Age of Enlightenmentóthe 18th Century

The ëAge of Enlightenmentí is a term used to describe the trends in thought and letters in Europe and the American colonies during the 18th century, prior to the French Revolution of 1789-1799.

The phrase was frequently employed by writers of the period itself, convinced that they were emerging from centuries of darkness and ignorance into a new age enlightened by reason, science, and a respect for humanity.

The precursors of the Enlightenment can be traced to the 17th century philosophers and earlier. Equally important, though, were the self-confidence engendered by new discoveries in science and the spirit of cultural relativism encouraged by the exploration of the non-European world.

Of the basic assumptions and beliefs common to philosophers and intellectuals of this period, perhaps the most important was an abiding faith in the power of human reason. People came to assume that through a judicious use of reason, an unending progress would be possibleóprogress in knowledge, in technical achievement, and even in moral values.

Although they saw the churchóespecially the Roman Catholic churchóas the principal force that had enslaved the human mind in the past, most Enlightenment thinkers did not renounce religion altogether.

Many opted for a form of Deism, accepting the existence of God and of a hereafter, but rejecting the intricacies of Christian theology.

Human aspirations, they believed, should not be centered on the next life, but rather on the means of improving this life. Worldly happiness was placed before religious salvation.

More than a set of fixed ideas, the Enlightenment implied an attitude and a method of thought. A desire arose to reexamine and question all received ideas and values, to explore new ideas in many different directions.

During the first half of the 18th century, the leaders of the Enlightenment waged an uphill struggle against considerable odds. Several were imprisoned for their writings, and most were hampered by government censorship and attacks by the church.

The later decades of the century marked a triumph of the movement in Europe and America. The enormous increase in the publication of newspapers and books ensured a wide diffusion of new ideas.

 
British EmpiricismóBerkeley and Hume
Following the empiricism of Locke, many 18th century writers believed that knowledge is not innate, but comes only from experience and observation guided by reason. Through proper education, humanity itself could be altered, its nature changed for the better.

George Berkeley (1685-1753), Irish philosopher and Anglican clergyman, is generally regarded as the founder of the modern school of idealism.

He made idealism a powerful school in Anglo-American thought by combining it with the skepticism and empiricism that had become influential in British philosophy.

Berkeleyís major works included:

Berkeley held that matter cannot be conceived to exist independent of the mind, and that the phenomena of sense experience can be explained only by supposing a deity that continually evokes perception in the human mind.

Extending Locke's doubts about knowledge of the world outside the mind, Berkeley argued that no evidence exists for the existence of such a world, because the only things that one can observe are one's own sensations, and these are in the mind.

Berkeley's metaphysical idealism was developed as an answer to skepticism and atheism, and may be summarized as follows:

Most of Berkeleyís theories were dismissed by his contemporaries.

However, by claiming that sensory phenomena are the only objects of knowledge, Berkeley established the epistemological view of phenomenalism (a theory of perception that suggests that matter can be analyzed in terms of sensations) and prepared the way for the positivist movement in modern thought.

Although his own system produced few followers, his criticisms of arguments for a separate external world and of the concept of matter were forceful and have influenced philosophers ever since.

David Hume (1711-1776), Scottish historian and philosopher, greatly influenced the development of skepticism and empiricism.

Hume's empiricism was influenced by the ideas of Locke and Berkeley, that all metaphysical assertions about things that cannot be directly perceived are meaningless.

He went even further, however, endeavoring to prove that reason and rational judgments are merely habitual associations of distinct sensations or experiences.

Humeís most important works include:

In a revolutionary step in the history of philosophy, Hume rejected the basic idea of causation, maintaining that reason can never show the connection of one object with another.

According to Hume, no logical justification exists for believing that any two events are causally connected, or for making any inference from past to future.

Hume's rejection of causation also implied a rejection of scientific laws, which were based on the general premise that one event necessarily causes another and predictably always will.

According to Hume, knowledge of matters of fact is impossible; though as a practical matter he acknowledged that people had to think in terms of cause and effect, and had to assume the validity of their perceptions, else they would go mad.

Hume's skeptical approach also denied the existence of substance, spiritual or material. He argued that no observable evidence is available for the existence of a mind substance or God.

Hume also denied the existence of the individual self, maintaining that because people do not have a constant perception of themselves as distinct entities, they "are nothing but a bundle or collection of different perceptions."

In his ethical thinking, Hume held that the concept of right and wrong is not rational but arises from a regard for one's own happiness.

According to Hume, the supreme moral good is benevolence, an unselfish regard for the general welfare of society, which he regarded as consistent with individual happiness.

As a historian Hume broke away from the traditional chronological account of wars and deeds of state and attempted to describe the economic and intellectual forces that played a part in the history of his country. His History of England was for many years regarded as a classic.

Hume's contributions to economic theory (which influenced the Scottish philosopher and economist Adam Smith and later economists) included his belief that wealth depends not on money but on commodities, and his recognition of the effect of social conditions on economics.

 
The French Philosophes
Many proponents of the Enlightenment were not philosophers in the commonly accepted sense of the word; they were populizers engaged in a self-conscious effort to win converts. They made full use of pamphlets, anonymous tracts, and the large numbers of new journals and newspapers being created.

Because they were journalists and propagandists as much as true philosophers, historians often refer to them by the French word philosophes.

Charles Louis de Montesquieu (1689-1755), was a French writer, jurist, and member of the French Academy.

In his Persian Letters (1721), Montesquieu satirized contemporary French politics, social conditions, ecclesiastical matters, and literature. Its criticism of French institutions under the Bourbon monarchy helped set the tone for the French Revolution.

His second significant work, Thoughts on the Causes of the Greatness and the Downfall of the Romans (1734), was one of the first important works in the philosophy of history.

His masterpiece, The Spirit of Laws (1748), examined the three main types of government: republic, monarchy, and despotism. In it Montesquieu states that a relationship exists between an area's climate, geography, and general circumstances and the form of government that evolves.

Montesquieu also held that governmental powers should be separated and balanced to guarantee individual rights and freedom.

Denis Diderot (1713-1784), the French writer and philosopher, wrote novels, philosophical essays, plays, and art and literary criticism. He was one of the most famous skeptics and rationalists of his age.

His first serious work, Pensées philosophiques (1746), stated his deist philosophy.

His most important work, the controversial 35-volume Encyclopédie (1751-1772), was intended both as a compendium of all knowledge and as a polemical weapon, presenting the positions of the Enlightenment and attacking its opponents.

Contributors and collaborators in this work included the most celebrated writers of the day, including Voltaire, Montesquieu, and Rousseau.

Diderot used the Encyclopédie as a powerful propaganda weapon against Ecclesiastical authority and the superstition, conservatism, and semifeudal social forms of the time.

Consequently, these authors became the objects of substantial clerical and royal antagonism.

Voltaire, the assumed name of François Marie Arouet (1694-1778), was a French writer and philosopher, and one of the most famous and influential satirists of the Enlightenment.

Beginning his career as a playwright and poet, Voltaire is best known today for his prolific pamphlets, essays, satires, and short novels in which he popularized the science and philosophy of his age; and for his immense correspondence with writers and monarchs throughout Europe.

Voltaire was most famous for his attacks on ecclesiastical wealth and property, the Churchís political power and corruption, and suppression of free thought. Those who suffered persecution because of their beliefs found in Voltaire an eloquent and powerful defender.

His attitude towards the Church may be summarized in the expression he often used: "Let us crush the infamous one." This catchphrase referred to any form of religion that persecutes nonadherents or that constitutes fanaticism.

In Candide (1759), Voltaire analyzed the problem of evil in the world by depicting the woes heaped upon the world in the name of religion.

In his study of human progress, Essay on General History and on the Customs and the Character of Nations (1756), Voltaire decried supernaturalism and denounced religion and the power of the clergy, although he made evident his own belief in the existence of God.

Further developing the tradition of Deism begun by Locke and other liberal thinkers, Voltaire reduced religious beliefs to those that can be justified by rational inference from the study of nature.

Voltaire's contradictions of character are reflected in his writings. He seemed able to defend either side in any debate, and to some of his contemporaries he appeared distrustful, avaricious and sardonic; others considered him generous, enthusiastic, and sentimental.

He rejected everything irrational and incomprehensible and called upon his contemporaries to act against intolerance, tyranny, and superstition.

His morality was founded on a belief in freedom of thought and respect for all individuals, and he maintained that literature should be useful and concerned with the problems of the day.

Rousseau
Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), was a French philosopher, social and political theorist, musician, botanist, and one of the most eloquent writers of the Enlightenment.

Rousseau criticized civilization as a corruption of humanity's nature and developed Hobbes' doctrine that the state is based on a social contract with its citizens and represents popular will.

In his Discourse on the Origin of Inequality Among Mankind (1755), he expounded the view that science, art, and social institutions have corrupted humankind and that the natural, or primitive, state is morally superior to the civilized state.

The persuasive rhetoric of these writings provoked derisive comments from Voltaire who attacked Rousseauís views, and subsequently the two philosophers became bitter enemies.

In his famous political treatise The Social Contract (1762), Rousseau developed a case for civil liberty and helped prepare the ideological background of the French Revolution by defending the popular will against divine right.

Although Rousseau contributed greatly to the movement for individual freedom and against the absolutism of church and state, his conception of the state as the embodiment of the abstract will of the people and his arguments for strict enforcement of political and religious conformity are regarded by some historians as a source of totalitarian ideology.

In his influential novel Émile (1762), Rousseau expounded a new theory of education emphasizing the importance of expression rather than repression to produce a well-balanced, freethinking child.

Rousseauís theory of education led to more permissive and more psychologically oriented methods of child care, and influenced later pioneers of modern education.

The spirit and ideas of Rousseauís work stand midway between the 18th century Enlightenment, with its passionate defense of reason and individual rights, and early 19th century romanticism, which defended intense subjective experience against rational thought.

In his romance The New Heloise (1761) and his autobiography Confessions (1782), Rousseau introduced a new style of extreme emotional expression. In these works he expressed his concern with intense personal experience, and explored the conflicts between moral and sensual values.

Rousseauís writings profoundly influenced romanticism in literature and philosophy in the early 19th century.

He also affected the development of the psychological literature, psychoanalytic theory, and the philosophy of existentialism of the 20th century, particularly in his insistence on free will, his rejection of the doctrine of original sin, and his defense of learning through experience rather than analysis.

 
Kant
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), the German philosopher, is considered by many to be the most influential thinker of modern times. He constructed a comprehensive system of philosophy that ranks among the greatest intellectual achievements in Western culture.

The keystone of Kant's philosophy is contained in his Critique of Pure Reason (1781) in which he examined the bases of human knowledge and created an individual epistemology. It is a distinctive philosophy often referred to as transcendentalism.

Kantís epistemology is often described as a compromise between empiricism and rationalism as his solution combined elements of each, the empiricist principle that all knowledge has its source in experience, and the rationalist belief in knowledge obtained by deduction.

He suggested that although the content of experience must be discovered through experience itself, the mind imposes form and order on all its experiences, and this form and order can be discovered a priorióthat is, by reflection alone.

Kant's metaphysical system may be summarized as follows:

The argument by which Kant sought to fix the limits of human knowledge within the framework of experience constitutes the critical feature of his philosophy; his point was to demonstrate the inability of the human mind to penetrate beyond experience, strictly by knowledge, to the realm of ultimate reality.

Kant distinguished between three types of knowledge:

Kantís ethical system, described in his Metaphysics of Ethics (1797), was based on a belief that reason is the final authority for morality.

According to Kant, actions of any sort must be undertaken from a sense of duty dictated by reason, and no action performed for expediency or solely in obedience to law or custom can be regarded as moral.

He held that moral principles are categorical imperatives, absolute commands of reason that permit no exceptions and are not related to pleasure or practical benefit.

In political and social thought Kant was a leading figure of the movement for reason and liberty against tradition and authority.

In his Critique of Practical Reason (1788) Kant described his belief in the fundamental freedom of the individual. This freedom was not the lawless freedom of anarchy, but rather the freedom of self-government, the freedom to obey consciously the laws of the universe as revealed by reason.

Kantís religious views are stated in his Religion Within the Boundaries of Pure Reason (1793), which emphasized individual conscience and represented God primarily as a moral ideal.

His system also sought to reconcile science and religion in a world of two levels:

Kant maintained that God, freedom, and human immortality are noumenal realities, concepts which are understood through moral faith rather than through scientific knowledge.
 
End of the Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment is usually said to have ended with the French Revolution of 1789; indeed, some see the social and political ferment of this period as being responsible for the Revolution.

While embodying many of the ideals of the philosophes, the Revolution in its more violent stages (1792-94) served to discredit these ideals temporarily in the eyes of many European contemporaries.

Yet the Enlightenment left a lasting heritage for the 19th and 20th centuries: it marked a key stage in the decline of the church and the growth of modern secularism; it served as the model for political and economic liberalism and for humanitarian reform throughout the 19th century.