THE ENLIGHTENMENT: PHILOSOPHES AND PORNOGRAPHERS Flashcards
What is the enlightenment?
- Breaking old traditions
- Criticizing people in a classy way
Key value of enlightenment:
Empiricism?
Relying on observation for knowledge, rather than trusting what you’ve been to
Key value of enlightenment:
Free-Thinking?
Entertaining a broader spectrum of opinions (including controversial ones)
*EX. Atheism = Not believing in God (this was highly controversial
Key value of enlightenment
Criticism of received knowledge?
How can we possibly trust information we have not ourselves verified
Key value of enlightenment
Criticism of powerful institutions and people?
Powerful people do not inherently deserve our respect
*Anti-clericalism = Against clergy, not always an atheistic position
*Republicanism = Against monarch
What three factors caused the enlightenment?
- Political factors
- cultural / intellectual factors
- Economic factors
- Political factors
- Louis XIV revokes permission for Huguenots to practice their religion (migration out of france)
- James 1 is Catholic, and baptized his son catholic - cultural / intellectual factors
- scientific revolution opens up new ways of thinking about the world
-End of censorship in England - Economic factors
-Colonial wealth flooding into Europe funds the philosophe lifestyle
How are coffee shops owned and what do people do there?
Coffee-houses are public institutions, privately owned
*Offer a space for discussion and exchange outside of the courtly establishment
*Strengthens the town/city economically and culturally, makes it easier to challenge authority
What is the Salon?
semi-private institution, privately owned
*Salons take place inside of a private home
*Again, outside of the courtly establishment
Draw powerful ppl away from the court
- No hierarchy here
What were the rules of Salon?
Rigid etiquette: certain topics of discussion for certain days, protocol to who sat where, etc.
*Huge patronage opportunities facilitated through the host or hostess
Explain the tiers of the estate system
First estate
Second estate
Third estate
*First estate: clergy
*Second estate: nobles (titled aristocrats)
*Third estate: everybody else
Who are the Bourgeoisie in the estate system?
members of the Third Estate, living within cities and towns, beginning to constitute a distinct middle class
*Often a professional class: lawyers, accountants, business owners
*The transition of cultural power away from the court and towards the city strengthens the bourgeoisie
What is a Salonnière?
a salon hostess
*The most privileged salons tended to be hosted by women (wives of powerful men)
Who was the most famous Salonniere?
Mme Geoffrin (1699 – 1777), salon on the rue Saint-Honoré
*Helps transform the salon from a leisurely lounge into a cutting-edge philosophical institutions
*Uses the money of her much older husband
*Received little formal education herself (married at 13) = what’s her relationship to the salon’s activities?
*Important as a patron of philosophes and a connection-maker
Why were women so important to the salon?
*Overturning traditional social hierarchies
*An opportunity for well-connected, educated women to enact the values of the Republic of Letters
*Women as regulators (who gets in, what’s being discussed, what are the ground rules, etc.
Who were the philosophers invited to the salons?
Men of letters: writers, scholars, public intellectuals
(Different Salons invited different types of men
Ex. Mme Geoffrin invited only artists on Mondays and only men of letters on Wednesday)
International: intellectuals from all over the world traveled to Paris to attend salon
Competition between established philosophers and new comers
How did International philosophers get in the Salon?
Letter of introduction: a letter from a mutual acquaintance vouching for you
How did philosophers make their living?
*Patronage: receiving commissions or gifts from a wealthy patron made it possible to be a philosophe = tailoring their messages to appeal to the wealthy aristocrats
*Publishing: some are able to make a little bit of money from their publications
*Many of them had day jobs or family money
Who is Voltaire?
Educated by Jesuits,
a formative affair with a Huguenot refuge (when he ran away)
Wrote over 20,000 letters and over 2,000 books and pamphlet
What are Voltaire’s key themes?
: anti-clericalism, freedom of thought, separation of church and state, satire
*Insulted and satirized the powerful: spent most of 1717 in the Bastille after accusing the Regent of France of incest with his daughter
Professed Deism, supported toleration (despite being an antisemite and Islamophobe), polygenism
*A beloved figure in the salon scene
*His patron was Mme de Pompadour, mistress of Louis X
Who is Denis Diderot?
), particularly close relationship with his sister Denise, “the female Socrates”
*Educated by Jesuits
- Became a writer
Close relationship with Jean-Jacques Rousseau
*Incarcerated for his criticism of the government for 3 months in 1749 = had to disavow his early works to get out again
What are Denis Diderot’s key works?
Les Bijoux Indiscrets (1748), L’Encyclopédie (1751), Rameau’s Nephew (posthumously published in 1805)
Wrote porn cuz he was poor and needed money (wife was pregnant and mistress demanding money)
Denis Diderot’s personal views?
Some personal views: transition from deism = atheism, materialism, proto-evolutionary theories, critical of the powerful
*Patronized at a distance by Catherine the Great
Who is Jean Jacques Rousseau?
raised Protestant in a middle-class family
Moved to Paris in 1642, befriended Diderot and became involved in philosophical discussion
*Moved around frequently due to his many “misfortunes” and controversies
*Had help from philosophers like Voltaire (his great rival)
What is Jean Jacques Rousseau’s key ideas?
Social Contract Theory, the noble savage, equality of man and nature, toleration (indifferentism)
How radical can you be in a salon?
Even the greats had patrons they needed to keep on side
*Voltaire’s reading public includes a lot of the same élites he satirizes and it makes him famous (you need to keep them happy)
How much are these aristocrats willing to be challenged? (in the Salon)
Are the philosophes bravely confronting the élites or are they titillating a bored aristocracy with thrilling taboo subjects?
Another definition of the enlightenment?
Seen as:
a sophisticated political, philosophical, and literary movement that openly and cleverly criticized élites and their institutions.
In actuality: there was a lowbrow Enlightenment
deliberately libelous, satirical, and pornographic material that criticized the powerful in much harsher terms than the philosophes
What are Plagiarists’ doing?
copying existing books and selling them cheaper
*Makes it very challenging for historians to understand what the “best sellers” of the time were
Mostly anonymous, mostly producing cheaply printed and bound books
What are Libelles?
political pamphlet attacking a powerful figure (often with false information)
What are Pornographers? And who buys these?
produce sexually explicit material, often imagining the sex lives of real people or indulging in taboo fantasies
*Who is buying these filthy books?
*The same people who are buying Voltaire, Diderot, and Rousseau
*Possibly an even greater audience = these books spread radical ideas too
What books did the French censorship regime try stop?
pursued “immoral” books along with “seditious” ones
*Technically, all texts had to be approved by a government censor and registered
What were the Penalties for violating a book ban?
confiscations, fines, and imprisonment
Were there other enlightenments?
Yes!
*Scottish Enlightenment
*Jewish Enlightenment (Haskalah)
*Catholic Enlightenment (Counter-Enlightenment)
*German Enlightenment
