HIST 121 Lecture Notes - Major Force, Heredity, Dictionnaire Philosophique
Document Summary
West becomes the west; defines itself as civilization; deems itself good. Religious as a separate thing: historical contexts, local time. Polity; single person whose power was derived from divinity or heredity. Sovereignty didn"t take legitimacy from those it ruled. Closer to center of monarchy = more power, central effect of politics; unequally distributed. Sense of belonging undeveloped; see self as a subject: stratified culture. No social welfare for peasants; starvation throughout europe; peasant class dignified. Urban world growing; 1750 1/5 of world"s cities held more than 5 thousand people: tradesmen, merchants, lawyers, etc. Public spaces; city squares; growth of sense of the public. Elite: luxury of time, ostentation, extensive travel, literacy: religion. Religion still major force of public and private life. Triumph of rationality, science, freedom = tone of textbooks. Enlightenment thinkers = prophets of a new era. Kant: man"s release from immaturity : think freely, freed from prejudice; preconception; tradition; religion; superstition.
