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ENLIGHTENMENT
NEO-CLASSICISM, AGE of REASON
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OVERVIEW:
17thC: Restoration, Age of Reason
18thC: Enlightenment
or
Enlightenment: 1660-1770
Neo-Classicism: 1660-1780
· “enlightened” by reason
· ENLIGHTENMENT: wider philosophical & political movement focusing on the human condition
· NEO-CLASSICISM: artistic manifestation of aesthetic & cultural ideals
· cast off fears & superstitions of Medieval Age
· search for natural laws that governed universe
· examine the rational basis for all beliefs
· question/challenge authority of Church & State
· conservatism
· France: Voltaire (1694-1778), JJ Rousseau (1712-78)
· Britain: David Hume (1711-76), John Locke (1632-1704; no innate ideasàEmpiricism=rely on observation & experimentàman=product of environment), Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727; universal, mechanical theoriesàLAWS of universe, society, manàReason = progress)
· Germany: I. Kant (1724-1801), GE Lessing (1729-81)
· America: Ben Franklin (1706-90), T. Jefferson (1743-1826)
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HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE: SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION
· Eastern (Islamic) algebra + Western geometry = new calculus
· NEWTON: applied algebra to geometry to get a workable calculus with which to apply to science
· Solar System:
o accurate calculations of orbits
o Halley’s comet,
o Wm. Herschel’s Uranus (1st planet discovered since antiquity)
o calculation of sun’s mass using Newton’s theory
· (effects)
o excitement (new way to see the world)
o orderly vision of the world
o new discoveries = need for new science to encompass
o natural philosophy (PHYSICS)
o à literary theory, art theory/history, archeology…
o apply scientific method (laws, rules, principles, logic, reason) to spheres other than science (ethics, language, politics,…)
(1) SR’s Effects on REASON
· “Age of Reason”: faith in the power of human reason
· “aufklärung”: devotion to clarity of thought
· “aude sapere” (dare to know, to think, to be wise--Kant)
· acquisition of knowledge & application of reason à REFORM (social, intellectual, political, moral)
· leads to objective truths (“truest truths” = simplest, clearest, most general (NC))
· SCIENCE (Newtonian Kinematics) ordered the world
· so apply to Religion, Aesthetics, Ethics, Government/politics, Logic, Economics, Literature, …
à (effects of application)
o liberalism
o democracy
o capitalism
o provided intellectual framework for: Polish Constitution, Latin America independence, changes in Judaism, French Revolution, &
o American Revolution à religious tolerance, free market economics, Bill of Rights
“DARK AGES” / ENLIGHTENMENTtradition (unexamined tradition=doubtful) / science (scientific method, empiricism)
superstition, prejudice / reason
irrationality / rationality
subjectivity / objectivity
tyranny (absolutism, civil war) / peace (constitutional monarchy)
source of knowledge & wisdom = mysticism, revelation / axioms, proven (induction): rules & principles, epistemology, self-evident truths, natural philosophy
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(2) SR’s Effects on ETHICS
· religious tolerance
· racial equality (abolition & slave trade)
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(3) SR’s Effects on LANGUAGE
· epistemology (study of the origin, nature, methods, and limits of human knowledge)
· dictionaries (Dr. Samuel Johnson’s 1755)
· encyclopedias (order, methodology, study of language)
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(4) SR Effects on POLITICS (government)
(1) Absolutism
· states get more powerful because
1) improvements in transportation, organization, navigation;
2) trade & conquest;
3) à influx of gold & silver
· REACTIONS to ABSOLUTISM:
· philosophers (John Locke, Voltaire, JJ Rousseau) advocate limitations
· *social contract*:
o relationship BTW citizen & state
o logically deduce that society = contract BTW individual & state
o Rousseau à Montaigne, Hume, Jefferson
o (effects)
§ liberalism
§ constitutional government
§ democracy
§ natural law à “inalienable/human rights”
(2) Divine Right VS. Natural Law (both used to support monarchy)
Divine right:
· Jacques-Benigne Bousset (1627-1704)
· universe = ordered by a reasonable God
· order in universe = PROOF of God’s existence à monarch’s power
· God’s representatives on earth (monarchs) had God’s powers of reason & order
NATURAL LAW:
· God is not arbitrary
· God rules through natural law He enacted on Earth at Creation (Genesis)
· Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan (1651) social contract of commonwealth, reasonable man to survive, 9 laws, monarch rules & rules morally, reasonably (contractualist theory of legal positivism)
· came to not only rights of monarchs but also rights of subjects (“inalienable rights” “human rights”)
· man-made laws VS natural law (divine law)
· à “Enlightened Despotism”
o Catherine the Great (Russia), Frederick the Great (Prussia, HRE)
o not mystical appeals to authority
o but pragmatic (logical) need for state power (to stave off anarchy, warfare, chaos, rebellion)
o “regulation” & “standardization”: (+) centralized government, avoids local customs, unifies realm
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(5) SR’s Effects on RELIGION:
· GOD:
1. prove His existence through reason (rationally)
2. attack excesses of Roman Church (establishment—Paine, Voltaire, Rousseau, Hume)
3. pantheism: God = Nature (humans, Nature, universe = manifestations of a transcendent being)
· order in universe = PROOF of God’s existence, of God’s plan, of God’s benevolence
o evidence of universal & immutable law & order = proof of God’s wisdom & plan of Creation
· DEISM: (natural religion)
o appeal to “enlightened minds”
o mix of science + religion
o God’s clearest revelation = Creation, nature (not Bible)
o REASON:
o God (Supreme being, First Cause) exists because universe exists
o Creature presupposes Creator
o laws of nature = PROOF of God’s wisdom, reasonableness
o immortality/afterlife:
§ virtue & vice = not rewarded & punished in this life
§ therefore, since He is good, just
§ à punishment = in future life
§ HERE we have a duty to cooperate with Nature, to cultivate wisdom, benevolence, virtue
§ BUT: nothing about “second revelation” (Christ died for our sins)
· Natural religion VS Christianity
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RESTORATION: (1660-1700)
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
1660: restoration of Charles II
1665: plague, 70,000 dead in London
1666: Great London Fire, September, 4 days, 13,000 houses, 2/3 = homeless, blamed on Catholics, last of the plague
1688-89: Glorious Revolution, “bloodless,” depose Catholic James II, accession of William of Orange
1700: John Dryden is dead
(*end of Restoration Period*)
1707: Act of Union: “Great Britain”, Scotland & Britain are unified
1714: George I, House of Hanover
1744-45: Pope & Swift are dead
1776: American Revolution
1784: Samuel Johnson is dead
1789: French Revolution
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EMPIRE BUILDING: Stabilized Government (strengthened without & within)
1659: Richard Cromwell abdicates; Charles II is expectedàorder, peace, mildness, freedom under law
1660: restoration of Charles II
1665 & 1666: plague (70k dead) & Great London Fire
· superstition: divine Providence, outrage at rebellion & regicide
· rebuilt & reorganized city
· no more plague
1680: Royal Navy defeats Holland (England’s chief maritime & commercial rival)
1689-1763: wars with France à acquired dominions around the world (Canada & India)
1688 & 1707: Glorious Revolution & Act of Union
· GR established rule of law, AU established political alliance
· unity, allegiance, “nation”
· “British” writers (regardless of country)
o Swift, Burke, Sheridan, Goldsmith (Ireland)
o Thompson, Boswell, Hume (Scotland)
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CHARLES II
1640s & 1650s:
· liberalism (theological & political heterodoxy)
· English Civil Wars, Puritan & Parliamentary forces (Interregnum)
· millennial hope
1660:
· restoration of Charles II (Stuart)
· conservatism (religious, political, literary) *not Charles’ libertine court
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CHARLES II and RESTORATION RELIGION
· restoration of the monarchy = restoration of the Anglican Church
· Anglican clergy VS. Dissenters
· 1662: reinstates Book of Common Prayer
· 1664: illegal = meetings in which AC forms are not followed
· Jail: non-conformist preachers (John Bunyan)
· 1673: Test Act:
o all civil & military officers to receive sacrament according to AC rites & declare disbelief in transubstantiation
o thus, Dissenters/Non-Conformists & RC = excluded from public life (politics)
o irony: Charles II = secret RC (received RC last rites on deathbed)
· “nonconformity” = (-), associated with
o revolution, regicide, republicanism, rule of Puritan saints
o subversion
o excessive zeal, “enthusiasm” (private revelation), irrationality
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CHARLES II and POPISH PLOT (1678-81)
· unsuccessful attempt by Parliamentary faction
· to force Charles II to accept bill
· that would exclude James, Duke of York (Catholic) from succession (*see “Glorious Revolution”)
(effect) = 2 clearly defined political parties:
TORIES: / WHIGS:with the king / against the king
landed gentry / powerful nobles
country clergy / jealous of power
conservatives / Dissenters
against Dissenters / merchants, financiers
for the Test Act / à toleration, commerce
Crown & Church
hostile to new money
(middle class, new nobility)
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JAMES II and the GLORIOUS REVOLUTION
· 2 causes of Civil War
o politics (absolutism)
o religion
· 2 causes of Glorious Revolution
o James II = opposes Parliament (politics)
o James II = Catholic, supports RC in England (religion)
§ 1687: Declaration of Indulgence
· suspends Test Act
· suspends penal laws against Dissenters & RC
§ James puts co-religionists into military, governmental, university positions
§ See POPISH PLOT above
· 1688:
o son born to James II à prospect of Roman Catholic succession
o William of Orange = Dutch
§ husband to James II’s Protestant daughter Mary
§ champion of Protestantism on the Continent
o “bloodless”: James flees to France (12/11/88) & is comfortably set up with wife & son by Louis XIV at St. Germaine
o “Jacobite”: Scots & some English in favor of the Stuarts
o Jacobite rebellions:
§ by James II
§ by son James (“Old Pretender”) Francis Edward Stuart (1715) in Scotland to support an uprising over the newly ascended George I (House of Hanover)
§ by grandson Prince Charles Edward (“Bonny Prince Charley”) Stuart (1745) close to success
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WILLIAM & MARY (1688-1702)
· Protestant, tolerant, new era
· resolved problems that divided England
1) political (succession & Parliament)
2) religious (tolerance for Dissenters)
· BILL of RIGHTS (1689):
o limited power of the crown
o reaffirmed supremacy of Parliament
o guaranteed rights of the individual *****
o (“constitutional monarchy”)
o (*success of Enlightenment ideals)
· TOLERATION ACT (1689):
o Princess Anne (James II’s youngest daughter) sole daughter dies
o succession only through Sophia, Electress of Hanover
o granddaughter of James I
o closest Protestant relative to Princess Anne
· principles established in 1689 = unaltered until Reform Bill of 1832
*END of RESTORATION PERIOD*
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ANNE
· last Stuart monarch; weak; stupid?
· renewed tensions, under her reign
· War of Spanish Succession (1702-13):
o France & Spain VS. England, Holland, Austria, Bavaria
o Whig war: supported by Whig lords & merchants
o à rich on war profits & weakening powers of France & Spain
o hero = John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough (political power) at Blenheim (“Blen-hime”), Blenheim Palace (“Blen-em”)
o spills over to North America: Queen Anne’s War
· 1710: Whigs & Dissenters:
o Anne dismissed Whig ministers (threat to Establishment)
o Marlborough (& wife, Sarah, queen’s best friend & puppeteer?) = dismissed, lost command
o adds Tory ministry
o Robert Harley (treasurer), Henry St. John (Sec. of State)
o Peace/Treaty of Utrecht (1713):
§ negotiated by Tories (ends War of Spanish Succession & Queen Anne’s War)
§ Britain gets from Spain Gibraltar, Minorca, Asiento (slave contract),
§ from France Hudson Bay Co.’s territories (Newfoundland, Acadia, Rupert’s Land), St. Kitts
· St. John (Bolingbroke) VS. Harley (Oxford)—lost
·
· *LITERATURE under ANNE:
o lots of political patronage: government sinecures
o Congreve, Prior, Swift, Steele, Addison: $$ for literature AND service to party
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GEORGE I (king 1714-27)
· vindictive Whigs in power à Harley (Tower of London til 1717), St. John (charged with treason with Pretender, fled to France, pardoned 1723)
· George = son of the late Sophia, Electress of Hanover
· England as a country = rich $$ from war trade & earlier industrialization
· George II: (king 1727-60)
· *both Georges = broken English, little interest in England, spent most time in Hanover
· à ministers:
o gain power
o independent of the crown
o *modern system of ministerial government begins
o Sir Robert Walpole:
§ prime minister, Whig, 1721-42,
§ (-) corruption & bribery
§ (+) strengthened House of Commons, peace & prosperity, capable government
*Georgian Literature: (1714-60)
· 2 kings ignorant of English literature
· Prime Minister = corrupt, indifferent to literature
· English writers NOT offices, government sinecures (no patronage)
· unlike under Queen Anne
· à so turn to publishers, with growing readership
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GEORGE III (1760-1820 = 60 years)
· ruled for 60 years; born in England
· Britain = colonial power
· loss of American colonies
· Canada & India (1763) Peace of Paris consolidated power of C&I
· social reform—liberty (John Wilkes = reformer)
· 1780 Gordon Riots: mob rule; industrialism
· 1789: French Revolution> old tradition of subordination & local self-sufficiency VS. new of liberty, rule of reason, human rights
· 1760-1798: Neo-Classicism
· 1798-1832: Romantic Period
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RESTORATION LITERATURE(1660-1700)
LITERATURE:
à censorship (see conservatism: religious, political, literary)
à satire (anonymous, Andrew Marvell, A. Pope)
· Kant, Voltaire, Locke, Newton, Hume
· RELIGIOUS
o spiritual autobiographies (John Bunyan Pilgrim’s Progress (1678)—Calvinism)
o Calvinism
o Puritanism
o anti-Puritanism
o Anglicanism
· HISTORICAL:
o of the Civil War period
· STYLE:o plain & simple
o unadorned
o unembellished
o perspicuous
o clarity of thought (lucid prose)
o “decorum”
o harmony, balance, proportion, order
Conflict of values:
· from politics
· reflected in literature à mixed
· Ren. VS. religion (nonconformist, Dissenters, AC, RC) VS. aristocratic libertines VS. Neo-Classicism