CHY4U West & the World Good Website: http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/ENLIGHT/ENLIGHT.HTM

Enlightenment Ideas
- not accepted everywhere- Church still resisted (eg Spanish Inquisition). Br., Fr., Holland, Denmark… enlightenment ideas spread… most other areas met various resistance… Ottomans were not exposed to most ideas. Power holders resisted new ideas as a threat… people like Voltaire were disliked by conservatives because of his anticlericalism.
- criticized unquestioned obedience to authority
- Deism: philosophical trend – God did not participate in human affairs.
- “my mind is my church”

The Enlightenment
- most people were concerned with themselves & family… yet new people started to concern themselves with the welfare of the people/society as a whole: these people came to be known as intellectuals. Thinkers of the Enlightenment in France were called philosophes (philosophers).
- freedom of thought, free market, rationalism, optimism, progress. Human rights: public education, freedom of thought, abolition of slavery, etc… increased literacy & books = widespread access to these new ideas.
- Encyclopedia: France 1751- provided info on all subjects… embodied ideals of enlightenment.

Euro Society in 18^th Century
- pop growth (less wars, less epidemics, better hygiene)
- corn & potatoes stabilized food supply
- more people, more movement to cities
Agricultural Revolution & Enclosure
- new techniques used in farming (crop rotation, fertilizers, etc… led to great changes throughout Europe beyond farming).
- Enclosure: new system of land distribution… landowners reclaiming common land, renting out in strips… redistribution led to rioting in some areas, eco & demographic changes.

Legacy: The West & The World - Chapter 4 The Enlightenment