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1680-1790 | |||
* intellectual "Age of Reason" | |||
* world view change from religious to secular | |||
* skepticism & religious skepticism | |||
* pursuit of happiness: focus on the human condition | |||
* diffusion of knowledge: books, pamphlets, publications, libraries, universities | |||
== key dates === | |||
* 1648: end of the 30 Years War (religious dispute was a core cause of the war) | |||
* 1680: publication of Isaac Newton's ''Principio Mathematica'' | |||
* 1688: Glorious Revolution in England | |||
* 1682: Haley's comet & Bayle's "Reflections on Comets" | |||
== Enlightenment definitions == | |||
* disenchantment of the world | |||
** from Max Weber | |||
** attacking superstition | |||
* political reform | |||
** applying reason to public policy | |||
** infrastructure projects | |||
** penal & criminal law enforcement and reform | |||
*** vagrants and beggars | |||
== Enlightenment core ideas == | |||
* self-government | |||
** Glorious Revolution: William of Orange takes power | |||
*** transfer of power based on the public good and not dynastic divine rule | |||
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== Enlightenment thinkers == | == Enlightenment thinkers == | ||
=== entry structure === | |||
<nowiki> === </nowiki>section title: first, last, alphabetical by last name | |||
* core ideas | |||
* dates | |||
* works | |||
=== Pierre Bayle === | |||
* core ideas | |||
** religious skepticism and toleration | |||
* 1682 ''Reflections on Comets'' | |||
** Hailey's comet as natural phenomenon and not a mysterious event | |||
** challenged superstition | |||
* religious toleration | |||
=== Cesare Beccaria === | |||
* ''On Crimes and Punishments'' | |||
** condemned torture and the death penality | |||
=== Diderot === | === Diderot === | ||
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* self-exiled to Switzerland to carry on the project in secret | * self-exiled to Switzerland to carry on the project in secret | ||
=== Hume === | === Robert Hooke === | ||
=== David Hume === | |||
* the problem of induction | * the problem of induction | ||
** how do you know that the sun will rise tomorrow? | ** how do you know that the sun will rise tomorrow? | ||
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** Hume wrote a racist tract, "comments on matters of race" that posited that blacks were inferior beings | ** Hume wrote a racist tract, "comments on matters of race" that posited that blacks were inferior beings | ||
** in 2020, Edinburgh University removed his name from a building on campus | ** in 2020, Edinburgh University removed his name from a building on campus | ||
==== Gotthold Ephraim Lessing === | |||
* core ideas | |||
** | |||
* works: | |||
** ''Nathan the Wise'', a play on religious tolerance | |||
click EXPAND for details on ''Nathan the Wise'' and the "parable of the rings" | |||
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"> | |||
*** a play about Nathan, a Jewish merchant who meets Saladin the Great, the Ottoman sultan and thus a core Islamic leader | |||
*** Saladin asks Nathan which of the Abrahamic religions is the "true religion" | |||
**** Abrahamic religions are Judaism, Christianity and Islam (in order of historical appearance) | |||
*** Nathan avoids the question trap by answering with the "parable of the ring" | |||
**** = a story about a magical ring that empowers the bearer God's approval ("pleasing to God") | |||
***** i.e., the bearer's religion is the "true religion" | |||
**** it is passed on by generation, until a father can't decide which of three sons to give it to | |||
***** so he creates two exact copies and gives each son a ring | |||
**** afterwards, the sons argue over who owns the actual ring | |||
**** they take their dispute to a wise man who tells them | |||
***** that perhaps all three rings are replicas, they cannot know | |||
***** therefore, if each acts in such a way as God will be pleased, it would show that each ring has the magical power | |||
***** i.e., God doesn't judge by one's religion but by one's actions | |||
<div> | |||
=== Isaac Newton === | |||
* ''Principio Mathematica'' | |||
* launched idea of a divinely-ordered universe understandable by mathematics | |||
=== Voltaire === | === Voltaire === | ||
* Candide: satire on Englightenment thought "best of all possible worlds" << to do |