session 18: Enlightenment

Question 1

In which centuries and where did the Enlightenment mainly take place?

Answer 1

17-18th C and Europe

Question 2

What is the Enlightenment in one sentence?

Answer 2

An intellectual and cultural movement that trusted reason and science to improve society and defend rights

Question 3

Name three things Enlightenment thinkers emphasised

Answer 3

Reason, science/progress, individual and natural rights (also liberty, equality, justice)

Question 4

Which two powers did Enlightenment writers often criticise?

Answer 4

Absolute monarchy and the Church

Question 5

What important idea about politics did they support instead of arbitrary power?

Answer 5

The rule of law

Question 6

Was there one single Enlightenment?

Answer 6

No, there were many Enlightenments, different in each country

Question 7

Give two reasons why Enlightenment ideas were different from place to place

Answer 7

Different religions/institutions and different censorship & political goals

Question 8

Enlightenment thought is __________ : progressive in some ways, limited in others

Answer 8

ambiguous

Question 9

Give one example of a contradiction in Enlightenment ideas

Answer 9

They talked about equality, but some defended racial hierarchies / rights mainly for men

Question 10

What is Kant’s famous motto for the Enlightenment?

Answer 10

“Sapere Aude” – “Dare to know.”

Question 11

For Kant, what is the public use of reason?

Answer 11

Free critical debate in public (as a scholar, writer, citizen)

Question 12

For Kant, what is the private use of reason?

Answer 12

Obeying the laws of the state when you act in your official role

Question 13

What did Voltaire mainly defend in religion and politics?

Answer 13

Religious tolerance, freedom of expression, separation of Church and state, and enlightened absolutism

Question 14

What was Pierre Bayle’s radical position about belief?

Answer 14

He defended freedom of conscience and said atheism could be morally possible.

Question 15

What did Cesare Beccaria argue about punishment and the death penalty?

Answer 15

Punishment should be proportionate to the crime, no torture, and no death penalty because the state has no right to take life

Question 16

What is cosmopolitanism in the Enlightenment?

Answer 16

The idea that all humans belong to one global community with equal moral value; we are “citizens of the world”

Question 17

What political system did many Enlightenment thinkers prefer instead of democracy?

Answer 17

Enlightened absolutism – a strong ruler who uses reason to reform from above

Question 18

How is the Enlightenment linked to religion? Give one point

Answer 18

Many thinkers wanted separation of Church and state and criticised Church power, but many were still believers

Question 19

How was the Enlightenment connected to empire and slavery?

Answer 19

Empires used Enlightenment rationality to classify peoples and justify domination; slavery helped finance ports and universities, but Enlightenment also inspired abolitionism

Question 20

Name one later critique of the Enlightenment (19th–20th c.)

Answer 20

Romantic – too much reason, ignores emotion & tradition, or
Feminist – rights were male-centred, or
Postcolonial – universalism used to justify empire & racism.