英语本科毕业论文-思想的解放理性的光芒.doc

本科毕业论文 思想的解放 理性的光芒学生姓名： 学生学号： 200320207021 院（系）： 外国语学院 年级专业： 2003级英语本科5班 指导教师： 二七年五月the liberation for ideology & the blaze for rationalism philanthropyliao yuanlingunder the supervision ofzhang yihuaschool of foreign languages and culturespanzhihua universitymay 2007攀枝花学院本科毕业论文 contentscontentsabstractikey wordsi摘 要ii关键词iiintroduction1i background 2a. historical background for france in 18th century2b. the enlightenment in the 18th century3ii the most important figures of the enlightenment and their influence4iii the influence of the enlightenment6a. influence upon the france in 18th century and upon the future for france61. from culture62. from idea7b. influence upon the other european countries even the whole world101. american102. british113. asia -japan and china12conclusion14acknowledgements15bibliography16攀枝花学院本科毕业论文 abstractabstractthe enlightenment was intellectual movement originating in france, which attracted widespread support among the ruling and intellectual classes of europe and north america in the second half of the 18th century. it characterizes the efforts by certain european writers to use critical reason to free minds from prejudice, unexamined authority and oppression by church or state. this paper states the freedom, equality and rationality which are advocated in the enlightenment. there were many philosophers in the 18th century, especially voltaire, montesquieu, rousseau and diderot. the author states their ideas in the second part of this paper. the last part of this paper is to stress the influence of the movement upon the culture and ideas for human, and it also emphasizes the influence of the movement upon the independence of american, the revolution of france and asia. key wordsenlightenment; reason; equal; freedom i攀枝花学院本科毕业论文 摘要摘要启蒙运动是18世纪中叶一场起源于法国的思想运动。启蒙运动思想当时在欧洲和北美广泛传播。它反对宗教狂热，迷信，反对封建主义专制主义的特权和黑暗统治。本论文就启蒙运动宣扬的自由，平等和理性进行了陈述。在此运动中最为著名和杰出思想家有伏尔泰，孟德斯鸠，卢梭和狄德罗，本论文试图在文章的第二部分就他们的思想进行论述。作者在文章最后部分进一步分析了此运动对人们在文化和思想上的影响以及此运动对北美独立战争，法国大革命和亚洲所产生的影响。关键词启蒙; 理性; 平等; 自由ii攀枝花学院本科毕业论文 acknowledgement3攀枝花学院本科毕业论文 introductionintroductionthe age of enlightenment refers to the 18th century in european philosophy, and is often thought of as part of a period which includes the age of reason. a rational and scientific approach to religious, social, political and economic issues promotes a secular view of the world and a general sense of progress and perfectibility.the term also more specifically refers to a historical intellectual movement, the enlightenment. this movement advocates rationality as a means to establish an authoritative system of aesthetics, ethics, and logic. the intellectual leaders of this movement regards themselves as a courageous elite, and regards their purpose as one of leading the world toward progress .it also provides a framework for the american and french revolutions, the industrial movement in british, the latin american independence movement ,as well as the rise of liberation and the birth of socialism and communism. it is matched by the high baroque and classical eras in art, music and literature, medicine, economic and receives contemporary application in the unity of science movement which includes logical positivism. it has influenced on asia, especially china and japan. the japanese absorbs the ideas, following the europe countries to hold revolution. and then it is developing and becoming powerfully. in china, the famous movement- the reform movement of 1898 has been also influenced by these ideas.the paper is to stress the influence of the movement upon the french people and all over the world. 16攀枝花学院本科毕业论文 bodyi. backgrounda. historical background for france in 18th centurythe age of enlightenment can be situated the death of louis xiv 1715, france in the 18th century had just emerged as an unstable and disordered state. the country was not handled by the king perfectly. the whole country was in war and there were heavy tax revenues for the peasant. the people lived a hard and difficult life. they believed that human reason could be used to combat ignorance, superstition, and tyranny and to build a better world.on the other hand, the french bourgeoisie was comparatively stronger than 17th century. they were developing fast and then they can control authorities and economic. they wanted to get more rights and values. during the late middle ages, peasants had begun to move from rural estates to the towns in search of increased freedom and prosperity. as trade and communication improved during the renaissance, the ordinary town-dwellers began to realize that things need not always go on as they had for centuries. new charters could be written, new governments formed, new laws passed, new businesses begun. although each changed institution quickly tried to stabilize its power by claiming the support of tradition, the pressure for change continued to mount. it was not only contact with alien cultural patterns which influenced europeans, it was the wealth brought back from asia and the americas which catapulted a new class of merchants into prominence, partially displacing the old aristocracy whose power had been rooted in the ownership of land. these merchants had their own ideas about the sort of world they wanted to inhabit, and they became major agents of change, in the arts, in government, and in the economy. they were naturally convinced that their earnings were the result of their individual merit and hard work, unlike the inherited wealth of traditional aristocrats. whereas individualism had been chiefly emphasized in the renaissance by artists, especially visual artists, it now became a core value. the ability of individual effort to transform the world became a european dogma, lasting to this day.but the chief obstacles to the reshaping of europe by the merchant class were the same as those faced by the rationalist philosophers: absolutist kings and dogmatic churches. the struggle was complex and many-sided, with each participant absorbing many of the others values; but the general trend is clear: individualism, freedom and change replaced community, authority, and tradition as core european values. religion survived, but weakened and often transformed almost beyond recognition; the monarchy was to dwindle over the course of the hundred years beginning in the mid-18th century to a pale shadow of its former self. this is the background of the 18th century enlightenment. europeans were changing, but europes institutions were not keeping pace with that change. the church insisted that it was the only source of truth, that all who lived outside its bounds were damned, while it was apparent to any reasonably sophisticated person that most human beings on earth were not and had never been christians-yet they had built great and inspiring civilizations. writers and speakers grew restive at the omnipresent censorship and sought whatever means they could to evade or even denounce it. most important, the middle classes-the bourgeoisie-were painfully aware that they were paying taxes to support a fabulously expensive aristocracy which contributed nothing of value to society (beyond, perhaps, its patronage of the arts, which the burghers of holland had shown could be equally well exercised by themselves), and that those useless aristocrats were unwilling to share power with those who actually managed and-to their way of thinking,-created the national wealth. they were to find ready allies in france among the impoverished masses who may have lived and thought much like their ancestors, but who were all too aware that with each passing year they were paying higher and higher taxes to support a few thousand at versailles in idle dissipation.b. the enlightenment in 18th centurythe enlightenment was intellectual movement originating in france, which attracted widespread support among the ruling and intellectual classes of europe and north america in the second half of the 18th century. it characterizes the efforts by certain european writers to use critical reason to free minds from prejudice, unexamined authority and oppression by church or state. the enlightenment, an intellectual movement in 18th century france was stimulated by the scientific revolution. the enlightenment is also given to the predominant intellectual movement of the eighteenth century. it is an intellectual movement among the upper and middle class elites. it involves a new world view which explains the world and looked for answers in terms of reason rather than faith, and in terms of an optimistic, natural, humanistic approach rather than a fatalistic, supernatural one. therefore the enlightenment is also called the age of reason. kant said: “enlightenment is mans emergence from his self-incurred immaturity. immaturity is the inability to use ones own understanding without the guidance of another. this immaturity is self-incurred if its cause is not lack of understanding, but lack of resolution and courage to use it without the guidance of another. kant indicates that the way out that characterizes enlightenment is a process that releases us from the status of immaturity. and by immaturity, he means a certain state of our will that makes us accept someone elses authority to lead us in areas where the use of reason is called for. kant gives three examples: we are in a state of immaturity when a book takes the place of our understanding, when a spiritual director takes the place of our conscience, when a doctor decides for us what our diet is to be. in any case, enlightenment is defined by a modification of the preexisting relation linking will, authority, and the use of reason. ii the most important figures of the enlightenment and their influencethe leading figures of the enlightenment were known as philosophers; they were literary people, professors, journalists, statesmen, and social reformers above all. they emerged from various social classes though most were french. the enlightenment took place during the 18th century and was defined as mans leaving his self-caused immaturity. a popular motto took place: dare to know. the major force of the enlightenment was, however, the french philosophers. such as montesquieu, voltaire, rousseau and diederot, who edited the famous encyclopedie, were also an important french enlightenment figure. all these people popularized and propagated new ideas for the general reading public. montesquieu was the first of the great french men of the letters associated with the enlightenment. montesquieus most famous work, the spirit of the laws, is one of the greatest works in the history. it is an investigation of the environmental and social relationships that lie behind the laws of civilized society. montesquieu redefined law as “the necessary relationships which derive from the nature of things”. laws, and their most basic political expression, government, thus became a relative relationship between a peoples physical environment and their social needs .montesquieu believed that the legislative, executive and justice powers must be confided to different individuals or bodies, acting independently. he believed that englands system, with its separate executive, legislative, and judicial power that served to limit and control each other, provided that greatest freedom and security for a state. the translation of his work into english two years after publication ensured that it would be read by american philosophers, such as benjamin franklin, james madison, john adams, alexander hamilton, and thomas jefferson, who incorporated its principles into the u.s .constitution. the book was well accepted by the philosophers of the enlightenment and his theories had a great influence in the western world even to today. voltaires works are an outstanding embodiment of the principles of the french enlightenment. his philosophic letters on the english, written in 1773, expressed a deep freedom of the press, its political freedom, and its religious toleration. he made the famous remark that “if there were just one religion in england, despotism would threaten, if there were two religions, they would cut each others throats, but there are thirty religions, and they live together peacefully and happily.”diderot is best known as the editor of the encyclopedie. he made many contributions in the fields of philosophy and ethics, dramatic and aesthetic theory, literary criticism, diction, scientific speculation and politics. it did precisely that becoming a major weapon for the philosopher against the old french society. in later editions the price of the encyclopedie was drastically reduced, dramatically increasing its sales and marking it available to doctors, clergy, teachers, lawyers, and even military officers. the ideas of the enlightenment were spread even farther as a result. rousseau, the greatest figures of the french enlightenment, he glorified human nature and attacked social inequality. his writings had a great influence on the leaders of the french revolution as well as the romantic generation. the most famous departure from the enlightened point of view was that made by rousseau, who viewed civilization as essentially corrupting.rousseaus political idea of the general will is an example of an amorphous, vaguely-defined concept which defies the enlightened effort to define and produce order in nature. because the concept of the general will of the people is so ill-defined, it will come to be used by the ideologues of both democracies and dictatorships to justify the political system they advocate. rousseau began with humans in their primitive condition where they were happy. there was no laws, no judges, all people were equal. in his book, the social contract, he promoted an equal society .his most famous words are: “man is born free, an everywhere he is in chains.” he favored a theory of social contract as the key to human freedom. his ideas were effected many people, especially young people.iii the influence of the enlightenmenta. upon the france in 18th century and upon the future for france1. from culturethe intellectual adventure fostered by the philosophers was accompanied by both traditional practices and important changes in the 18th century world of culture and society. it was innovated in art, music and literature, medicine, economic even a civilizations high culture. for example, as a style in art, rococo becomes for a time the vogue all over europe. cabinetmaker came from all parts of europe to study the techniques of french craftsmen and spread french style to england, austria, germany and russia. in economic thought, the rationalists believed that state interference did violence to the law of nature. they favored laissez-faire policies for the reason that the natural order harmonized conflicts of selfinterest. by the 18th century, european high culture was consisted of a learned world of theologians. scientists, philosophers, intellectuals, poets, and dramatists, for whom latin remained a truly international language, especially noticeable in the 18th century were an expansion of both the reading public and publishing. an important aspect of the growth of publishing and reading in the 18th century was the development of magazines for the general public. then people increased their knowledge and touched outside easily. every country understood each other quickly. the whole world was changing slowly because of the enlightenment.2. from ideathe enlightenment was not only influenced in art, music and literature, medicine, economic but also in ideas. the philosophers in 18th century declared freedom, equal and political. many countries were influenced by these ideas. for example, the revolution of france in 1789.this revolution was a document which was called declaration of the rights of man. it proclaims:“liberty consists in the freedom to do everything which injures no one else; hence the exercise of the natural rights of each man has no limits except those which assure to the other members of the society the same rights. these limits can only be determined by law .law is the expression of the general will. every citizen has a right to participate personally or trough his representative, in its formation.”the american civil war in 1861, many other wars and movement of european were also influenced. for example, the woman movement was influenced by it deeply. for centuries, men had dominated the debate about the nature and value of women. in general, many male intellectuals had argued that the base nature of women made them inferior to men and made male domination of women necessary. they said that the female just made mothers. but in 18th century, many male writers, in particular, were encouraged women to go out and touch the outside in the enlightenment to write on intellectually issues, confuting that women by nature were intellectually inferior to men. nevertheless, some enlightenment thinkers offered more positive views of women. diderot, for example, maintained that men and women were all that same, and voltaire asserted that “women are capable of all that men are” in intellectual affairs. the strongest statement for the rights of women in the 18th century was advanced by the english writer mary wollstonecraft (1759-1797), viewed by many as the founder of modern eur