Enlightenment Thinkers Transformed Western Europe Into a Modern Society National Gallery of Art

19.1: The Enlightenment

19.ane.1: Introduction to the Enlightenment

The Enlightenment, a philosophical movement that dominated in Europe during the 18th century, was centered around the idea that reason is the primary source of authority and legitimacy, and advocated such ideals equally liberty, progress, tolerance, fraternity, constitutional authorities, and separation of church and state.

Learning Objective

Explicate the main ideas of the Age of Enlightenment

Key Points

• The Enlightenment was a philosophical motion that dominated in Europe during the 18th century. Information technology was centered around the idea that reason is the primary source of authorisation and legitimacy, and it advocated such ideals as freedom, progress, tolerance, fraternity, constitutional authorities, and separation of church and state. All the same, historians of race, gender, and course notation that Enlightenment ideals were not originally envisioned equally universal in today'south sense of the word.
• The Philosophic Movement advocated for a society based upon reason rather than organized religion and Cosmic doctrine, for a new civil order based on natural law, and for scientific discipline based on experiments and ascertainment.
• At that place were two singled-out lines of Enlightenment idea: the radical enlightenment, advocating republic, individual freedom, liberty of expression, and eradication of religious authority. A second, more moderate variety sought accommodation between reform and the traditional systems of ability and religion.
• While the Enlightenment cannot exist pigeonholed into a specific doctrine or set of dogmas, scientific discipline came to play a leading role in Enlightenment discourse and thought.
• The Enlightenment brought political modernization to the west, in terms of focusing on democratic values and institutions and the creation of modern, liberal democracies.
• Enlightenment thinkers sought to curtail the political ability of organized religion, and thereby prevent another age of intolerant religious war. The radical Enlightenment promoted the concept of separating church building and country.

Key Terms

reductionism

The term that refers to several related simply distinct philosophical positions regarding the connections between phenomena, or theories, "reducing" 1 to another, ordinarily considered "simpler" or more "basic." The Oxford Companion to Philosophy suggests a three part sectionalization: ontological (a belief that the whole of reality consists of a minimal number of parts); methodological (the scientific attempt to provide explanation in terms of ever smaller entities); and theory (the suggestion that a newer theory does non supplant or absorb the old, just reduces information technology to more bones terms).

Newtonianism

A doctrine that involves post-obit the principles and using the methods of natural philosopher Isaac Newton. Newton'southward broad formulation of the universe every bit beingness governed by rational and understandable laws laid the foundation for many strands of Enlightenment thought.

Encyclopédie

A general encyclopedia published in French republic between 1751 and 1772, with later supplements, revised editions, and translations. It had many writers and was edited by Denis Diderot, and, until 1759, co-edited by Jean le Rond d'Alembert. It is the nigh famous for representing the idea of the Enlightenment.

empiricism

A theory that states that knowledge comes only or primarily from sensory experience. One of several views of epistemology, the study of human knowledge, along with rationalism and skepticism, it emphasizes the role of feel and evidence (peculiarly sensory feel), in the formation of ideas, over the notion of innate ideas or traditions.

scientific method

A body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge based on empirical or measurable evidence subject to specific principles of reasoning. The Oxford Dictionaries Online ascertain information technology as "a method or procedure that has characterized natural science since the 17th century, consisting in systematic observation, measurement, and experiment, and the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses."

Introduction

The Enlightenment, too known as the Age of Enlightenment, was a philosophical motility that dominated the world of ideas in Europe in the 18th century. Information technology was centered around the idea that reason is the primary source of dominance and legitimacy, and it advocated such ideals equally liberty, progress, tolerance, fraternity, constitutional authorities, and separation of church and state. The Enlightenment was marked past an accent on the scientific method and reductionism, along with increased questioning of religious orthodoxy. The ideas of the Enlightenment undermined the say-so of the monarchy and the church, and paved the way for the political revolutions of the 18th and 19th centuries.French historians traditionally place the Enlightenment betwixt 1715, the year that Louis XIV died, and 1789, the beginning of the French Revolution. Some recent historians begin the period in the 1620s, with the kickoff of the scientific revolution. However, unlike national varieties of the movement flourished between the starting time decades of the 18th century and the first decades of the 19th century.

The ideas of the Enlightenment played a major role in inspiring the French Revolution, which began in 1789 and emphasized the rights of the common men, as opposed to the exclusive rights of the elites. However, historians of race, gender, and class annotation that Enlightenment ideals were not originally envisioned as universal in the today's sense of the give-and-take. Although they did eventually inspire the struggle for rights of people of color, women, or the working masses, well-nigh Enlightenment thinkers did not advocate equality for all, regardless of race, gender, or class, but rather insisted that rights and freedoms were non hereditary. This perspective straight attacked the traditionally sectional position of the European aristocracy, but was notwithstanding largely express to expanding the political and individual rights of white males of item social standing.

Philosophy

In the mid-18th century, Europe witnessed an explosion of philosophic and scientific activity that challenged traditional doctrines and dogmas. The philosophic movement was led by Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who argued for a society based upon reason rather than organized religion and Catholic doctrine, for a new civil order based on natural law, and for science based on experiments and ascertainment. The political philosopher Montesquieu introduced the idea of a separation of powers in a government, a concept which was enthusiastically adopted by the authors of the United States Constitution. While the philosophers of the French Enlightenment were not revolutionaries, and many were members of the nobility, their ideas played an important part in undermining the legitimacy of the Old Authorities and shaping the French Revolution.

At that place were two distinct lines of Enlightenment thought: the radical enlightenment, inspired by the philosophy of Spinoza, advocating democracy, individual liberty, liberty of expression, and eradication of religious authority. A 2d, more moderate diversity, supported by René Descartes, John Locke, Christian Wolff, Isaac Newton and others, sought accommodation between reform and the traditional systems of power and religion.

Much of what is incorporated in the scientific method (the nature of knowledge, evidence, experience, and causation), and some modernistic attitudes towards the relationship between science and organized religion, were developed by David Hume and Adam Smith. Hume became a major figure in the skeptical philosophical and empiricist traditions of philosophy. Immanuel Kant tried to reconcile rationalism and religious belief, individual freedom and political authorisation, equally well as map out a view of the public sphere through private and public reason. Kant's work continued to shape German thought, and indeed all of European philosophy, well into the 20th century. Mary Wollstonecraft was ane of England'southward earliest feminist philosophers. She argued for a society based on reason, and that women, also equally men, should be treated as rational beings.

Encyclopedie's frontispiece, full version; engraving by Benoît Louis Prévost.

"If in that location is something yous know, communicate it. If in that location is something y'all don't know, search for information technology." An engraving from the 1772 edition of the Encyclopédie. Truth, in the pinnacle center, is surrounded by light and unveiled by the figures to the right, Philosophy and Reason.

Scientific discipline

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. Many Enlightenment writers and thinkers had backgrounds in the sciences, and associated scientific advancement with the overthrow of faith and traditional authority in favor of the development of gratis speech communication and thought. Broadly speaking, Enlightenment science profoundly valued empiricism and rational thought, and was embedded with the Enlightenment platonic of advancement and progress. As with nearly Enlightenment views, the benefits of science were not seen universally.

Science during the Enlightenment was dominated past scientific societies and academies, which had largely replaced universities as centers of scientific research and development. Societies and academies were too the courage of the maturation of the scientific profession. Another important development was the popularization of scientific discipline amongst an increasingly literate population. Many scientific theories reached the wide public, notably through the Encyclopédie (a general encyclopedia published in France between 1751 and 1772) and the popularization of Newtonianism.

The 18th century saw pregnant advancements in the practice of medicine, mathematics, and physics; the development of biological taxonomy; a new understanding of magnetism and electricity; and the maturation of chemistry as a discipline, which established the foundations of modern chemistry.

Modern Western Government

The Enlightenment has long been hailed equally the foundation of mod western political and intellectual civilisation. It brought political modernization to the west, in terms of focusing on autonomous values and institutions, and the creation of modern, liberal democracies.

The English language philosopher Thomas Hobbes ushered in a new argue on authorities with his work Leviathan in 1651. Hobbes also developed some of the fundamentals of European liberal thought: the right of the individual; the natural equality of all men; the artificial character of the political gild (which led to the later distinction between civil society and the state); the view that all legitimate political power must exist "representative" and based on the consent of the people; and a liberal interpretation of constabulary which leaves people gratuitous to practise whatever the law does not explicitly forbid.

John Locke and Rousseau also adult social contract theories. While differing in details, Locke, Hobbes, and Rousseau agreed that a social contract, in which the government'south authority lies in the consent of the governed, is necessary for man to live in ceremonious society. Locke is especially known for his argument that individuals accept a right to "Life, Liberty and Property," and his belief that the natural correct to property is derived from labor. His theory of natural rights has influenced many political documents, including the United states of america Proclamation of Independence and the French National Constituent Assembly's Announcement of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. Though much of Enlightenment's political idea was dominated by social contract theorists, some Scottish philosophers, most notably David Hume and Adam Ferguson, criticized this camp. Theirs was the assumption that governments derived from  a ruler'due south dominance and force (Hume) and polities grew out of social development rather than social contract (Ferguson).

Religion

Enlightenment era religious commentary was a response to the preceding century of religious disharmonize in Europe. Enlightenment thinkers sought to curtail the political power of organized religion, and thereby foreclose another age of intolerant religious war. A number of novel ideas adult, including Deism (belief in God the Creator, with no reference to the Bible or any other source)and atheism. The latter was much discussed but there were few proponents. Many, like Voltaire, held that without belief in a God who punishes evil, the moral order of social club was undermined.

The radical Enlightenment promoted the concept of separating church and state, an thought often credited to Locke. According to Locke's principle of the social contract, the government lacked potency in the realm of individual conscience, equally this was something rational people could not cede to the government for it or others to command. For Locke, this created a natural right in the liberty of censor, which he said must therefore remain protected from whatever government authority. These views on religious tolerance and the importance of individual conscience, forth with the social contract, became specially influential in the American colonies and the drafting of the United States Constitution.

Mary Wollstonecraft by John Opie (c. 1797), National Portrait Gallery, London.

While the philosophy of the Enlightenment was dominated by men, the question of women's rights appeared as 1 of the about controversial ideas. Mary Wollstonecraft, one of few female thinkers of the time, was an English writer, philosopher, and advocate of women's rights. She is best known for A Vindication of the Rights of Adult female (1792), in which she argues that women are not naturally inferior to men, only announced to be only because they lack education. She suggests that both men and women should be treated as rational beings and imagines a social order founded on reason.

Attributions

• Introduction to the Enlightenment

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Source: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-hccc-worldhistory2/chapter/the-enlightenment/

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