Lesson Plans

The Western Heritage ©2000

by Kagan, Ozment, and Turner

Focus Lesson 10

Chapter 18: "The Age of Enlightenment: Eighteenth Century Thought"

AP* Course Description

1. Intellectual and Cultural History
   • Changes in religious thought and institutions
   • Secularization of learning and culture
   • Major trends in literature and the arts
   • Intellectual and cultural developments and their relationship to social values and political events
   • Developments in social, economic, and political thought
   • Developments in literacy, education, and communication
   • The diffusion of new intellectual concepts among different social groups
   • Changes in elite and popular culture, such as the development of new attitudes toward religion, the family, work, and ritual
2. Political and Diplomatic History
   • The rise and functioning of the modern state in its various forms
   • The evolution of political elites and the development of political parties and ideologies
   • The extension and limitation of rights and liberties (personal, civic, economic, and political); majority and minority; political persecutions
   • The growth and changing forms of nationalism
3. Social and Economic History
   • The shift in social structures from hierarchical orders to modern social classes: the changing distribution of wealth and poverty
   • Gender roles and their influence on work, social structure, family structure, and interest group formation

Key Components

• Instructor's Manual: pp. 35–36
• Study Guide and Workbook, Vol. II: pp. 50–59
• Test Item File: pp. 95–100

Key Web Sites

• The European Enlightenment
• Age of Reason and Enlightenment
• Age of Enlightenment

Key Words and Terms

Suggested Pacing

Test Strategy

Key Concepts

• The Enlightenment
  Often, the Enlightenment's importance is seen only in its influences on the American Revolution. In reality, the Enlightenment was the dominant philosophy in Europe for much of the 18th century. It was based on the ideas of Newton and Locke and furthered by the work of the philosophes, men of letters who capitalized on the growing print culture—newspapers, journals, books, and pamphlets—to spread their ideas. They tried to apply the rules of reason and common sense to all facets of life including the conduct of government and economic activity. Students should understand how Adam Smith's development of laissez-faire economic thought and policy affected the 18th century and continues to affect modern economic and government policies.
  
  
• Enlightened absolutism
  As the Enlightenment progressed, several rulers in central and eastern Europe became interested in the possibility of using enlightened policies to improve their countries. Although Catherine the Great of Russia, Frederick the Great of Prussia, and Joseph II of Austria attempted to apply the ideas of the Enlightenment to their nations, they were more interested in gaining economic and military strength than in loosening their grips on their governments. They also tended to carry on foreign affairs in anything but an enlightened fashion, as is evidenced by the partition of Poland three times in the eighteenth century until it no longer existed as a sovereign nation.

Summing Up Student Understanding

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

• Aspects of Western Civilization, Vol. II, edited by Rogers—Chapter 2, Section II
• Sources of the West, Vol. II, edited by Kishlausky—Part IV, "The Enlightenment"