Unit 1

Neo-classicism and the Enlightenment

The reason we start with this period is to understand the background against which the changes we will be examining occur. I would like to start by discussing the roots of these movements, then describe the movements themselves, and finish with a discussion of ideas that paved the way for the changes we will introduce in the next section.

There are basically three movements that led to neo-classicist and the Enlightenment. The Classical Humanists of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries brought ideas from ancient Greece and Rome into currency. The scientific revolution brought forth the idea that we could understand the workings of the world without reference to theological explanations. Finally, social contract theorists looked at ways that human rationality could create a better society.

During the medieval period, the Church was the predominant political and social power. The Church hierarchy also determined what ideas were legitimate and what weren't. Truth, both moral and scientific, was determined by the writings of the Church fathers, and by those of Aristotle, an ancient Greek philosopher whose ideas enjoyed favor among theologians. In the thirteenth century, scholars began to re-examine some of the previously lost works of classical Greek and Roman writers, particularly the Greek philosopher Plato. In addition, artists and sculptors began to imitate the classical style- based on order, proportion, and harmony- in their works. Architecture, too, began to resemble the crumbling Roman buildings that marked the Italian landscape. While classical (Greek and Roman) culture had been influential in the development of religion, the classical humanists looked to more secular concerns.

The scientific revolution provided the notion that human beings could figure out the universe without reference to divine explanations. The application of human reason and experience could yield important truths about the make-up of the universe. Copernicus used mathematical modeling to argue that the Sun is the center of the universe, while Galileo's observations of Saturn's moons confirmed Copernicus' conclusions. Philosophers like Rene Descartes and John Locke started to investigate the foundations of knowledge as a way to support the scientific method. Descartes, a rationalist, argued that knowledge is based on reason; whereas Locke, an empiricist, argued that knowledge is based on experience. Although they disagreed on the foundations of knowledge, both Locke and Descartes believed that continued scientific investigation could increase the body of human knowledge.

Finally, social contract theorists argued that human reason could determine the principles of justice and the proper role of government. Social contract theory begins with an account of life before government, known as a state of nature. The next step is to analyze the state of nature in order to determine what would cause humans to want to leave it. Finally, these observations lead to the social contract, a list of terms and conditions for leaving the state of nature and setting up government. Thomas Hobbes believed that the state of nature was violent and unruly, necessitating that people give up all of their rights in order to receive security. John Locke, on the other hand, believed that the state of nature just needs an impartial judge to solve conflicts, and argued that government exists to protect rights. Elsewhere in this course, we see a connection between the thought of John Locke and Thomas Jefferson.

The Enlightenment grew out of these movements. Enlightenment thinkers basically held that humans were capable of attaining knowledge through reason and experience, and that human history was progressing as knowledge increased. There was a faith that the development of technology would make for better and happier societies. In short, the Enlightenment thinkers believed in inevitable human progress through science and reason.

The neo-Classicists applied the aesthetic ideals of ancient Greece and Rome to art and music. Sometimes, they did so directly, as one can see by looking at the University of Virginia Rotunda as designed by Jefferson, and comparing it to the Pantheon of Rome. Others were more indirect in that they applied the Greek aesthetic ideals of order, proportion, and harmony in their composition. We can see this, for example, in David's The Death of Socrates, which has as its narrative an event from Greek history, but does not copy as directly from Greek or Roman works. In your readings, you will read about classical music. Although little is know of ancient Greek music, Greek ideals of harmony were used in the composition of classical works.

The ideas of reason and harmony in art, in philosophy, and in social organization held sway during the eighteenth century, but a number of thinkers were also questioning these values. Voltaire, an important Enlightenment thinker, wrote a wonderful satire, entitled Candide, which questions the Enlightenment assumption that everything happens for a reason. Jean Jacques Rousseau questioned whether the decision to join a society was a rational, rather than an emotional one. In addition, Rousseau argued that society made humans weaker and less compassionate. In art, we start to see artists veer away from the principles of neo-classicism and make their works more emotive. This is perhaps most striking in some of David's later works, which we will see in future chapters. This change will be paralleled in Beethoven's development as a composer.