Enlightened Absolutism and Toleration
Introduced| English | Meaning |
|---|---|
| enlightened absolutism/enˈlaɪtnd ˈæbsəluːtɪzəm/ | Rule by an absolute monarch who adopts selected Enlightenment reforms while retaining supreme authority. |
Rulers experimented
- In the 18th century, a number of states in eastern and central Europe experimented with enlightened absolutism 开明专制.
- The CED's verb is experimented — a limited, revocable adoption, not a change of system.
- So enlightened absolutism keeps 3.7's structure and changes its justification and some of its policy.
The CED's verb for enlightened absolutism is...
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A limited, revocable adoption, not a change of system.
A different argument for the same power
- Absolutism in 3.7 was justified by divine right and tradition — precisely what 4.3's Locke replaced.
- Enlightened absolutism justifies the same authority by utility: the ruler governs best because reason recommends it.
- So a ruler can adopt Enlightenment language without conceding any of Locke's conclusions about consent.
Reform measures and retained monarchical authority must be assessed separately
Enlightened absolutism justified the ruler's authority by...
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So a ruler adopts Enlightenment language without conceding Locke's conclusions.
Toleration extended
- By 1800, most governments in western and central Europe had extended toleration to Christian minorities and, in some states, civil equality to Jews.
- The CED distinguishes two levels: toleration for Christian minorities, and civil equality in some states for Jews.
- Toleration permits practice; civil equality changes legal standing — a much stronger claim, and the CED restricts it to some states.
Enlightened absolutism, toleration, or a territorial consequence?
Sort each development.
Match each term to what it changes.
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The CED separates the two levels deliberately.
Toleration and civil equality are different things, and the CED separates them. Most governments extended toleration to Christian minorities; only some states extended civil equality to Jews. Toleration permits practice; civil equality changes legal standing.
Select both territorial consequences the CED attributes to Westphalia.
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The partition is 3.6; the Dutch revolt is 3.5.
Westphalia reshaped the map
- As a result of the Holy Roman Empire's limitation of sovereignty in the Peace of Westphalia, Prussia rose to power, and the Habsburgs, centred in Austria, shifted their empire eastward.
- 2.4's settlement has a direct territorial consequence a century later, which the CED states as causal.
- So the second objective — whether developments challenged or reinforced the idea of a unified Europe — is answered here: they challenged it.
The two objectives in this subtopic use the same evidence, so one answer covers both.
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False. The two objectives draw on barely overlapping evidence, so an answer must say which objective it is addressing.
Two objectives here
- How political power was influenced by Enlightenment thought: enlightened absolutism, and extended toleration.
- How developments challenged or reinforced a unified Europe: Westphalia's consequences did the challenging.
- An answer must say which objective it is addressing, because the evidence for the two barely overlaps.
A ruler abolishes torture, funds schools, codifies law and keeps every decision in his own hands. Every reform is defensible on Enlightenment grounds and none of them touches the question of consent. That is what the CED's word experimented is recording.
A number of states in eastern and central Europe experimented with enlightened absolutism — the same authority justified by utility rather than divine right. By 1800 most western and central European governments had extended toleration to Christian minorities and, in some states, civil equality to Jews. Westphalia's limitation of imperial sovereignty let Prussia rise and pushed the Habsburgs eastward.