IMPORTANT NOTE: Be absolutely sure to put your answers in your own words. If you find yourself relying on the authors' words, you may not understand the material yet. Read the relevant passages again until you can discuss the issues in your own words. Although the readings this week are short, the material can be complex; if you have questions be sure to e-mail or call me. As always, better to ask me a question than turn in work that doesn't reflect your potential as a student. I will give no credit to answers that merely repeat the authors' words; persuade me that you understand the reading!

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I will grade only 3 questions from the 5 below; I will certainly grade questions number 1 and 5 ;I will then choose one additional question from the previous three at random to grade. Any question you do not answer will, however, immediately become one of the questions I grade.

1) Question 1 consists of 5 sub-questions; sub-questions A-D prepare you to answer E. Note that the answer for a question might requiring synthesizing material from several places on p. 180; that is, there may not be a single line that "answers" the question.

1A) Before roughly 1750, who patronized cultural production in Europe?

"to patronize": in this context, means to pay for for cultural and intellectual productions "patronage networks": the social networks of individuals and institutions willing to pay for cultural and intellectual productions. "dynastic court": the circle of officials that surround a family line of kings and queens.

1B) The Enlightenment emerged with particular strength in the newly commercialized countries of Europe; from where did their wealth come and which new groups within those countries got wealthy?

1C) After roughly 1750, which new group also patronized cultural production in Europe (that is, who else in addition to the groups question (1A) asked about)?

1D) How and why did the type of knowledge produced by the social group discussed in question (1c) above differ from the knowledge produced by the social group discussed question (1a) above?

(Answering this question requires knowing the meaning of the word beholden used in the text; moreover, this sub-question is ESSENTIAL for answering 1E below). Another way to think about this question, is given the self-interest of the social group discussed question (1a) above, what sort of ideas would this group NOT want to encourage in their patronage?

1E) Carefully describe the process by which global trade helped foster the Enlightenment in Europe, beyond simply curioisity of other cultures.

USE YOUR OWN WORDS

 

By "the process by which" I mean the chain of interrelated events that connectsed global trade to the birth of the new Enlightenment thought. In short, how did global trade lead to a new kind of thinking?

HINTS: A) Keep in mind your responses to A-D, as those response point you towards the right answer for question 1E. B) Keep in mind when answering question (1E) that global trade was critical in the growing "private wealth" in the "newly successful commercial nations of Britain, France, and the Netherlands" C) This question asks you, in essence, to summarize the process described across the whole reading. If you skim looking for "THE ANSWER" it's not going to work for you.

2) Carefully describe three reasons why might we describe Enlightenment thinkers as a threat to the political order of the period. Be sure your answer explains how and why.

USE YOUR OWN WORDS

3) Taking the section on the Enlightenment as whole (pp. 179 - 186), carefully describe 3 principle and distinctive assumptions of this new way of thinking THAT WERE SHARED BY MOST IF NOT ALL OF THE THINKERS. By assumptions, I mean here beliefs that Enlightenment thinkers both took to be true and that structured their thought or worldview. You, for example, probably assume things like (A) the world is round (B) college will improve your job prospects (C) stealing is wrong.

USE YOUR OWN WORDS

4) (a 2 part question) (A) Why and how did so many social thinkers in this period come to seek "natural" laws for human behavior and (B) why and how did assumptions about the existence of such "natural" laws encourage European ethno-centrism regarding the fate of non-Europeans societies? Your answer needs to explain why, once Europeans believed that societies evolved according to the "laws" of nature that they (the Europeans) had discovered, they increasingly viewed fate of non-Europeans societies through an ethno-centric lense.

USE YOUR OWN WORDS

5) Taking the section on the Enlightenment as whole (pp. 179 - 186), was the Enlightenment primarily the product of (A) new scientific discoveries or (B) of social changes in Europe? (worth 80 rather than 20 points)

Respond to question 5 with a paragraph or two.

Organize this paragraph around a claim that summarizes your argument (for example: "The Enlightenment was primarily the product of X rather than Y for reasons A, B and C.")

Then support your claim with evidence, including examples as necessary (and available to you from the readings). After supplying evidence for your claim, write a warrant that links your evidence to your claim regarding the origin of the Enlightenment. Finally, you must label your claim/evidence/warrant: put a (CL) before your claim, a (EV) before your evidence, and a (WA) before your warrant. USE YOUR OWN WORDS

Be sure your answer explains why your reader should believe you that the Enlightenment was primarily caused by A rather than B or B rather than A.

Note: if you don't identify your claim/evidence/warrant, you will not receive credit for this exercise.