enlightened absolutism

Examples of enlightened absolutism in the following topics:

• Enlightened Despotism

  • Enlightened despots, inspired by the ideals of the Age of Enlightenment, held that royal power emanated not from divine right but from a social contract whereby a despot was entrusted with the power to govern in lieu of any other governments.
  • Although major thinkers of the Age of Enlightenment are credited for the development of government theories that were critical to the creation and evolution of the modern civil-society-driven democratic state, among the first ideas resulting from the political ideals of the Enlightenment was enlightened despotism (or enlightened absolutism).
  • In effect, the monarchs of enlightened absolutism strengthened their authority by improving the lives of their subjects.
  • The difference between a despot and an enlightened despot is based on a broad analysis of the degree to which they embraced the Age of Enlightenment.
  • However, historians debate the actual implementation of enlightened despotism.

• Joseph II and Domestic Reform

  • As a proponent of enlightened absolutism, Joseph II introduced a series of reforms that affected nearly every realm of life in his empire, but his commitment to modernization engendered significant opposition, which eventually led to a failure to fully implement his programs.
  • When Maria Theresa died in 1780, Joseph became the absolute ruler over the most extensive realm of Central Europe.
  • This made him one of the most committed enlightened despots.
  • As a man of the Enlightenment, he ridiculed the contemplative monastic orders, which he considered unproductive.
  • Joseph's  enlightened despotism included also the Patent of Toleration, enacted in 1781, and the Edict of Tolerance in 1782. 

• Zenga Painting in the Edo Period

  • In keeping with individual paths to enlightenment, nearly any subject matter can and has lent itself to Zenga; however, the most common elements depicted were the ensō, sticks, and Mt.
  • The ensō symbolizes absolute enlightenment, strength, elegance, the universe, and mu (the void), and it is characterized by a minimalism born of Japanese aesthetics.
  • Though nearly any subject matter can and has lent itself to Zenga paintings, one of the most common elements depicted was the ensō, a symbol of enlightenment.

• Thomas Hobbes

  • Thomas Hobbes, an English philosopher and scientist, was one of the key figures in the political debates of the Enlightenment period, who introduced a social contract theory based on the relation between the absolute sovereign and the civil society.
  • The Enlightenment was a philosophical movement that dominated the world of ideas in Europe in the 18th century.
  • The Enlightenment has also been hailed as the foundation of modern Western political and intellectual culture. 
  • Despite advocating the idea of absolutism of the sovereign, Hobbes developed some of the fundamentals of European liberal thought: the right of the individual; the natural equality of all men; the artificial character of the political order (which led to the later distinction between civil society and the state); the view that all legitimate political power must be "representative" and based on the consent of the people; and a liberal interpretation of law which leaves people free to do whatever the law does not explicitly forbid.

• The Rights of Englishmen

  • "The rights of Englishmen" refers to unwritten constitutional rights and liberties, originating in Britain peaking in the Enlightenment.
  • These rights evolved and developed over several centuries and stages of Anglo-American history--peaking with the Enlightenment era.
  • After the Glorious Revolution, monarchical absolutism was replaced by parliamentary sovereignty in this social contract, with the purpose of safeguarding the "rights of Englishmen. "
  • In the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, the high intellectual Enlightenment was dominated by philosophes who opposed the absolute rule of the monarchs of their day, and instead emphasized the equality of all individuals and the idea that governments derived their existence from the consent of the governed.
  • For instance, in 1690, John Locke (one of the fathers of the English Enlightenment) wrote that all people have fundamental natural rights to "life, liberty and property," and that governments were created in order to protect these rights.

• The Concept of Civic Duty

  • Furthermore, as emphasized by 17th-century Enlightenment thinkers, Parliament was considered the least corrupt form of government because governments derived existence from the consent of the governed, and the elected representative body was answerable to its constituents.
  • The highly intellectual Enlightenment was dominated by philosophers who opposed the absolute rule of the monarchs of their day and instead emphasized the equality of all individuals and the idea that governments derived their existence from the consent of the governed.
  • For instance, in 1690, John Locke (one of the fathers of the English Enlightenment) wrote that all people have fundamental natural rights to "life, liberty, and property" and that governments were created in order to protect these rights.

• Monarchies and Liberal Democracies

  • A monarch that has few or no legal restraints in state and political matters is referred to as an absolute monarchy, a form of autocracy.
  • Liberal democracy traces its origins, and its name, to the European 18th century, also known as the Age of Enlightenment.
  • Near the end of the 18th century, these ideas inspired the American and French Revolutions, the latter giving birth to the ideology of liberalism, and instituting forms of government that attempted to apply the principles of the Enlightenment philosophers into practice.

• The Political Revolution

  • The American Enlightenment promoted ideas of individual liberty, republican government, and religious toleration.
  • The American Enlightenment is the intellectual period in America in the mid-to-late 18th century (1715-1789), especially as it relates to the American Revolution and the European Enlightenment.
  • Both the Moderate Enlightenment and a Radical or Revolutionary Enlightenment were reactions against the authoritarianism, irrationality, and obscurantism of the established churches.
  • No brief summary can do justice to the diversity of enlightened thought in 18th-century Europe.
  • In his famous essay "What is Enlightenment?

• Absolute Value

  • Absolute value can be thought of as the distance of a real number from zero.
  • For example, the absolute value of 5 is 5, and the absolute value of −5 is also 5, because both numbers are the same distance from 0.
  • The term "absolute value" has been used in this sense since at least 1806 in French and 1857 in English.
  • Other names for absolute value include "numerical value," "modulus," and "magnitude."
  • The absolute values of 5 and -5 shown on a number line.

• Roots of the Scientific Revolution

  • The scientific revolution began in Europe towards the end of the Renaissance period and continued through the late 18th century, influencing the intellectual social movement known as the Enlightenment.
  • During the scientific revolution, changing perceptions about the role of the scientist in respect to nature, the value of evidence, experimental or observed, led towards a scientific methodology in which empiricism played a large, but not absolute, role.
  • By the 18th century, when the Enlightenment flourished, scientific authority began to displace religious authority and the disciplines until then seen as legitimately scientific, e.g.
  • Science came to play a leading role in Enlightenment discourse and thought.
  • Broadly speaking, Enlightenment science greatly valued empiricism and rational thought and was embedded with the Enlightenment ideal of advancement and progress.