The Philosophes and the Coming of the Revolution

By: Jesse-Ross Cohen

Who were the Philosophes?• Some of the Enlightenment’s greatest thinkers• French critics who forged new attitudes

– Championed reform for the people from their oppressive French rulers– Flourished in the Print Culture– NOT a cohesive group – often disagreed on many key issues

• They did, however, share a common bond: to reform religion, political thought, society, government, and the economy for the sake of human liberty

• Famous Philosophes: – Voltaire – Montesquieu – Diderot – D'Alembert – Rousseau – Hume – Gibbon – Smith – Lessing – Kant

An assembly of Philosophes: Voltaire, D’Alembert, Condorcet,

and Diderot http://www.csupomona.edu/~sfenglehart/%20Hst%20Images

%20/Philosophes.JPEG

The Philosophes and the People

• Found in universities, coffee shops and drinking spots

• Read by people with enough money and leisure time

• Taught them how to ask pointed questions • Supported the growth of trade and industry• Fought back verbally against the

administration, and thus influenced the people to do the same through force

Voltaire, First Among Philosophes:the Early Years

• Born François-Marie Arouet (1694-1778)– Later gave himself his new pen name

• A strong believer in liberalism and human rights

• Gifted with the written word– a.k.a. the Dictator of Letters– Allowed his ideas to transverse all of

French culture• Early writings of pose and poetry

criticized the French system of government– None, however, were very serious in

intent or nature• Early works were heavily pessimistic

about humanity– The Englightenment was about hope for

humanity, not a certainty of better things to come

http://www.deism.com/images/Voltaire.jpg

Voltaire, First Among Philosophes:the Later Years

• It was later in life that Voltaire wrote his more influential works– Letters on the English (1733): praises the virtue of the

English system (constitutional monarchy) and indirectly criticizes the French system of abuse

– Elements of the Philosophy of Newton (1738): popularized the thought of Isaac Newton

• Also wrote satires on French culture.– Candide (1759): attacks war, religious persecution, and

the human condition which he claimed wasn't improving

• French authorities were now outraged at Voltaire’s works– Went to live in Geneva, safe from persecution

• Was instrumental in an age where “The Philosophers of different nations, embracing in their meditations the entire interests of mankind,…formed a firm and united phalanx against every description of error and every species of tyranny.” - Condorcet

http://www.todayinliterature.com/biography/voltaire.asp

Formative Influences of the Enlightenment:

Major Impetuses of the Philosophes

• Stability and prosperity of Great Britain after 1688

• Need for administrative and economic reform in France after the wars of Louis XIV

• Consolidation of the print culture

Formative Influences of the Enlightenment:

Ideas of Newton and LockeNewton (1642-1727)• Formulated the law of

universal gravitation • Exemplified the power of the

human mind in his book Principia Mathematica (1686)– Encouraged Europeans to

avoid metaphysics and supernaturalism and attack the study of nature directly

– Found a rationality in the physical world: if nature is rational, so too should society be

– Inspired John Locke

http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/spec/exhibits/treasures/images/newton.gif

Formative Influences of the Enlightenment:

Ideas of Newton and Locke

Locke (1632-1704)• Wrote, among other things, An Essay

Concerning Human Understanding– Argued that humans enter the world as

tabula rasa, or blank pages– Personality is thus defined by the

experiences that impinge on one’s self• Ergo: Human nature is changeable • Allowed for the possibility of actually

improving the human condition – Also, there is no predestined sin, and its up

to people to change their surroundings to change themselves

http://www.herodote.net/Images/Locke.jpg

Formative Influences of the Enlightenment:

Example of British Toleration and Stability

• Newton's science and Locke's philosophy opened the door for British liberalism – Religious toleration to all but Unitarians and Roman

Catholics • Even these weren't actually persecuted

– Relative freedom of speech – Relative freedom of the press – Political sovereignty rested with Parliament – Courts protected the citizens – Small army – Very few economic restrictions

• England was significantly freer than any other nation

Formative Influences of the Enlightenment:

Emergence of a Print Culture

• Written word became the chief vehicle for the spreading of ideas

• Prose became as important as poetry • Issues in books were mostly secular • Books weren’t inexpensive, but measures were

taken to spread the knowledge to everyone – Newspapers, books, journals

• Aristocratic and middle-class society dictated a familiarity with books

• Coffeehouses and freemason meetings became centers for the discussion of writing and ideas

Formative Influences of the Enlightenment:

Emergence of a Print Culture (cont.)• Authors could now grow wealthy

– Alexander Pope – Voltaire

• Provided an example to younger colleagues • Division between high and low literary culture

– Successful authors addressed the elite, and were read and accepted by them

– Others would publish for whatever paper they could, and blamed social injustice on the powerful.

• They sometimes carried enlightened beliefs to radical extremes as a result • The birth of public opinion

– People were always trying to sway public opinion • Governments found it harder to operate in secret

– Many regulated book trade – Freedom of the press came as a slow, eventual expansion

The Encyclopedia• One of the greatest monuments of the enlightenment, and the greatest

undertaking in print culture history • Compiled chiefly by Denis Diderot and Rond d'Alembert • First appeared in 1751

– Completed in 1772 – Contained 17 volumes of text and 11 of plates (illustrations)

• Collective effort of over 100 authors – Included all the major French philosophes

• Contained advanced theories on religion, government, and philosophy – To avoid censorship, these ideas were hidden in obscure articles or cloaked in

irony • Also contained plans for manufacturing, canal building, ship construction,

and improved agriculture – The greatest compilation of the knowledge of the time ever

• Intended to be a tool to secularize and popularize learning – Looked to antiquity and humanity rather than Christian models – The future of mankind lay not in pleasing god but in spreading knowledge

• 14,00-16,00 copies were sold before 1789 – Diffused enlightened thought throughout Europe

Political Thought of the Philosophes:Charles Montesquieu (1689-1755)

• A French Baron who, despite living quite well, saw the need for reform

• Wrote two major works– The Persian (1721): satirized contemporary institutions,

exposing the cruelty of European life– Spirit of the Laws (1748): perhaps the most influential

book in the 18th century, expunged on the necessity of the appreciation of variables when setting laws, noting that the best form of government for a nation was dependant on the characteristics of that nation

• Took a moderate stance on French politics to try to make his message more appealing– Wrote that the various institutions in France (e.g. les

parlements) must be used to curb the monarchical power that was derogating French life

– Believed in a division of power in government, using the English’s system of a constitutional monarchy as an example

– Wrote that monarchs should be subject to a constitution

http://troi.cc.rochester.edu/~tdip/Montesquieu.gif

Political Thought of the Philosophes:Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)

• A strange introvert, Rousseau raised some of the most profound questions of the enlightenment

• He believed that the commerciality of the time prevented people from living virtuously– Discourse on the Moral Effects of the Arts and Sciences (1750):

the nature of civilization has corrupted human nature– Discourse on the Origin of Inequality (1755): much of the evil in the

world can be blamed on an inadequate distribution of property• Whilst other Philosophes championed the idea that the more the

people received the better life they would lead, Rousseau challenged the essence of the good life

– This challenge has been a fundamental sticking point in European thought ever since

– The Social Contract (1762): outlines the political structure that would overcome the contemporary evils of society

• “All men are born free, but everywhere they are in chains”– Before writing publishing this book, he wrote to his friend M. Lenieps “I

have quit the profession of author for good. There remains an old sin (The Social Contract) to be expiated in print, after which the public will never hear from me again.”

Political Thought of the Philosophes:Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)

• “All men are born free, but everywhere they are in chains”– Rousseau’s book goes on to defend these chains

in a morally right and properly organized society over its members

• Like Plato, believed that freedom was dependant on an obedience of law– Law, according to Rousseau, was the general will

• Attacked the 18th century institution of self-propagation and the wealth of the individual– Would rather people be poor and good than rich

and corrupt• Too many people either had money or were too busy

trying to make it to take much heed of Rousseau during his time

• His works were, however, heavily influential during the French Revolution

http://www.axonais.com/saintquentin/musee_lecuyer/graphs/rousseau.jpg

Bibliography

• Durant, Will and Durant, Ariel. The Age of Voltaire. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1965

• Durant, Will and Durant, Ariel. Rousseau and Revolution. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1965

• Kagan, Donald, with Steven Ozment and Frank M. Turner.  The Western Heritage.  New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Inc., 2004.

• www.wikipedia.com, searches: Voltaire, Philosophes, Montesquieu, Enlightenment