EURO1004 Lecture Notes - Totalitarianism, Brunswick Manifesto, Scientific Revolution
EURO1004 – EUROPE IN THE MODERN ERA – LECTURE NOTES
WEEK 1 – INTRODUCTION
KEY TERMS AND CONCEPTS – ‘MODERNITY’
• From Charles Baudelaire, ‘The painter of modern life’ (1864)
• A historical period (the modern era)
• Norms, attitudes, and practices
• Questioning and/or rejection of tradition
Societies and
individuals
Traditional
Modern
Pattern of settlement
Rural
Urban
Stratification
Deferential community, orders and
estates
Egalitarian divisions based on
achievement
Mobility
Low
High
Life expectancy
Low
High
Literacy
Low
High
Political participation
Low
High
• ‘Modernity is […] epistemologically imperialist: it flattens out and subordinates everything that came before.’
• ‘It creates a temporal hierarchy that is implicitly bound up with identity: the modern (us) versus the pre-modern (them).’
• The French Revolution is still seen as ‘the watershed moment of modernity’, ie: ‘of how we became ‘us’ unlike ‘them’.
•
Problems with ‘modernity’
- 4 Perspectives on modernity:
o ‘A long and continuing project, central to the history of Western Europe, and in turn defining a goal to
which the result of the world aspires.’
o ‘A bundle of social, ideological, and political phenomena whose historical origins lie in the West’ but
also ‘an imperial construct, a global imposition of specifically Western social, economic, and political
forms that tames and sterilizes the rich diversity of human experience’.
o A singular ‘European project and a European accomplishment to be defended against others who may
knock at the gate but whose cultural baggage renders the mastery of modernity unattainable.’
o A plural modernity – either ‘multiple’ or ‘alternative’ in which ‘non-Western peoples develop cultural
forms that are not mere repetitions of tradition, but bring their own perspectives to progress.’
KEY TERMS AND CONCEPTS – ‘WESTERN CIVILIZATION
• ‘Like many people, I had always assumed that “Western Civilization” and “European History” were more or less the
same thing. I gradually became convinced that they are conflicting, and incompatible concepts.’
• ‘An intellectual invention designed to promote the interests of its inventors’
WEEK 2 – ENLIGHTENMENT EUROPE – Guest Lecture – Alex Cook
States and
governments
Traditional
Modern
Government
Local, personal
Centralised, anonymous, bureaucratic
Law
Religious, personal
Formal, contractual
Religion
Supported by state
Secularization, separation of church and state
Economy
Agrarian, self-
subsistence
Industrial
Productivity
Low
High
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WHAT IS ‘THE ENLIGHTNMENT’?
•
Disputed territory…
•
Broad definitions:
- An outburst of public debate
- A widespread belief in the value of critical enquiry
•
Narrow definition:
- The program of a small group of militant philosophers (e.g. Voltaire, Diderot, Rousseau in France)
- Narrow definitions have weaknesses as they tend to be exclusive and often political
ORIGINS
Extending the Scientific Revolution
• Many key thinkers of the Enlightenment saw themselves as building on the ‘scientific revolution’ of the seventeenth
century
• Embrace empiricism, experimental method (hostile to ‘scholasticism’ (medieval religious philosophy) sometimes also
anti-Cartesian – i.e. hostile to philosophy of Rene Descartes)
• Wanted a ‘science of man’
• Critical engagement with history, politics, religious belief
• “Some might say that ‘enlightenment’ is something that comes upon or builds upon from the scientific resolution during
the 17th century as well as a process which starts to builds and transfer the aspirations of natural philosophy into the
scientific world”
New Worlds of the Mind
• Intensified contact with the non-European world (via trade, conquest and exploration)
• Challenged traditional ideas (religious, political, social)
• This encounter with other worlds/worlds views resulted in idea of the commonality between human nature as well as the
differences between different people – i.e. religions
PERIOD SIGNIFICANCE
Social Change
• Commerce
- Increasing economic production
- The introduction of further commodities in the modern world trade system –
e.g. coffee
• Urbanization
• Rise of the middle class
• Reduction of traditional cultural authority (court, church etc.)
The Expansion of Print Culture
• Rise of the press
• Rise of the publisher
• New relationship between authors and public
• International book trade
• More readers
-
E.g. The first British newspapers started being produced in the 1690’s
-
E.g. In England in the 1620s the production of books was about 6000 a year and by the 1790’s that rose to
56000 a year
The ‘Republic of Letters’
• An idealized community of equals engaged in free exchange of ideas across social and political boundaries
Scholarly Societies
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• Académie francaise (1335)
• Acadèmie des sciences (1666)
• Académie des inscriptions et belles lettres (1701)
• British Royal Society
Informal Networks
• Salons – understood as the informal gatherings often sponsored by patrons and members of the social elite – where
writers and men and women of letters gather to discuss
• Coffeehouses – produced as a modern luxury – this place becomes a network where various classes would meet to share
gossip, trade, to promote scandal, etc. – quite controversial – a key institution of enlightenment culture
• Freemasonry – made a semi=private place where people may want to discuss business deals
Religion in the Enlightenment
• Widespread hostility to ‘superstition’ and ‘dogma’
• Support for religious toleration
• Many embraced ‘rational’ or ‘natural’ religion (Deism)
•
E.g. Voltaire, Rousseau
The Idea of Nature
• Faith in a benevolent natural order
• Desire to accommodate human life with ‘natural law’
• Hence interest in ‘state of nature’ and ‘natural rights’ etc.
• Idea of the ‘noble savage’
(see Rousseau, Diderot)
Progress and ‘Perfectibility’
• Widespread belief in social progress
• Human nature is ‘perfectible’
• Disputes about process
• Not all believe in progress (e.g. Rousseau)
LEGACY
John Locke (1632-1704)
• English philosopher, regarded as champion of empiricism, religious toleration and limited government
•
Key publications:
- Letter Concerning Toleration (1689)
- Two Treatises of Government (1989)
- Essay concerning Human Understanding (1690)
Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677)
• Dutch-Jewish philosopher, historian of religion. Regarded as ‘atheist’ or ‘pantheist’. Much reviled
•
Key publications:
- Tractatus Theologica-POliticus (1670)
- Ethics (1677)
David Hume (1711-1776)
• Scottish philosopher, historian, essayist
•
Key publications:
- Treatise of Human Nature (1739-40)
Voltaire (1694-1778)
• Philosopher, historian, novelist, poet, dramatist, pamphleteer (more than 2000 books and pamphlets)
• Defender of civil liberties – attacked intolerance, superstition, ignorance, the Catholic Church
• Celebrity, but in regular trouble with authorities
Emile du Châtelet (1706-1749)
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Document Summary
Euro1004 europe in the modern era lecture notes. Key terms and concepts modernity": from charles baudelaire, the painter of modern life" (1864, a historical period (the modern era, norms, attitudes, and practices, questioning and/or rejection of tradition. Supported by state secularization, separation of church and state. Modernity is [ ] epistemologically imperialist: it flattens out and subordinates everything that came before. ". A long and continuing project, central to the history of western europe, and in turn defining a goal to which the result of the world aspires. ". Like many people, i had always assumed that western civilization and european history were more or less the same thing. I gradually became convinced that they are conflicting, and incompatible concepts. ". An intellectual invention designed to promote the interests of its inventors". Week 2 enlightenment europe guest lecture alex cook. What is the enlightnment": disputed territory , broad definitions: A widespread belief in the value of critical enquiry: narrow definition:
