L2 outline for Hist 4c/Marcuse, Spring 2000

G. F. Handel: Water Music (1717)

Why study the 18th Century?

1. Life for 97-98%: rural and marginal
   • fairy tales & history
   • Society: Feudal system
     land ownership, personal allegiances
   • Government: Absolute Monarchy
     • "I am the state." (L'etat, c'est moi)
     • King is above law (legibus solutus)
   • Versailles Palace (1688)
2. Changes
   • demographic (population)
   • economic (agriculture, finance, trade, industry)
   • social (new occupations)
   • administration (civil service)
3. A new way of life
   • Boucher (1754), Chardin (1753)
4. On paradigms and paradigm changes
   • spectrum of meanings
   • compatible / incompatible
   • History
     • monumental, antiquarian, critical
     • cyclical, providential, progressive