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Index : T : The Enlightenment Encyclopedia FunTrivia

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Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information

    The Enlightenment

    Who was James Watt's partner whose financial support was critical in the development of the steam engine?The Scottish Enlightenment (mnbates)

      Matthew Boulton. Matthew Boulton (1728-1809) was a manufacturer, craftsman and engineer who got into partnership with James Watt (1736-1819) when Dr John Roebuck (1719-1794), unable to pay a debt of £1,200, gave Boulton his share of Watt's engine. William Murdoch (1754-1839) was the inventor of gas lighting and got his first important job with Boulton and Watt (because Boulton liked his wooden hat)in 1777. He became a partner at Boulton and Watt in 1810. Joseph Black (1728-1799) was Watt's distinguished teacher.

    Which work by Adam Smith first gained him a reputation?The Scottish Enlightenment (mnbates)

      The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Adam Smith (1723-1790) was a moral philosopher and, perhaps, the first political economist. His "Wealth of Nations" published in March, 1776 is still a profoundly influential book. The first publication which brought Adam Smith recognition was his "Theory on Moral Sentiments" which laid out much of his philosophy. The other two works mentioned were published posthumously.

    Which early Enlightenment philosopher, born in Ireland, wrote several important works and is considered one of the founders of the Scottish Enlightenment?The Scottish Enlightenment (mnbates)

      Francis Hutcheson. Francis Hutcheson (1694-1746) wrote many essays and letters on aesthetics, moral philosopy, ethics, etc and is noted for such works as "Thoughts on Laughter" (a criticism of Thomas Hobbes), "Inquiry Concerning Moral Good and Evil"(1725) and "About the natural fellowship of mankind" (1730 - an inaugural lecture following his appointmnet to the Chair in Moral Philosophy at Glasgow University).

    Which country was the center of the Enlightenment during most of the movement?The Enlightenment (socratessoul)

      France.

    What did Thomas Reid (1710-1796) do that influenced the course of philosophy and the Scottish Enlightenment?The Scottish Enlightenment (mnbates)

      He founded the Scottish School of Common Sense. The Scottish School of Common Sense was a response to the writings of Hume, Locke, Berkeley etc and influenced the likes of Charles Peirce, the US pragmatist. "The Physiology of the Human Mind" was written by Thomas Brown (1778-1820) who was a metaphysicist and philosopher. Modern comparative linguistics was founded by James Burnett, Lord Monboddo. The "Encyclopedia Britannica" was edited by William Smellie (1740-1795) and originally appeaqred in 100 weekly instalments between 1768 and 1771.

    Vampire belief in the eighteenth century was wholeheartedly embraced by a sizeable minority, but rejected without reflection by most notable commentators. In the words of one observer: “If there is a well-attested history in the world, it is that of the vampires. Nothing is missing from it: interrogations, certifications by Notables, Surgeons, Parish Priests, Magistrates. The judicial proof is one of the most complete. And with all that, who believes in vampires?” What well-known author of “The Social Contract” and “Emile” summed up the paradoxical situation of the Enlightenment vampire with these examples?Vampires of the Enlightenment (stuthehistoryguy)

      Jean-Jacques Rousseau. This quote, taken from Rousseau’s published 1763 letter to Archbishop of Paris Christophe de Beaumont, supports Rousseau’s broader argument that human testimonies may be evidence for human facts, but people should not be condemned for disbelieving those testimonies.

    This highly controversial thinker and author of 'The Nun' was also an atheist. Who was he?The Enlightenment (socratessoul)

      Diderot.

    One philosopher who was a source of early inspiration to Enlightenment thinkers, and who was given credit for saying 'I think, therefore I am' was?The Enlightenment (socratessoul)

      Rene Descartes.

    One of the most controversial Enlightenment authors, who was imprisoned in the Bastille and later exiled to England for offending a noble man of France?The Enlightenment (socratessoul)

      Voltaire.

    One of the great believers in vampires during the Enlightenment was Dom Augustin Calmet, a Biblical scholar and a great exponent of a Medieval brand of rational thought. In his thorough study, “Treatise on Ghosts and Vampires”, Calmet builds his case for the reality of vampires by citing the reality of magic and the supernatural as verified by the Bible and by the saints of Catholic canon. He then extends that reasoning to “reliable” reports of vampires. To what Roman Catholic order did Calmet belong?Vampires of the Enlightenment (stuthehistoryguy)

      The Benedictine Order. Calmet’s reasoning was actually quite in line with Benedictine thought of the time, but was ridiculed by the more skeptical Enlightenment “philosophes” who heeded Descartes’ dictum that as few assumptions as possible should go into an argument. Assuming that figures like the notorious inquisitor Torquemada were generally truthful drastically weakened Calmet’s argument outside of Church circles. It should be noted that Calmet did not say that all vampire stories were true or anything of the sort; he earnestly tries to be even-handed. However, he did acknowledge that vampires were possible, as was consistent with his supernaturlist, literalist theology. This contention set him at odds with most thinkers of his (and our) time.

    One Enlightenment figure who was particularly mortified by the vampire craze of his time wrote the following: “What! Is it in our eighteenth century that vampires exist? Is it after the reigns of Locke, Shaftesbury, Trenchard, and Collins [all well-known rationalists of the past]? Is it under those of d’Alembert, Diderot, St. Lambert, and Duclos, that we believe in vampires, and that the reverend father Dom Calmet…has printed and reprinted the history of vampires with the approbation of the Sorbonne?” What author of “Candide” was so chafed that vampire belief had gained such currency under his watch?Vampires of the Enlightenment (stuthehistoryguy)

      Voltaire. Voltaire concluded his dismissal of vampires in his 1768 “Philosophical Dictionary” by saying that: “A great part of Europe has been infested with vampires for five or six years, and there are no more; we have had convulsionaries in France for twenty years, we have them no longer; we have had demoniacs for seventeen hundred years, but we have them no longer; the dead have been raised ever since the days of Hippolytus, but they are raised no longer; and lastly, we have had Jesuits in Spain, Portugal, France, and the two Sicilies, but we have them no longer.” The Jesuits had been suppressed in France as of 1764, and were dissolved by Pope Clement XIV in 1773. They were not reinstated until 1814. Voltaire's entire entry can be read at http://oll.libertyfund.org/Home3/HTML.php?recordID=0060.07#hd_lf060-07_head_176

    Many historians and folklorists believe that vampires first became popular in Western Europe because of a widely-published 1732 account by Austrian military surgeon Johannes Fluckinger. This report detailed Fluckinger’s observation of a vampire hunt and how he and four colleagues were convinced that vampires were real. In what present-day country did Fluckinger find these vampires?Vampires of the Enlightenment (stuthehistoryguy)

      Serbia. The focus of Fluckinger’s report was Arnold Paul, a bandit who had died from a fall and returned from the grave in 1727. Though he and four other suspected vampires had been dealt with at that time by the villagers of local Medvegia, by 1732 most of the people in the area were convinced that people and animals he had attacked had subsequently become vampires, leading to mass opening of graves. All told, sixteen more bodies were destroyed in the hunt observed by the distinguished Austrians.

    In 1751, chief physician of the Holy Roman Empire Gerard van Swieten gave a scathing report on the vampire exhumations and mutilations common in Central Europe at the time, stating bluntly that those hunting the vampires had no idea what a dead body ought to look like, and thus could not tell a "vampire" from any other mortal remains. In response, the Holy Roman Empress officially banned vampire hunts in 1755. Who was this long-reigning Habsburg Empress?Vampires of the Enlightenment (stuthehistoryguy)

      Maria Theresa. Hungarian historian Gabor Klaniczay hypothesizes that the “scandalous” surge in 18th-century vampire hunts prompted the official abolition of witch trials along with the undead exhumations; vampires, it seems, shared the witches’ “supernatural scapegoat” niche in the collective mentality. It bears repeating that, unlike the case with witches, there is essentially no historical incidence of any government ever sanctioning vampire hunts, at least not above the very local level. It is also worth noting that, although she was not thought of quite as highly as her Prussian counterpart Frederick the Great, Maria Theresa is often placed in the company of the “enlightened despots” that were heralded by writers like Voltaire as ideal rulers. Though an absolute monarch and ultimately a pious Catholic, she was also a reformer who embraced reason and science. In an age where large-scale democracy was unknown (although gradually forming in Great Britain), this seemed as fair a government as a reasonable Continenal thinker could conceive.

    For what work was James Burnett, Lord Monboddo justly famed?The Scottish Enlightenment (mnbates)

      The Origin and Progress of Man and Language. James Burnett, Lord Monboddo (1714-1799) founded modern historical linguistics, he is also credited with being and evolutionary theorist inspiring Darwin, Robert Burns was in love with his daughter Eliza, Johnson and Boswell were friends.

    For the Enlightenment’s cornerstone work, the “Encyclopédie”, contributor Louis de Jaucourt offered this analysis of vampire folklore: “Father Calmet has written an absurd, unbelievable work on the subject, but one that is useful in showing how the human spirit can be carried away by superstition.” Who was the editor-in-chief of this work?Vampires of the Enlightenment (stuthehistoryguy)

      Denis Diderot. Compiling the contributions of many of the Enlightenment’s greatest figures, “L’Encyclopédie” is often cited as the prime example of the era’s energy for rationalism and empiricism. On commission from publisher André Le Breton, Diderot began work on the project in 1747, collaborating with Jean le Rond d'Alembert and many others. He would continue work on the “Encyclopédie” and its revisions for 25 years.

    Fluckinger’s popular article reminded many people of an earlier account by naturalist Pitton de Tournefort. One of the pioneering figures in plant and animal classification, Tournefort did not believe that what he had seen was actually a vampire (or "vrykolakas", as his account reads), but this did not stop later audiences from making these assumptions. Where did Tournefort have this encounter?Vampires of the Enlightenment (stuthehistoryguy)

      Greece. Tournefort had been dispatched to the Ottoman Empire by French King Louis XIV in 1699 to study local customs and natural conditions. He saw the vrykolakas being destroyed on the island of Mykonos. Though convinced that the locals were just mutilating an ordinary corpse, Tournefort realized that they took the situation quite seriously and he kept his opinions to himself until he got back to France. Among scientists today, Tournefort is remembered as one of first to use the “genus” level of classification that is now standard in biology.

    Enlightenment thought centered on?The Enlightenment (socratessoul)

      Scientific Method.

    At which battle did Adam Ferguson, philosopher and historian gain the reputation that enabled him to become the principal chaplain of the 43rd Regiment of the Black Watch?The Scottish Enlightenment (mnbates)

      Battle of Fontenoy. Adam Ferguson (1723-1816) his "Essay on Civil Society" is, perhaps, the first publication (in the "modern" era) to deal with sociology.

    As vampire tales grew more popular during the 18th century, even the most learned of people began to incorporate them into their everyday speech. What great figure of English letters compared himself to “the vampires in Germany - such a terror to all sober and innocent people that many wish a stake were drove through him to keep him quiet in his grave”?Vampires of the Enlightenment (stuthehistoryguy)

      Alexander Pope. Pope, of course, means this as a figure of speech. When he made these remarks in a letter written in February, 1740, he had been ill for some time, yet continued to pester the stonecutters working on his Twickenham Grotto.

    An early philosopher who inspired much of the Enlightenment thought and wrote 'History of England' was?The Enlightenment (socratessoul)

      David Hume.

    Although not often credited for it, what country was responsible for the beginning of most Enlightenment thought (as well as many explorations into Africa)?The Enlightenment (socratessoul)

      Scotland.

    A latecomer to the Enlightenment, this seminal German Renaissance man (to mix historical metaphors) produced one of the first substantial works of vampire literature in his fine 1797 poem “The Bride of Corinth”. Who was this towering writer who was no stranger to dealing with the devil?Vampires of the Enlightenment (stuthehistoryguy)

      Goethe. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) is best known for his epic poem “Faust”, a landmark reworking of the classic plot involving the sacrifice of a soul for love. In addition to his great literary output (usually ranked as the greatest in German letters), Goethe also made substantial contributions in physiology (he is credited with discovering the intermaxillary bone), botany, optics, and social thought. Many historians do not classify him as part of the Enlightenment, but he certainly exemplifies that spirit of rational inquiry. Indeed, in his cultural curiousity - he was one of the first major Western writers to make a detailed study of the Quran, for example - Goethe may well have been among the most enlightened of all. As always, I'd love to hear any comments you might have, especially those that will make this a better quiz. Thanks for playing.

    'Storm und Drang' in Germany was what?The Enlightenment (socratessoul)

      A sort of German Enlightenment. It was a literary movement that is generally regarded as a form of Pre-Romanticism.

Frequently Asked Questions about The Enlightenment
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