4,995
edits
European Enlightenment: Difference between revisions
diderot
(expanding article) |
(diderot) |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
1680-1790 | 1680-1790 | ||
* a product of the Protestant Reformation | |||
* intellectual "Age of Reason" | * intellectual "Age of Reason" | ||
* world view change from religious to secular | * world view change from religious to secular | ||
| Line 6: | Line 6: | ||
* pursuit of happiness: focus on the human condition | * pursuit of happiness: focus on the human condition | ||
* diffusion of knowledge: books, pamphlets, publications, libraries, universities | * diffusion of knowledge: books, pamphlets, publications, libraries, universities | ||
<br><b> | |||
== key dates | == key dates == | ||
* 1648: end of the 30 Years War (religious dispute was a core cause of the war) | * 1648: end of the 30 Years War (religious dispute was a core cause of the war) | ||
* 1680: publication of Isaac Newton's ''Principio Mathematica'' | * 1680: publication of Isaac Newton's ''Principio Mathematica'' | ||
* 1688: Glorious Revolution in England | * 1688: Glorious Revolution in England | ||
* 1682: Haley's comet & Bayle's "Reflections on Comets" | * 1682: Haley's comet & Bayle's "Reflections on Comets" | ||
== Enlightenment definitions == | == Enlightenment definitions == | ||
| Line 25: | Line 24: | ||
== Enlightenment core ideas == | == Enlightenment core ideas == | ||
* truth can be found through investigation | |||
* self-government | * self-government | ||
** Glorious Revolution: William of Orange takes power | ** Glorious Revolution: William of Orange takes power | ||
*** transfer of power based on the public good and not dynastic divine rule | *** transfer of power based on the public good and not dynastic divine rule | ||
== Enlightenment projects == | == Enlightenment projects == | ||
=== Diderot's | === Diderot's Encylopedie === | ||
* a tremendous project to catalog human knowledge | |||
* = an exercise in "freedom of thought" | |||
* had 28 volumes, 71,818 articles and 3,129 illustrations | |||
* started by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert | |||
* goals: | |||
** Diderot wrote that the purpose of the project was ""to change the way people think" | |||
** to disseminate (spread) knowledge across economic classes | |||
** to give more common people access to practical knowledge, especially mechanics | |||
* it was the first encyclopedia to have independent contributors | |||
* some of the ideas presented in the encyclopedia were considered radical | |||
** the French government banned it in 1759 | |||
** the work supported religious freedom | |||
** many entries challenged religious doctrine | |||
*** under the idea that knowledge is provable, the work treated religion as also subject to proof | |||
*** the work attacked mysticism and superstition | |||
==== taxonomy of human knowledge | |||
[[File:ENC SYSTEME FIGURE.jpeg|thumb|Fig. 3: "Figurative system of human knowledge", the structure that the Encyclopédie organised knowledge into. It had three main branches: memory, reason, and imagination.]] | |||
* the Encyclopedia organized knowledge into three main categories: | |||
** memory (factual knowledge) | |||
** reason (logic, deduction) | |||
** imagination (arts, literature) | |||
== Enlightenment thinkers == | == Enlightenment thinkers == | ||
| Line 57: | Line 76: | ||
** condemned torture and the death penality | ** condemned torture and the death penality | ||
=== Diderot === | === Denis Diderot === | ||
* author, editor of ''l'Encyclopedie'' | * author, editor of ''l'Encyclopedie'' | ||
* self-exiled to Switzerland to carry on the project in secret | * self-exiled to Switzerland to carry on the project in secret | ||
* Diderot was a follower of Voltaire and deisms (that God exists but not as a distinct entity) | |||
** he later adopted materialism and atheism | |||
** he believed that religious truths should be subject to the same standards of proof as any other knowledge | |||
* he also wrote plays and was a prominent art critic | |||
* overall, Diderot's thoughts are expressed in these questions, as proposed by one of his biographers, Andrew S. Curran: | |||
** ''Why be moral in a world without god?'' | |||
** ''How should we appreciate art?'' | |||
** ''What are we and where do we come from?'' | |||
** ''What are sex and love?'' | |||
** ''How can a philosopher intervene in political affairs?'' | |||
* Diderot quotation: | |||
** ''"posterity is for the philosopher what the 'other world' is for the man of religion."'' | |||
=== Robert Hooke === | === Robert Hooke === | ||