Enlightenment ideal: Reason and Nature
Salon culture and writings of Fontenelle, d'Alembert, Voltaire, Turgot, Diderot's Encyclopédie
value of reason, science, and education
rational analysis of politics and culture
vision of an ideal society: the individual, reform, and optimism
critiques of tradition and the Church's secular role
constructing the heroic image of Galileo vs. the Church
religion and science
Newtonian science and Anglican theology
"Newtonian" conception of God : Natural Theology's search for rational Design (Paley's Natural Theology, 1802)
Deism: dependence on reason and the nature of things
skepticism: questioning on philosophical and historical principles (Hume's Dialogues concerning Natural Religion, 1779)
atheism: questioning evidence and function of religion
lingering objections to new rationalism (e.g., Berkeley)
concern with excessive mechanism
defense of revelation and doubts of the abilities of human reason
promotion of animistic, interconnected cosmos, rather than the objective observer of a detached universe
challenge to authority of Newtonians within the moral domain
Analyses of nature and society, incorporating humans into nature
"man's place in nature" and a biological vision of "human nature"
racial categories and the social hierarchy
political philosophy and the "natural state" of human society
Physiocrats (Quesnay, Turgot) on natural laws and optimal society
new social sciences anthropology of progressive "stages" of social development
economics of order and optimal management
Social conditions for the growth of science
gentlemanly culture of empirical knowledge
available monetary support (patronage, salon culture, fashion for collecting)
open communication, public knowledge (philosophical societies)
cultivated virtues of honesty, priority, pure knowledge, openness
Merton's "normative structure" or ethos of science that solidified in the 1700s
universalism, communality, disinterestedness, organized skepticism, originality, humility
competition and the "marketplace of ideas"
application and value for industry and empire
expanding European world of trade and colonies
natural theology’s vision of Design and Law, and inspiration to study
fascination with ingenious, tiny details inspired detailed studies.
stress on observation fostered knowledge and deductions about the working of the system of nature.
concept of harmony and equilibrium provided an model for "Nature's Economy".
promoted the idea of Unity in the multiplicity of nature.
provided a new grand vision of nature.
© 2018 Dr. William Kimler