Study Questions for the Test on Part Four: Hegel
CHAPTER 15: A REVOLUTION IN THOUGHT
The French Revolution was the third great revolution inspired by the values and philosophy of the Enlightenment. What were the values/philosophy of the Enlightenment? How did it differ in attitude from previous eras? And if the French Revolution was the third, what were the first two revolutions it inspired? EMAIL
Historical Situation: The Enlightenment in France
Who developed the philosophical ideas which inspired the French Revolution?
The significance of the philosophy of the Age of Enlightenment was spelled out in France during the middle year of the eighteenth century by a group came to be called the philosophes, by which the Frence meant they were not professional academic philosophers such as might teach at the Sorbonne in Paris. Page 186.
The Philosophes
How did the Philosophes compare with professional academic philosophers?
They weren’t professional academic philosophers such as might teach at the Sarbonne in Paris, but rather than they were intellectual types, opinion makers, political activists in the sciences or the arts, journalists, café philosophers. Who was the best known person among that group?
Voltaire. Page 187
What was the most famous literary work that the group-as-a-whole produced? EMAIL
Encyclopedia which slyly propagandized for revolution. Page 187
What does it mean to describe them as "eclectic"?
Using ideas from rationalism and from empiricism. Page 187
What were the philosophical and political purposes, goals, or ends of the Philosophes? that is, what is it that they wanted to accomplish?
To reform or bring down the dominance over France of the Catholic Church and the absolute monarchy, and to establish a new social and political order, based upon the Enlightenment philosophy of the truths of science and of the natural rights of mankind. Page 187
The Fettering of Reason
According to the Philosophes, why has reason been