Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
3.1 The Enlightenment Outlook
Kant: What is Enlightenment?
#1: Kant: Enlightenment? Freedom?
E: Man leaving selfcause immaturity(incapacity to use intell wo/guidance)
F: freedom for man to make public use of his reason in all matters
#2: Factors delaying progress of human enlightenment
so comfortable to be a minor! everything provided, no need to exert laziness
& cowardice
guardians all too ready to threaten danger should one attmpt walk alone
intimidation of “guardians”
restrictions on freedom everywhere: don’t argue, drill! don’t argue, pay! etc.
lack of freedom
statutes & formulas...serviceable...misuse of ...nat faculties...ankle chains of
immaturity
#3: Political implications of Kant’s views?
questioning of authority
is it a govt that promotes the public use of man’s reason in all matters?
Sapere Aude!
3.2 Political Liberty
Locke: Second Treatise on Government/ Jefferson: Declaration of Independence
#1: Compare Locke/Hobbes
Locke Hobbes
human nature basically good brutish & selfish
political authority consent of governed absolute monarchy
govt protect natural
rights
const. govt
right to rebellion rgt 2 rebel when govt fails nonexistent
protect nat rghts
#2: Locke’s princpls nat rgts compared w/ Dec of Indep
“life, liberty, and ‘pursuit of happiness’ “ are inalienable
“consent of the governed”
“right of the ppl 2 alter or abol it”
Locke’s ideas are clearly represented in Jefferson’s justification
3.3 Attack on the Old Regime
Voltaire: A Plea for Tolerance and Reason
#1: Voltaire’s arguments in favor relig tolerance
intolerance = carnage
= accuse 1st Chr, ancestors (on basis not believe domin relig)
= degrades “diviness” of Christianity
have tolerance because all are children of same father
#2: Why Voltaire ridicule Christian theological disputation?
deals w/ q’s & a’s “inaccessible to human intellect”
too many quest re: dogma
he not understand....nobody ever has! = slaughter
#3: Fanaticism? Examples? Cure?
a) the xtreme of suspicion, a disease
b) St. Bart’s Day Massacre, cold blooded judges giving death sent for dissent
C) philosophical spirit that softens manners of man & prevents access
(vaccination....not cure)
#4: Implications re: rationality/morality of War
there is none....these concepts don’t apply to war
3.4 Attack on Religion
Paine: The Age of Reason/Holbach: Good Sense
#1: Chr beliefs Paine reject...Why?
10 commandments = good moral precepts that could have been formulated
by any man...supernatural intervention not necessary
Virgin Mary/immaculate conception: would require more than their bare
word...& we don’t even have that
Jesus as son of God: a familiar story of heathen philosophy(for Gentiles)
Jews never accepted (belief One God, & no more)
Resurrection: proof & evidence not equal avail. to all, 8 or 9 ppl 2 serve as
proxies to rest of world...Doubting Thomas: not believe
wo/occular & manual demonstration
#2: How d’Holbach’s critique relig affirm basic Enlight ideals
theology = ignorance of natural causes
perpetration of ignorance & fear goes against progress
double yoke of spiritual & temporal pwr prevents pursuit of happiness
mistrusted experience, feared truth, disdained reason in order to follow
authority = a no no!
knowledge, reason, & liberty can alone reform men so brought to wicked
unhappiness which they construe as security
men will be good when well instructed, wellgoverned....
they are wicked, only because their reason is not sufficiently developed
3.5 Epistemology and Education
Locke: Essay concerning Human Understanding + Some Thoughts Concerning
Education/Helvétius: Essays on the Mind & A Treatise on Education/Rousseau:
Emile
#1: Locke: Sense & Reflection? Why view so revolutionary?
S: ideas we have of externals, as perceived by basic senses
R: operation of own minds wi/us, manipulation of internals
man born w/NO ideas...man = product of both environment & genetics
#2: Origin of Knowledge: Locke vs Descartes
L: tabula rasa
D: born w/certain knowl, innate ideas(i.e. properites rgt triangl implicit in
human consciousness) ... innate ideas allow mind give order/coherence
2 physical wld
#3: Locke’s gen theory educ/compatible w/theory knowledge?
Educ: all imprtant, 9/10 of what we are = educ
adults should each sound habits by example
theory imprtnt to Enlight thinking
proper environment/educ > intell/productive citizen
treat child as rational creature sooner = better results
Compatible: yes! tabula rasa: to be etched by environ/educ.
#4: Implications Locke’s theory knowl/educ 4 view human nature
man not born w/original sin
human nature shaped by environ/educ
#5: Helvétius: how a disciple of Locke, how expand sig of Locke’s ideas
“education makes us what we are”
inequality in minds/understanding: effect of known cause...diff in educ
exp sig: laws/form of govt all pwefl over educ
happiness of nations in own hands...to degree of interest in improving
science of educ.
#6: Rousseau’s basic approach educ child
let him educate himself thru own chosen experience
> self reliance, selfconfidence, emotional security
only job of adults: allow/create desire to learn in child
“natural educ”
#7: Compare Locke/Rousseau theory educ/implications 4 view human nature
Locke Rousseau
differences req mild, but firm discipline req do nothing as matter of
man is schoolmaster obedience
guided nature is school master
treated as rational creature own free will
ASAP not treated as little adults
let child get hungry 4
learning
similarities import of educ > prodctv citizen
import of experience in educ
import of rational, useful knowledge
3.6 Compendium of Knowledge
Diderot: Encyclopedia
#1: Why pub Ency vital step phil’s hopes 4 reform?
presented 4 wide consumption many ideals they considered essential 4
man’s progress
to produce in time a rev in minds of man
#2: Extent Locke’s political ideas evident
good of ppl = purpose of govt
govt to prtct nat rgts: i.e. liberty
pwr cannot be arbitrary...must act wi/law
prince(govt) owes subject his auth: consent of governed
#3: Why freedom press such sig to philosophes?
belief: all things must be examined, debated, investigated wo/exception or
regard for anyone’s feelings
essential to devel tolerance, reason, & progress
#4: Why some Phils condemn slavery?
cuz violated essential principle: a man’s natural right to liberty
if this crime justified by moral principle...then what crime cannot be made
legitimate?
3.7 Rousseau: Political Reform
Rousseau: The Social Contract
#1: General Will? Function in political theory?
GW: surrendered rights > whole community
underlying principle expresses what’s best 4 community
function: 4 Rousseau...GW always right & wrks 2 common advantage
true freedom = obedience 2 laws coincide w/GW
#2: Why some see as champ democracy, others as spiritual precursor
totalitarianism
democracy precursor totalitarianism
gives man true freedom loses natural liberty
promotes equal rgts: not acq sovereign, as rep of GW, given virtually
rgts over others that unlimited auth over citizenry
others not have over hom
3.8 Judicial and Penal Reform
Beccaria: On Crime & Punishments/Howard: Prisons in England & Wales
#1: Beccaria’s arguments vs torture in judicial proceedings
irrational & inhuman
it is only abuse of pwr that judge tortures b4 determine guilt/innocence
if crime commited...still only allows enforcement of punishment...not
torture
if uncertain...then not allowable to torture innocent
tortured confessions not equal truth
innocent lose more, either confesses/condemned or decl innocent & received
punishment didn’t deserve
guilty gain, if resists torture, absolved & escaped greater punishmnt
deserved
#2: Beccaria ... enlight ideals
general humanism
innocent til proven guilty...no torture req cuz goes against reason
begs larger Q’s i.e. is death penalty useful & necessary?
vs. persecution, abuse of power
#3: Howard: Abuses in prisons
scanty supplies, little or no food, no health care, barest of clothing
sometimes no or not enuf water, overcrowded, damp floors (sleep)
pathetic bedding, or none at all (straw alottment)
few or no sewers, “pay or strip”
mixing of all levels criminals, ages, genders
mentally ill untreated
heavy irons ( even some women )
3.9 On the Progress of Humanity
Condorcet: The Evils of Slavery/Progress of the Human Mind
#1: Grounds on which Condorcet attacks slavery
violates fundamntl princpl justice...justice underlies universe
only from base(undesirable) human desires dominate/exploit others
no one has rgt to take from a human being what slavery takes from him:
“what nature has given him to maintain his life & satisfy his needs”
(nat rgts: life, liberty, property)
keeping in servitude not equal property rgt, but crime
#2: Condorcet: what policies sought by philosophes
innoculation for small pox
elimin torture
vs barbarism criminal laws
simpler civil code
vs. unjust laws
insure liberty of commerce, industry
man should be free to use reason to pursue truth
create an understanding of naturla rights
freedom press
elimin penal laws vs. relig dissent
govt indiff in all matters of relig
promote contempt 4 hypocrisy, fanaticism, superstition, prejudice
education beyond catechism and alphabet
abolition of inequality btwn nations
progress of equality wi/nations
true perfection of mankind
*a time “when the sun will shine only on free men sho know no other master
but their reason.”
#3: Enlight philos altern moral code to that of Christianity? Or internal
reformation of trad Chr moral order?
I believe: alternative
no reliance on religion or intervening God...only on man’s use of reason to
discover truth & protect natural rights
#4: Image human nature underlies Condorcet’s theory human progress?
a human nature that can be perfected when free to use capacity to reason
when unfettered by govt force/persuasion, priestly intolerance, nat’l prejudices (or
any enemy of reason)