SCIENCE OF MAN Flashcards
Who places the question of what it is to be human as being about the individual?
Descartes locates reason in the brain.
‘I noticed that whilst I thus wished to think all things false, it was absolutely essential that the I that thought this should be somewhat, and remarking that this truth ‘I think therefore I am’ was so certain’.
I as the central subject and object of the debate in the science of man.
‘I can have no knowledge of what it is outside of me except by means of ideas I have within me’.
When is the Age of Reason?
1650s to 1780s
How did the ideas of the Enlightenment reach a wider audience than the elite?
18th century emergence of the public sphere.
Coffeehouses and salons.
What is Enlightenment?
Immanuel Kant
“Answering the Question: What is Enlightenment?” 1784 (Berlinische Monatsschrift)
‘Enlightenment is mankind’s exit from self-incurred immaturity. Immaturity is the inability to make use of one’s own understanding without the guidance of another. Sapere aude! Have the courage to use your understanding!’
Can we describe the Enlightenment as a period of war?
30 years war 1618-48.
War of the Spanish Succession 1701-14
War of the Austrian Succession 1740-48 (359,000 killed in action).
Who invented the term ‘Science of Man’?
David Hume
“A Treatise of Human Nature” 1739
How can we describe the science of man as an international project?
The Republic of Letters: fostered communication between intellectuals across Europe.
Self-proclaimed community of scholars and literary figures.
How were women involved in the science of man?
Salon culture.
Abraham Bosse “Reunion de Dames”
What was an Enlightened personality?
Polymathic (not an expert in just one subject)
Autonomous and social at the same time.
Produce useful information for the individual and for society at large.
What was it to be human in the Renaissance?
Roy Porter “The Enlightenment”
‘Moralists believed that from classical poets, philosopher moralists, historians and statesmen - models of virtue could be derived which the truly civilised man of the Renaissance could pursue, in harmony with the Christian progress towards spirituality and salvation.’
What is assumption number 1 about human nature during the Enlightenment?
Human nature follows laws.
Isaac Newton “Principia” 1687
David Hume “A Treatise of Human Nature” 1738 (uses Newton’s method to investigate man)
What is assumption number 2 about human nature during the Enlightenment?
Human nature is transhistorical.
David Hume “An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding” 1748
‘Mankind are so much the same, in all times and all places…its chief use is only to discover the constant and universal principles of human nature’.
What is assumption number 3 about human nature during the Enlightenment?
Stage theory.
Adam Ferguson “An Essay on the History of Civil Society” 1767
Hunting
Pasterage
Agriculture
Commerce
What is assumption number 4 about human nature during the Enlightenment?
Perfectibility of Human Nature.
John Locke “Essay Concerning Human Understanding” 1609
“Some Thoughts Concerning Education” 1663
Tabula Rasa.
Mind is a wax tablet.
What is assumption number 5 about human nature during the Enlightenment?
Human nature can be trained to contribute to the common good.
Bernard Mandeville “The Fable of the Bees” 1714 (private vice can become public benefit)
Adam Smith “An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations” 1776 (Selfish behaviour on behalf of individual consumers and producers in accordance with competitive laws of the market results in common good).
