Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
The transformation of the Áncient regime and the Enlightenment - Coggle…
The transformation of the Áncient regime and the Enlightenment
Enlightened despotism
To promote reforms, they appointed enlightened thinkers to
important positions
Education was seen as a way to improve people's quality of life.
They created centralised governments
They attacked privileged people's idleness,
They had control over the Church,
The Ancien Régime
The Ancien Régime
was a social, political and economic system that
existed in Europe between the 15th and the 18th centuries.
Society-During the Ancien Régime, the Society was divided in the three estates of the realm
Politics-The most common form of government was the absolute
monarchy,
Economy-During the Early Modern Ages, agriculture continued being the most important economic activity,
Economic changes
Agriculture
Crafts
Trade
Supply and demand must regulate production and prices in order not to flood the market
The origin of wealth comes from the individual effort to get
the maximum profit.
Society
Enlightened despots passed laws to limit the influence of the nobility and,
above all, the clergy.
The wealthy middle class, or bourgeoisie, was inspired by Enlightenment
ideas
They criticised the social and economic influence of the nobility and the clergy.
The peasants' living conditions did not improve, even after agricultural
reforms.
The Enlightenment
Progress: use of reason and scientific improvements would lead to an harmonious and perfect society, with no wars
Happiness: Every man has the right and the duty to be happy. Individual happiness contributes to social happiness.
Learning and teaching are essential since the new knowledge gives freedom and creates an enlightened society.
Equality and liberty are key elements of an enlightened society: everybody should enjoy the same legal rights and freedom.
In Nature we can find truth and virtue, society corrupts men
Reason is the only source of knowledge; beliefs and dogma are not considered rational.
Enlightenment criticisms and proposals
Politics: they proposed to limit the power of absolute monarchs
Voltaire criticized religious dogmatism and defended religious
tolerance. Although he favoured a strong monarchy,
Rousseau established the basis of what we now know as
democracy, introducing, in The social contract (1762),
Montesquieu: in The spirit of the laws (1748),