CHAPTER OUTLINE

I. Introduction

II. High Culture: From the Baroque to the Classical

A. Popular Culture in the Eighteenth Century

III. Religion and Eighteenth-Century Culture

IV. The Enlightenment and Its Origins

A. Natural Law, Reason, and Progress

B. The French Enlightenment and the

Encyclopédie

C. The Enlightenment beyond France

V. The Enlightenment and Christianity

VI. The Enlightenment and Government

VII. The Spread of Rationalism

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CHAPTER 20

THE CULTURE OF OLD REGIME EUROPE

T

his chapter looks at the culture of eighteenth-

century Europe from several perspectives. It be-

gins by looking at traditional “high culture”—

the art and architecture, the music and drama

of the educated classes. A transition occurred from the

baroque style to a revival of classicism, which became

the dominant style in the arts of the eighteenth cen-

tury. The discussion then focuses on “popular culture”

in the lives of ordinary people. It compares a basic

institution of high culture, the salon, with the equiva-

lent institution of popular culture, the coffeehouse.

Although other themes seemed to dominate the

culture of the eighteenth century, Christianity re-

mained central to European civilization. Chapter 20 ex-

plains the religious division of Europe into Protestant,

Catholic, and Orthodox regions and examines the posi-

tion of Jewish, Islamic, and dissenting Christian minori-

ties. Most of the chapter is devoted to the dominant

intellectual phenomenon of the eighteenth century, the

Enlightenment. Described are the origins of the En-

lightenment in seventeenth-century skepticism, the ra-

tionalism of the scientific revolution, and the cultural

revival of classicism. The basic concepts that connected

enlightened thought—natural law, reason, and

progress—are then explained. This leads to a discussion

of the French Enlightenment, French philosophes, and

the most typical work of the Enlightenment, the Ency-

clopédie.After describing the Enlightenment in other

parts of Europe, the chapter ends with an examination

of its impact on religion and government.

High Culture: From the Baroque

to the Classical

The predominant cultural style of the seventeenth cen-

tury, known as the baroque, still dominated many of the

arts in the early eighteenth century. The baroque ap-

pealed to the emotions and spirituality through the

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