HIS109Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Clericalism, Philosophes, Nice Guy
23/11/2015
Lecture 17
The Philosophes/Age of Reason
FRANCOIS MARIE AROUET DE VOLTAIRE (1694-1778)
CALAS
LA BARRE
ECRA“EZ L’INFAME
• Education/learning were seen secularly
• Justified the as God’s deads relate to a
• Before, had to go to the book of revelation for the religion you were following in order
to determine its message
• Systematic doubt Rene Descartes (nothing is true, unless you are convinced through
mathematical proof of its truth)
• Beginning of the scientific revolution people trusted less, without concrete evidence
(things based on faith were put aside)
• Ecclesiastical establishment was rejected
• After Descartes, Galileo, Newton, the way to understanding knowledge was science
• Age of reason was defined by the people who believed in it—the antithesis of the age of
superstition
• Human reason was the solution, everything else constituted the problem
• Laws of nature Newton (they were ultimately comprehensible and consider all of the
implications of nature)
• A time of optimism
• Belief that a perfect society was within the grasp of mankind
• Utilitarianism/practicality applying these observations of what is right and wrong to
the human condition
Wh a’t people eperiet ithi the ouities i hih the lied, to
make them better?
What does it mean to interfere with the social structure of your community?
you have to have a goal; which way you want it to move
Life, liberty, property the pursuit of happiness (way of redefining what human
society should be)
Undermined what people assumed as natural
Things like war began to collapse ot useful, did’t ake our life or the
ouit’s etter
People believed that all human problems could be solved through the
application of reason
• Obligation to do the best one could
• Approach life through the idea of human theory how to create a better world
Reason applied to human relations would show us that kings are not the fathers of their
people
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Document Summary
Ecra ez l"infame: education/learning were seen secularly, before, had to go to the book of revelation for the religion you were following in order. What does it mean to interfere with the social structure of your community? you have to have a goal; which way you want it to move. Life, liberty, property the pursuit of happiness (way of redefining what human society should be) Things like war began to collapse (cid:374)ot useful, did(cid:374)"t (cid:373)ake (cid:455)our life or the (cid:272)o(cid:373)(cid:373)u(cid:374)it(cid:455)"s (cid:271)etter. People believed that all human problems could be solved through the application of reason: obligation to do the best one could, approach life through the idea of human theory how to create a better world. Reason applied to human relations would show us that kings are not the fathers of their people. Look at career voltaire of to see what the philosophes were up against. He becomes poster board for new attitude about being human.
