HY 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 53: Bering Sea, Atlantic Slave Trade, Moses Mendelssohn
30 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
I.Internationalization of Enlightenment Themes
. The "party of humanity"
1. French books widely distributed and read
2. Cosmopolitan movement of ideas
A. Enlightenment themes: humanitarianism and tolerance
1. Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794)
. On Crimes and Punishments (1764)
.General themes: arbitrary power, reason, and human dignity
i.Attacked the view that punishment represented society's vengeance on the criminal
ii.Legitimate rationale for punishment was to maintain social order, prevent other crimes
iii.Opposed torture and the death penalty
2. Religious toleration
. End religious warfare and the persecution of heretics and religious minorities
a. Few philosophes were atheists (materialists)
b. Most were deists—God as "divine clockmaker"
c. Most philosophes viewed Judaism and Islam as backward
d. Gotthold Lessing (1729-1781)
.Treated Jews sympathetically
i.Nathan the Wise (1779)
ii.Three great monotheistic religions are three versions of the same truth
e. Moses Mendelssohn (1729-1786)
.Took up the question of Jewish identity
i.On the Religious Authority of Judaism (1783)
ii.Defended Jewish communities against anti-Semitic policies
B. Economics, government, and administration
1. Rising states and empires made economic issues important
2. The French physiocrats
. Mercantilist policies were misguided
a. Real wealth came from land and agricultural production; advocated a simplified tax system
b. Laissez-faire—wealth and goods to circulate without government interference
3. Adam Smith (1723-1790)
. Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776)
.Disagreed with the centrality of agriculture
i.Central issue was the productivity of human labor
ii.Mercantile restrictions did not create real economic health
iii.The "invisible hand" of the marketplace
iv.Rational individuals should pursue their interests rationally
v.The stages of economic growth
vi.Following the "obvious and simple system of natural liberty"
Empire and Enlightenment
C. The economics of empire and the profitability of colonies
1. New world of natural humanity and simplicity
2. The slave trade and humanitarianism, individual rights, and natural law
D. Abbé Guillaume Thomas Francois Raynal
1. Philosophical History . . . of Europeans in the Two Indies (1770)
. A total history of colonization, natural history, exploration, and commerce
a. Industry and trade brought improvement and progress
b. Condemned the Spanish in Mexico and Peru, the Portuguese in Brazil, the English in North America
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
