AP European History

Barron’s

The Philosophes of the Enlightenment

Bernard de Fontenelle He was influential in bringing scientific matters to educated people who were not scientists themselves. He also was among the first to think that science contradicted religion, and caused people to think about the nature of religious truth.
Major Works: Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds. It is a truly liberal book because it focuses on the concept that humans can make progress, and marvels at the progress already made. It also made scientific progress up to this point available to many people presented on their level of understanding.

Pierre Bayle Leading skeptic, his conclusion foreshadowing that of Heisenberg, was that there is basis for doubt in absolutely everything.
Major Works: Historical and Critical Dictionary in 1697 about past religion and persecution.

Baruch Spinoza Equated God and nature and believed in an impersonal mechanical universe. He also denied free will. He was Jewish by birth but became one of the first ardent atheists.
Major Works: Ethics, Tractatus TheologicoPoliticus, Tractatus Politicus, and Premiers écrits

Denis Diderot Best known as the editor of the first European Encyclopédie, which was supported by Voltaire and Catherine II (the Great) of Russia. He was a writer and member of prominent salons in Paris.
Major Works: Encyclopedia or a Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts and Crafts

Jean-Baptiste Ie Rond d’Alembert Famous philosopher, physicist, mathematician, scientist, and writer. Coedited the Encyclopedia with Diderot.
Major Works: Encyclopedia or a Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts and Crafts

Baron de Montesqueiu (Charles-Louis de Secondat) Defined the theory of separation of powers of the three branches of government. He outlined a system of checks and balances by which a government could be controlled. He also discussed what conditions were favorable to liberty and greatly admired the English balance of power. Satirized European Society as well in The Persian Letters. His work helped design most of the governmental systems in the world today.
Major Works: Spirit of the Laws, The Persian Letters

Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)

• • Jailed and had many books censored, but wrote over seventy books.
• • Vehemently tolerant of all religions but was a deist.
• • A biographer summarized his ideas by saying, “I disagree with what you say, but would defend to the death your right to say it.”
• • He was a minister to Frederick the Great of Prussia.
• • He did his best work while living with Madame du Châtelet, who translated Newton’s Principia Mathematica and cared for Voltaire with her husband’s tacit approval.
• • In 1745, Voltaire was appointed the Royal Historiographer of France. Voltaire believed that monarchy was the best form of government because he did not trust people to rule themselves.

Thomas Paine Advocated deism and progress, the idea of an improved society through natural laws. He moved to the British Colonies in America and advocated for American Independence.
Major Works: The Age of Reason, Common Sense

Marquis de Condorcet (Marie Jean Caritat) He was the chairman of the French Academy of Sciences. He stated that human progress would eventually lead to its perfection. Ten stages of the mind, nine have occurred, the tenth will lead to perfection. He was against gradual, hard won progress and wanted catastrophic change, much as Karl Marx later would. He committed suicide to avoid the guillotine of the French Revolution.
Major Works: Progress of the Human Mind, Essay on the Application of Analysis to the Probability of Majority Decisions

Baron Paul D’Holbach (Paul-Henri Thiry)

• • He was a staunch atheist who refused to compromise on anything. Known for his financial support of Diderot and Rousseau.
• • People were machines controlled by outside forces.
• • Free will, God, and immortality were myths.
• • Seen as dogmatic and intolerant due to rigid atheism. It broke the unity of the Enlightenment by dividing thinkers.

David Hume Scotsman who emphasized limitations of human reasoning and stated that the human mind is nothing but a bundle of impressions. Later he became dogmatic skeptic who undermined the Enlightenment. He was the best friend to Adam Smith.
Major Works: A Treatise of Human Nature, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion

Jean Jacques Rousseau

• • He believed rationalism and civilization were destroying rather than liberating the individual.
• • He emphasized nature and passion and influenced the early Romantic Movement.
• • He was surly and paranoid in his later years and had a bowel problem.
• • He was against the culture of the Enlightenment.
• • Believed the “general will” reflects public opinion, and the people (as assessed by the majority of the legislature) displaced the monarch as the holder of sovereign power.
• • Émile called for greater love and tenderness toward children, do not use wet nurses, no swaddling showed the growth of humanitarianism and potential from the Enlightenment.

Immanuel Kant He argued in 1784 that freedom of the press will result in Enlightenment. He separated science and morality into distinct branches of knowledge. He believed that science could describe natural phenomena of the material world but could not provide a guide for morality.
Major Works: Critique of Practical Reason, The Metaphysics of Morals, and Critique of Judgment

Mary Wollstonecraft She was the first true feminist. She was a defender of the Declaration of the Rights of Man. Her daughter was Mary Shelley. She believed marriage was legalized prostitution. She engaged in a public debate with Edmund Burke about the French Revolution, and a private debate with Rousseau on the rights of women.
Major Works: A Vindication of the Rights of Man, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Thoughts on the Education of Daughters

Olympe de Gouges Another early feminist, she was the daughter of a bilker and rose to run her own salon. She was an abolitionist. She was executed during the Reign of Terror.
Major Works: Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen

Adam Smith

• • He wrote the original statement of capitalist views. It basically created modern economics.
• • It stated that mercantilism was stifling and government regulations and granted privileges made the marketplace not only unfair but also inefficient.
• • He thought free trade would limit government to three dutiesdefense, civil order, and public institutions.
• • The individual competition in the market led to balance.
• • Believed in the invisible hand of supply and demand to control the marketplace and keep competition free and fair.
• • He was a professor in Scotland, traveled to France with a tutee, and met Quesnay, the first economist there.
• • Explained how division of labor makes work more efficient.
• • Thought profit was stolen from the laborer.

Madame de Geoffrin (Marie Thérèse Rodet Geoffrin) She was one of the leading Enlightenment personalities. She used her husband’s money to host the liveliest salon in France at the time. Her guests included most of the people mentioned above. Other prominent salonnieres include Louise de Warens and Julia de Lespinasse. In these salons women were treated like thinking people here and only here in society; it was the only place for a woman to learn about the world and the issues of the day. According to gender theory, women played an important role in organizing salons. She created an independent setting free from censorship where diverse educated people could form their public opinion.
Major Works: Supported the publishing of the Encyclopédie