“To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.”- Voltaire

“Enlightenment is man's release from his self-incurred tutelage. Tutelage is man's inability to make use of his understanding without direction from another. Self-incurred is this tutelage when its cause lies not in lack of reason but in lack of resolution and courage to use it without direction from another. Sapere aude! 'Have courage to use your own reason!'- that is the motto of enlightenment.” ― Immanuel Kant, 

After reading the Enlightenment Section you should understand

• The intellectual and social background of the Enlightenment.

• The philosophes and their political and intellectual proposals for reform.

• The beliefs of the Deists.

• The roles of women in the Enlightenment.

• The effects of Enlightenment ideals on society

• The continued effects of the Agricultural Revolution and Consumer Revolution on 18th century Europe

• Enlightened Absolutism and its effects in central and eastern Europe.

Textbook Reading Sections

The Age of Enlightenment and Enlightenment Society -  p 239- 264

Primary Readings

• Maria Theresa and Joseph II of Austria Debate Toleration p. 260- 261

Outside Primary Readings

• Immanuel Kant Defines Enlightenment

• Voltaire - Letters Concerning the English Nation

• Mary Wollstonecraft criticizes Rousseau’s View of Women

Useful Enlightenment Links

Age of Enlightenment

Potential Enlightenment LEQ Questions

• Compare the economic, political, and social conditions in Great Britain and in France during the eighteenth century, showing why they favored the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain more so than in France.

• In what ways did Enlightenment thinkers build on or make use of the ideas of Newton and Locke?

• Evaluate the effectiveness of the various "enlightened absolutist" regimes of the late 1700s.

• Analyze the ways in which specific intellectual and scientific developments of the 17th and 18th centuries contributed to the emergence of the religious outlook known as "Deism."

• Both Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619-1683) and Adam Smith (1723-1790) sought to increase the wealth of their respective countries. How did their recommendations differ?

• Describe and analyze the influence of the Enlightenment on both elite culture and popular culture in the 18th century.