Food for Thought

Week 1: Thursday, January 15

Joseph Wright of Derby, An Experiment on a Bird in an Air Pump (1758): In Wright's famous painting, a scientist performs a demonstration before some interested spectators (maybe relatives?). After placing a bird inside the glass bulb of an air pump, he has begun to suck the air out and create a vacuum. The bird has passed out and may soon die. Robert Boyle (1627-1691) first performed such experiments in the mid-seventeenth century as he sought to determine the properties of air. As we will see from the readings for today, the scientific revolution (of which Boyle and this unnamed scientist constituted a part) played a vital role in launching the Enlightenment which in turn helped create the modern age. This painting has some interesting things to say about the Scientific Revolution, and by extension, the Enlightenment. First, there is the scientist himself, confidently displaying his mastery of nature before the audience. One of the most important ideas associated with the Enlightenment was that as humanity came to understand nature's laws through the use of reason and the scientific method, it could begin to master nature. This mastery would lead to both moral and material progress. People would become better and lead more comfortable lives. Second, there are the reactions of the audience. Is everybody comfortable with this manipulation of nature? Is everybody even paying attention? Try to figure out what each of the audience members is thinking. Finally, there is the mood of this piece, which is eerie and magical. The scientist looks a bit like a wizard, and it's not entirely clear that this experiment is fully understood by the audience as an exercise in reason.

Before you start doing the assigned reading for today, I think it would be a very good idea if you skimmed the very first section of the textbook (starting on page 1) and made yourself familiar with the authors' understanding of modernization. This understanding will come in very handy for the rest of the semester.

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), whom you will be reading today, was the greatest philosopher of the late Enlightenment. He spent his entire life in Königsberg in what was then East Prussia and taught at the university there. Kant was primarily concerned with epistemological questions—that is, how do we know what we think we know? Most of his philosophical works are rough going, but his essay on the Enlightenment is very accessible.

The Marquis de Condorcet (1743-1794) was a French philosophe and mathematician who died in prison during the French Revolution. More or less a member of the Girondist faction in the National Convention, Condorcet was branded a traitor by the Montagnard majority and went into hiding. His Outlines of an Historical View of the Progress of the Human Mind, excerpts of which you will read today, were written while he was hiding in the house of a friend. He alludes to the French Revolution in these excerpts when he discusses how France has facilitated the spread of reason throughout the world.

1) What was the Enlightenment about? What did philosophes seek to accomplish?

2) Name three things the Enlightenment was against. Name three things that it was for.

3) According to Kant, what was the Enlightenment? What were people supposed to escape? How were they supposed to escape it? What was required for this escape?

4) According to Kant, who was capable of achieving Enlightenment? Why were so many people reluctant or incapable of embarking upon a path that led to Enlightenment?

5) Who did Kant think was supposed to lead the way to Enlightenment? How would the Enlightenment spread? What were the circumstances or environment best calculated to further Enlightenment?

6) Why was Condorcet so confident that he could see the future? What does he believe is the future condition of mankind? And why is he so optimistic?

Other Questions for Discussion

1) What was the relationship between the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment?

2) What were the problems with Kant's vision of Enlightenment? Why was it likely that the Enlightenment might proceed in a somewhat more disorderly fashion than Kant envisioned? What did Kant assume about Enlightenment that might not be entirely true?

3) How do you think the Enlightenment contributed to the emergence of modernity?

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Copyrighted by Hugh Dubrulle, 2009.