HIS102Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Constitution Of France, Persian Letters, Philosophes
Document Summary
The early enlightenment: de montesquieu (1689-1755, diderot (1713-1784, d"alembert. Voltaire produced a brilliant critique of the ancient regime, but he didn"t provide anything to put in it"s place. For revolutions to be successful, they can"t just be violent, they have to offer an alternative. Voltaire was much more skilled at critiquing as opposed to offering an alternative. He was an aristocrat, a member of nobility was very happy on his estates than being around the courts and palaces, he was absent-minded and clumsy, but he was a genius and a brilliant man. Montesquieu believed that it was his class (the nobility) that had the responsibility to protect their nation. His first publishing were the persian letters. The persian letters were about persians who came to visit france and critiqued the system and the people, which was really montesquieu critiquing them behind this veil of the persians. This became one of the most important books of the enlightenment.
