enlightened despotism

(noun)

Also known as enlightened absolutism or benevolent absolutism: a form of absolute monarchy or despotism inspired by the Enlightenment. The monarchs who embraced it followed the participles of rationality. Some of them fostered education, allowed religious tolerance, freedom of speech, and the right to hold private property. They held that royal power emanated not from divine right but from a social contract whereby a despot was entrusted with the power to govern through a social contract in lieu of any other governments.

Related Terms

  • enlightened despoti
  • enlightened despotis
  • the Seven Years' War
  • the Patent of Toleration
  • the 1782 Edict of Tolerance
  • the Edict of Tolerance
  • enlightened d
  • the Serfdom Patent
  • Pugachev's Rebellion
  • Cossacks
  • the Smolny Institut
  • the Smolny Institute
  • Hermitage Museu
  • Hermitage Museum
  • the Serfdom Paten
  • Josephinism
  • serfdom
  • Encyclopédie

(noun)

Also known as enlightened absolutism or benevolent absolutism: a form of absolute monarchy or despotism inspired by the Enlightenment. The monarchs who embraced it followed the participles of rationality. Some of them fostered education, allowed religious tolerance, freedom of speech, and the right to hold private property. They 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.

Related Terms

  • enlightened despoti
  • enlightened despotis
  • the Seven Years' War
  • the Patent of Toleration
  • the 1782 Edict of Tolerance
  • the Edict of Tolerance
  • enlightened d
  • the Serfdom Patent
  • Pugachev's Rebellion
  • Cossacks
  • the Smolny Institut
  • the Smolny Institute
  • Hermitage Museu
  • Hermitage Museum
  • the Serfdom Paten
  • Josephinism
  • serfdom
  • Encyclopédie

Examples of enlightened despotism 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.
    • Enlightened despots 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.
    • 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.
    • Enlightened despotism is the theme of an essay by Frederick the Great, who ruled Prussia from 1740 to 1786, defending this system of government.
  • Catherine's Domestic Policies

    • Catherine the Great enthusiastically supported the ideals of the Enlightenment, thus earning the status of an enlightened despot, although her reforms benefited a small number of her subjects and did not change the oppressive system of Russian serfdom.
    • She enthusiastically supported the ideals of the Enlightenment, thus earning the status of an enlightened despot.
    • This philosophy of enlightened despotism implied that the sovereign knew the interests of his or her subjects better than they themselves did.
    • During Catherine's reign, Russians imported and studied the classical and European influences that inspired the Russian Enlightenment.
    • Evaluate Catherine the Great's domestic policies and to what extent she can be considered an enlightened despot
  • Joseph II and Domestic Reform

    • This made him one of the most committed enlightened despots.
    • Joseph's enlightened despotism and his resulting commitment to modernizing reforms subsequently engendered significant opposition, which eventually culminated in an ultimate failure to fully implement his programs.
    • As a man of the Enlightenment, he ridiculed the contemplative monastic orders, which he considered unproductive.
    • Opponents of the reforms blamed them for revealing Protestant tendencies, with the rise of Enlightenment rationalism and the emergence of a liberal class of bourgeois officials.
    • Joseph's  enlightened despotism included also the Patent of Toleration, enacted in 1781, and the Edict of Tolerance in 1782. 
  • From German Princess to Russian Tsarina

    • She enthusiastically supported the ideals of the Enlightenment, thus earning the status of an enlightened despot.
    • This philosophy of enlightened despotism implied that the sovereign knew the interests of his or her subjects better than they themselves did.
    • Catherine presided over the age of the Russian Enlightenment and sought contact with and inspiration from the major philosophers of the era.
    • As a patron of the arts and an advocate of Enlightenment ideals, she presided over the age of the Russian Enlightenment, In this painting, she is visiting Mikhail Lomonosov, a Russian polymath, scientist and writer, who made important contributions to literature, education, and science.
  • Fall of the Flavian Emperors

    • Domitian's government exhibited totalitarian characteristics; he saw himself as the new Augustus, an enlightened despot destined to guide the Roman Empire into a new era of brilliance.
  • Baron de Montesquieu

    • Montesquieu was a French political philosopher of the Enlightenment period, whose articulation of the theory of separation of powers is implemented in many constitutions throughout the world.
    • Baron de Montesquieu, usually referred to as simply Montesquieu, was a French lawyer, man of letters, and one of the most influential political philosophers of the Age of Enlightenment.
    • Montesquieu defines three main political systems: republican, monarchical, and despotic.
    • If not, it counts as despotism.
    • He is also known for doing more than any other author to secure the place of the word despotism in the political lexicon.
  • Enlightenment Ideals

    • The Age of Enlightenment, also known as the Enlightenment, was a philosophical movement that dominated the world of ideas in Europe in the 18th century.
    • The Enlightenment took hold in most European countries, often with a specific local emphasis.
    • The Scottish Enlightenment, with its mostly liberal Calvinist and Newtonian focus, played a major role in the further development of the transatlantic Enlightenment.
    • 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.
  • Introduction to the Enlightenment

    • The Enlightenment, also known as the Age of Enlightenment, was a philosophical movement which dominated the world of ideas in Europe in the 18th century.
    • There were two distinct lines of Enlightenment thought: the radical enlightenment, inspired by the philosophy of Spinoza, advocating democracy, individual liberty, freedom of expression, and eradication of religious authority.
    • While the Enlightenment cannot be pigeonholed into a specific doctrine or set of dogmas, 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.
    • As with most Enlightenment views, the benefits of science were not seen universally.
  • Scientific Exploration

    • Science, based on empiricism and rational thought and embedded with the Enlightenment ideal of advancement and progress, came to play a leading role in Enlightenment discourse and thought.
    • While the Enlightenment cannot be pigeonholed into a specific doctrine or set of dogmas, 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.
    • However, as with most Enlightenment views, the benefits of science were not seen universally.
    • Enlightenment-era changes in law also continue to shape legal systems today.
  • Rationalism

    • Since the Enlightenment, rationalism is usually associated with the introduction of mathematical methods into philosophy as seen in the works of Descartes, Leibniz, and Spinoza.
    • For example, Descartes and John Locke, one of the most important Enlightenment thinkers, have similar views about the nature of human ideas.
    • Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibniz are usually credited for laying the groundwork for the 18th-century Enlightenment.
    • During the mature Enlightenment period, Immanuel Kant attempted to explain the relationship between reason and human experience and to move beyond the failures of traditional philosophy and metaphysics.
    • Define rationalism and its role in the ideas of the Enlightenment.
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