Lecture 04: The Enlightenment Introduced

Lecture 04 introduces the subject of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment and its connections to the seventeenth century, among other introductory topics. We look at the roots of the Enlightenment in the scientific revolution wrought by Copernicus, Galileo and Newton. We also examine two definitions of the Enlightenment, as well as who the "philosophes" were and how they looked at the world. We look at these questions in general, however. I am leaving until Lecture 05 a look at the specific philosophes of the Enlightenment (Voltaire and Franklin) as well as its specific products (the Encylopedie and the political theories of Locke, Hobbes and Rousseau). But this lecture at least provides an overview of the protean thing called the Enlightement as well as the many things in general for which it is both praised and criticized.

I am disabling the link for this podcast because it was pasword-protected and not easily accessible via iTunes. In the future all the lectures will be available without the requirement of a password, so this one will have to remain inaccessible.