were one and the same.
His experiment with a kite in a
thunderstorm drew worldwide attention.
He even visited Versailles.
The
Impact on the Philosophes
Almost everybody in the 18th
Century who thought they were somebody tried an experiment.
Voltaire was serious about
Chemistry.
Montesquieu studied Physics.
Many European countries had a
Royal Society to promote knowledge.
Soon this fanned out into the
countryside.
The Internationalization of Knowledge
The scholars or philosophes paid
little attention with national borders.
Even in wartime they
corresponded with each other.
In other words, it was business
as usual.
The Cosmopolitan World of the Eighteenth
Century Thinkers
The roots of the movement were
found in France and England.
Soon it spread to Scotland,
Germany, Italy, Spain, and even the New World.
But more importantly, it
demonstrated French domination of the cultural scene.
Thomas Jefferson on France
The Importance of Speaking French
What Made France So Important?
French was the mode of
communication.
The Salons of Paris help spread
the ideas of the Enlightenment.
The
Encyclopedie
served as a tool to spread the ideas of the movement.
French was the language of
diplomacy too.
The
Encyclopedie
It was edited by Denis Diderot
(1713-84).
First published in 1751.
Included articles by
Montesquieu, Rouseau, Voltaire, Turgot, Candorcet, and Quesnay.
Not everyone liked it, including
Louis XV, the Printers, and the Church.
Louis XVs mistress, Madame de
Pompadour managed to get it in print.
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