Voltaire and the Spread of Knowledge during the Enlightenment. The French Revolution - Essay Example

?Client’s Voltaire and the Spread of Knowledge during the Enlightenment The best word to describe the period of the Enlightenment is rationality. During this period in history the mind of the human being was felt to be capable of engaging the world and coming up with answers through the concept of science. The human being could look at nature and rather than only seeing God, see how things in nature worked through discovery. This shift is significant as up until this period people had been defined by looking at the world and determining God and His intentions towards human beings rather than looking at it and seeing how human kind could understand how nature worked. This shift in cultural belief systems provided for the development of science and philosophy as a primary means of understanding nature over myth. One of the contributing factors to the development of the Enlightenment philosophies was the emergence of cafe’s. According to Noble et al the development of the cultural establishment known as the cafe was to the 18th century what the internet is to modern 21st century information exchange. Profound changes in thinking in relationship to rationality were exchanged between those who attended the cafe houses in order to discuss politics and associated social topics (507). Francois-Marie Arouet, or Voltaire as he was known, was one of the more well known writers of the Enlightenment who frequented cafe’s. According to Weinberg and Bealer, Voltaire was known to have a caffeine addiction and be an avid coffee drinker who frequented cafe’s and engaged in meaningful discussions about academics and philosophy (43). Voltaire’s contributions to philosophy were numerous, but one of his greatest contributions was in spreading the work of Isaac Newton. Simosan writes about Voltaire as his writing was influential in bringing the knowledge of mathematics into the public sphere. His fascination with the work of Sir Isaac Newton also included a fascination for mathematics and Voltaire was responsible for translating Newton’s Principia into French from its original Latin. In translating the work into a vernacular, Voltaire had put into practice the idea that knowledge should be accessible. One of his novels used the backdrop of Newton’s discoveries in science as a way in which to combine mathematics and fiction. The book Micromegas is a work of science fiction in which an expedition is led to Lapland in order to “measure the length of a degree of arc along a line of latitude” in order to explore the theory that the Earth flattened at the poles and bulged at the equator as had been suggested by Newton. Although the work included aliens that came and encountered the scientists, this also contributed to the public knowledge about mathematics (Simosan and Voltare 2). The influence of Voltaire in spreading the knowledge of higher level thinkers such as Newton changed an element of the nature of knowledge. Voltaire influenced his immediate society in the short term by contributing to the shifting thought and in the long term by recording and spreading knowledge as a public commodity. Newton wrote in Latin which was considered an academic language, but Voltaire took that knowledge and translated it for the common reader. Education had not advanced to the point that literacy was high, but in translating an academic book into a vernacular language Voltaire changed the influence that Newton could have over culture. Newton’s work was not the only way in which he expanded theory about social life and knowledge. He also engaged his own nation, France, with the progressive ideas that were part of the political and economic system in Britain (Noble 507). Voltaire was influenced by his experiences in travel, especially during his exile into Britain. Just as the cafe’s had allowed for the exchange of knowledge, Voltaire’s travel allowed him to expand his ideas about society and its traditions. Voltaire believed British society to be more rational than his own country of France. He was interested in the progressive thoughts in British culture on religious and intellectual toleration. The social systems also were working more effectively in Britain in terms of politics and economy. Although he spent a year in prison for sedition against the French crown, his work helped to expand thought in France concerning topics of academic, social and political theory. Works Cited Noble, Thomas. F. X. et al. Western Civilization: Beyond Boundaries Vol. 2. Mason: Cengage Learning, 2011. Print. Top of Form Simoson, Andrew J., and Voltaire. Voltaire's Riddle: Microme?gas and the Measure of All Things. Washington, DC: Mathematical Association of America, 2010. Print. Bottom of Form Weinberg, Bill A., and Barbera K. Bealer. The World of Caffeine. New York: Routledge, 2002. Print. Client’s Name Professor’s name Class Date The French Revolution The French Revolution was a seminal shift in the nature of the public of France in relationship to government. The Enlightenment values were beginning to focus on individualism so living under the rule of capricious rulers whose concerns were not with the needs of the people. Three aspects of the Ancien Regime contributed to the revolution in France: heavy debts, a privileged monarchy, and the shifting of public identity which evolved into opinions about personal rights (Aftalion 11). The ideas of Sieyes contributed to how to frame public opinion so that it shifted to a desire for representation rather than monarch rule. Aftalion writes that “the direct cause of the French Revolution was the inability of the Royal Treasury to resolve its problems” (11). The problems of the Treasury began in the 17th century when high debts were incurred. Eventually this led to a collapse as the borrowing and methods of rotating funds through and spending way beyond their means eventually discontinued to work. Taxes were not equally collected throughout the nation and this inequality caused discord. The amount of the tax was calculated by what was needed by the kingdom and then the assets of each person were taken into consideration in order to assess the tax. The poor would not add to their assets because that would make them more liable and the nobility would refuse to disclose the level of their fortunes on the grounds that it would diminish it for the public to know, so the taxes fell mostly on the middle class which was known as the Third Estate. The Third Estate was the common people in France (Aftalion 13). Abbe Emanualle Joseph Sieyes wrote a pamphlet that suggested that the nobility was nothing but dead weight and that the nation would be better off without them. In the pamphlet What is the Third Estate? he not only discussed the that the nobility was unnecessary but that government should represent the people. His idea of a representative government is one of the founding ideas that spurred the people to create revolution. Sonenscher writes that his ideas were not only the architecture of revolution, but also into the Napoleonic coup and subsequent regime. Neely quotes Marx who wrote about the Revolution stating that “the Revolution was caused by the demands for change from a rising ‘bourgeoisie’ whose relatively low status in society no longer matched its economic wealth” (xvi). The Revolution came from the mismanagement of not only the finances, but the people and in response they revolted in order to gain status where they were largely ignored. Louis XVI had been given power in a state that was in chaos in relationship to its economy. By 1788 it was clear that the needs of the people to have a say in government had to be addressed. The Estates General was convened in 1789 which was an assembly that represented the three estate levels of the nobles, the clergy, and the common people. Despite trying to discuss the issues of the financial crisis, the Third Estate felt that its needs were not being heard or recognized so they broke the Estates General and formed the National Assembly, a sign of the beginning of the French Revolution (Neely 29). The National Assembly forced Louis XVI to acknowledge it as they nobles and the clergy joined the organization to create reform, but tensions were to great and on July 14, 1789 the Bastille was attacked by about 900 Parisians because it was a symbol of royal despotism. The Bastille was ‘stormed’ because of three aspects within the society that were in tension. The people had placed their hopes when the General Estates had been called because of their desire for reform. The second reason was that the price of bread had risen so high that it required half of the salary of a Parisian citizen just to buy bread. The third reason was because there were rumors of an aristocratic plot to demolish the National Assembly (Perry 464). In June of 1790 the concept of aristocracy and inherited titles was abolished and the King accepted the new constitution in the next month (Neely 60). The following list of social reforms was a part of the creation of the New France: the abolition of special privileges, the Statement of Human Rights, the subordination of church to state, and finally the Constitution (Perry 467). Although it seemed that the state was finally under control of the people the Austrians decided to go to war with France over their disapproval of the reforms. The Austrian-Prussian alliance led to the Jacobin Party taking power over the National Assembly which had been run under the Girondins. The Girondins favored a decentralized government where the Jacobins favored centralization which was a stronger force to deal with the problems of war. While the Girondins opposed governmental interference in business, the war problem overrode the support of those freedoms and the Jacobins were able to take power (Perry 470). The monarchy was abolished in 1792 and Louis the XVI was executed on January 21, 1793 (Neely 60). Maximillien Robespierre was the pivotal figure during the Revolutionary period from until 1794. A Jacobin and a member of the National Assembly, Robespierre supported social reforms and was a fervent supporter of male suffrage no matter what their level of class or property ownership. He wanted France to be led by reason and not myths and a belief in the supernatural. It was under his belief in the need for liberalization and reform that a reign of terror began as he wrote “Does not liberty, the inestimable blessing…have the…right to sacrifice lives, fortunes, and even for a time personal liberities?” (Perry 471). As his period of terror ended, the backlash found Robespierre arrested by those who felt the fear that the guillotine would soon fall on them and on July 28, 1794 he and 71 of his closest followers were guillotined instead. The following years were burdened by more war and a new constitution was established in 1795 which founded a republican government, but the economy and war placed a great deal of pressure on this government. In the end, military generals were given power and this led to the power of Napoleon Bonapart (Perry 476). Napoleon was a brilliant military man and in 1799 he decided to come back to France from a military campaign and seize power. Although he was a despot, being declared lifetime consul, his Napoleonic Code was the foundation of modern political policy and legal systems that has influenced the Western world since that time (Perry 488). The French Revolution redefined the course of French politics through blood and fear. The nobility were put into fear, the people were put into fear, and the price of liberty was often life. Although the period was tumultuous, it created a new system of beliefs on the importance of the individual and representation of the individual. Works Cited Top of Form Aftalion, Florin. The French Revolution: An Economic Interpretation. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1990. Print. Neely, Sylvia. A Concise History of the French Revolution. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2008. Print. Perry, Marvin. Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics, and Society. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2013. Print. Sieye?s, Emmanuel J, and Michael Sonenscher. Political Writings: Including the Debate between Sieye?s and Tom Paine in 1791. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 2003. Print. Bottom of Form Read More