Age of Enlightenment

[[File:Oer-Weimarer Musenhof.jpg|thumb|right|250px|''Weimar's Courtyard of the Muses''.]]
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{{Ctransquote|Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed immaturity. […] ''Sapere aude!''<ref group=note>English translation: "Dare to be wise!"</ref> Have courage to use your own understanding! That is the motto of Enlightenment.|German|Aufklärung ist der Ausgang des Menschen aus seiner selbst verschuldeten Unmündigkeit. […] Sapere aude! Habe Mut, dich deines eigenen Verstandes zu bedienen! ist also der Wahlspruch der Aufklärung.|||[[Immanuel Kant]], <i>Answering the Question: What is Enlightenment?</i><ref>An English translation of [http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/documents/What_is_Enlightenment.pdf Kant's essay] and [http://www.zeno.org/Philosophie/M/Kant,+Immanuel/Beantwortung+der+Frage%3A+Was+ist+Aufkl%C3%A4rung? the original in German].</ref>}}

'''The Enlightenment''' or '''The Age of Enlightenment''' (an approximation of the [[German]] <i>Aufklärung</i>) was an era in the 17<sup>th</sup> to 18<sup>th</sup> century that occurred following the [[Renaissance]], and describes the period when Western [[philosophy]] switched to advocating [[rationalism|reason]] as a primary source of authority. Its impact on Western thought, and indeed [[Western civilization]] in the long term, can hardly be overstated, although [[Discovery Institute|some people]] sort of missed out on this period. It marks a time when [[philosopher]]s across [[Europe]] as well as in the [[North America]]n colonies presented a fundamental challenge to many long-held beliefs and traditional [[dogma]]s, resulting in significant [[Society|societal]] upheaval, most notably the [[American Revolution|American]] and [[French Revolution]]s.

==Key concepts==
Enlightenment philosophy is an umbrella term for many divergent schools of thought, and being philosophers, those who adhered to it loved nothing better than to quibble with each other. It is nevertheless possible to make out some general features of this broader trend: at the center of Enlightenment thought is the human capacity for [[Critical thinking|critical reasoning]], an ability which philosophers of the time considered to have so far been underutilized and rendered impotent by unquestioning adherence to [[tradition]] and [[superstition]], as well as [[Censorship|deliberate suppression]] at the hands of traditional [[elite]]s.<ref group=note>Seriously, read Kant's essay. It's among the most powerful words ever written.</ref> This leads directly to the fundamental importance of [[freethought]] as well as the ability to voice one's opinions freely in the public square, without having to fear repercussions from those in power. An important goal of the Enlightenment was to offer opportunities for [[education]] to the broader populace, so they might be empowered to engage in free and public [[debates]] as well. 

Historian Johnathan Israel differentiated between two forms of Enlightenment thought:<ref>''Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity 1650-1750'' by Jonathan I. Israel (2002) Oxford University Press. ISBN  0199254567.</ref>
#[[Baruch Spinoza]]'s ''radical'' ideals of "[[democracy]]; [[racial]] and [[feminism|sexual equality]]; individual liberty of lifestyle; full freedom of thought, expression, and the press; eradication of religious authority from the legislative process and education; and full [[separation of church and state]]," and
#[[Rene Descartes]], [[John Locke]] and [[Isaac Newton]]'s ''moderate'' take on the [[religious]] and [[political]] establishment of the time, believing that they should be reformed from within, rather than quickly destroyed (the influence of which could be seen in the advocacy of [[constitution]]al [[monarchy]] over the excesses of the French Revolution).

==Influences==
===Human rights===
{{main|Human rights}}
Enlightenment philosophers, most notably John Locke, developed the modern form of the notion that all human beings possess certain universal and unalienable [[rights]] that are independent of the society in which they live. Drawing on the work of [[Thomas Hobbes]] and his concept of the [[social contract]], Locke argued that humans have a natural right to life, liberty, and the ownership of property.<ref>Project Gutenberg: John Locke, [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/7370 <i>Second Treatise of Government</i>]</ref> Spinoza identified the concept of ''right'' with power or capability to do something, and saw this as a fundamental aspect of citizenship and believed that outcomes were better when reason played a larger role in political decision-making.

While the establishment of a sovereign government is in the rational interest of the would-be subjects, it can only be legitimate if it serves to uphold and defend these rights, and is therefore constrained by them. In the [[USA]], this sentiment was echoed in the Declaration of Independence and codified in the subsequent constitutional [[Bill of Rights]], as far as US citizens are concerned. The [[French]] ''Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen'' of 1789 takes a more explicitly universalist approach.<ref> de Lafayette, M., 1789., ''Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen.'' [http://www.hrcr.org/docs/frenchdec.html English translation]</ref>

===Politics===
[[File:Thomas Paine by Matthew Pratt, 1785-95.jpg|thumb|left|145px|Thomas Paine, American political activist.]]
The aforementioned notion of natural human rights, most importantly [[liberty]], that exists independently from the [[state]] has sweeping implications for the legitimacy of any government. Both Locke and [[Thomas Paine]] argued that [[revolution]] is permissible if a government does not respect the fundamental rights of its citizens.<ref>Thomas Paine,''The Rights of Man''.</ref> This served to justify both the American and French revolutions and subsequent successful (at least in the US) attempts to establish orders based on the explicit consent and participation of the governed, an important precedent in the development of modern democracy. Enlightenment thinkers were not unanimously in favour of this development; notably, Immanuel Kant rejected any right to a revolt against even a [[dictator]]ial government and praised the "enlightened absolutism" of his native Prussia. Other influential philosophers of the time supplied additional underpinnings of modern liberal democracy: [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]] put forward the notion of popular sovereignty and reaffirmed a [[republic]]an model of the state,<ref>Rousseau, J., J., ''The Social Contract''</ref> while {{wpl|Montesquieu}} developed the doctrine of the separation of powers as a safeguard against tyranny.<ref>Constitution.org: Charles de Montesquieu, [http://www.constitution.org/cm/sol.htm ''The Spirit of Law'']</ref> Montesquieu's analysis was that each of the differing types of governments&nbsp;— democracy, monarchy, and [[despotism]]&nbsp;— had strengths but were subject to specific weaknesses, and that the best way to remedy the weaknesses with each type was to combine elements of each into a republican form of government, with checks and balances among the different branches.

[[File:Buffon 1707-1788.jpg|thumb|left|145px|Georges Buffon, author of the ''Histoire naturelle''.]]

===Education and science===
{{cquote|Modernism began in the mid-nineteenth century as a response not only to the restrictions and hypocrisies of everyday life, but also as a reaction to the Enlightenment's emphasis on the rationality of human behavior.&nbsp;— The founders of the Royal Society thought of [[God]] as a [[mathematician]] who had designed the [[universe]] according to [[logical]] and mathematical principles. The role of the scientist&nbsp;— the natural philosopher was to… decipher the codebook that God had used in creating the cosmos.|||Eric Kandel, American neuropsychiatrist.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Ryz6DwlI94UC&pg=PA11&lpg=PA11&dq=Modernism+began+in+the+mid-nineteenth+century+as+a+response+not+only+to+the+restrictions+and+hypocrisies+of+everyday+life,+but+also+as+a+reaction+to+the+Enlightenment%27s+emphasis+on+the+rationality+of+human+behavior.+...The+founders+of+the+Royal+Society+thought+of+God+as+a+mathematician+who+had+designed+the+universe+according+to+logical+and+mathematical+principles.+The+role+of+the+scientist%E2%80%94the+natural+philosopher+was+to...+decipher+the+codebook+that+God+had+used+in+creating+the+cosmos.&source=bl&ots=P81pTNkA9m&sig=ACfU3U34M-RGQ6ptKD57Z8T9CQ-7jFwtBw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwipk_Gh2KXiAhVNPK0KHawbC-kQ6AEwAXoECFYQAQ#v=onepage&q=Modernism%20began%20in%20the%20mid-nineteenth%20century%20as%20a%20response%20not%20only%20to%20the%20restrictions%20and%20hypocrisies%20of%20everyday%20life%2C%20but%20also%20as%20a%20reaction%20to%20the%20Enlightenment's%20emphasis%20on%20the%20rationality%20of%20human%20behavior.%20...The%20founders%20of%20the%20Royal%20Society%20thought%20of%20God%20as%20a%20mathematician%20who%20had%20designed%20the%20universe%20according%20to%20logical%20and%20mathematical%20principles.%20The%20role%20of%20the%20scientist%E2%80%94the%20natural%20philosopher%20was%20to...%20decipher%20the%20codebook%20that%20God%20had%20used%20in%20creating%20the%20cosmos.&f=false The Age of Insight: The Quest to Understand the Unconscious in Art, Mind and Brain] Erich Kandel.</ref>}}
While the [[scientific revolution]] predates the Age of Enlightenment, this period saw significant advances in the circulation and availability of scientific [[knowledge]], mostly due to the rapid proliferation of books and newspapers among an increasingly literate populace.<ref>International World History Project: [http://history-world.org/age_of_enlightenment.htm The Age of Enlightenment]</ref> Debate societies, book clubs and coffeehouses sprang up in the cities, exposing broader social strata to the newest ideas and bringing the academic ideals of open debate into the public sphere. In their role as ''salonnières'', women began to participate and play an important part in these debates, although only a small number of them had this opportunity. The first edition of the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' was published in 1768 and became an instant hit despite its [[wiki|severely constrained editability]]. First attempts were made to apply the [[scientific method]] to the study of patterns in human behaviour, most notably by [[Adam Smith]], generally considered to be the father of [[economics]]. 

==Limits of reason==
[[File:Salon de Madame Geoffrin.jpg|thumb|left|300px|A French intellectual society—a salon—discusses the works of Voltaire.]]
Although the Enlightenment is often associated with the rigorous application of logic and scientific principles to all areas of human life (this is the premise of critiques such as Max Horkheimer and [[Theodor Adorno]]'s ''Dialectic of Enlightenment'',<ref>''Dialectic of Enlightenment'' by Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno (2007) Stanford University Press. ISBN  0804736332.</ref> as well as many contemporary defenders of Enlightenment principles), most Enlightenment thinkers were concerned with identifying the limits of rationality, establishing where reason could and could not be applied, and what other methods were available to understand the world and make judgments about science, [[morality]], and [[art]]. While early proto-Enlightenment thinkers such as Spinoza and Descartes typically applied rationality and mathematical models to all areas of thought, from the mid 18<sup>th</sup> century this was critiqued by figures such as [[David Hume]] and [[Immanuel Kant]].

Kant's ''Critique of Pure Reason'' claimed that human reason is based on sensory data but constrained by innate mental structures. He deduced that reason could not be usefully applied to areas not directly accessible to perception, such as the human [[mind]] or [[soul]]; cosmological questions and [[metaphysics]]; or God.<ref>Williams, Garrath, [http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2016/entries/kant-reason/ "Kant's Account of Reason"], The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2016 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.).</ref>

Particularly in [[Britain]] and [[Ireland]], many philosophers such as Adam Smith, the Earl of Shaftesbury, Francis Hutcheson, and to some degree Hume, believed [[human]] beings have an innate moral sense that allows us to tell what is right or wrong without the application of reason.<ref>{{wpa|Moral sense theory}}</ref> Many philosophers applied similar ideas about the existence of an [[Aesthetics|aesthetic]] sense to the appreciation of beauty, although few people even today would claim the assessment of art is based purely on reason.

Much of David Hume's work was focused on setting out what we could not know. His skepticism extended to denying that one could have knowledge of [[Causality|cause and effect]] or certainty about any thought process involving [[induction]]. Hume concluded that one must rely in one's everyday life on beliefs that cannot be proven, including the connections of cause and effect and the supposition that the future will resemble the past.<ref>C. M. Lorkowski, [http://www.iep.utm.edu/hume-cau/ "David Hume: Causation"], Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy</ref>

Hence, the Enlightenment model of the human mind is far from naive [[scientism]] or [[positivism]].

==See also==
*[[Liberalism]]
*[[Romanticism]]—the antithesis of enlightenment..

===Notable Enlightenment thinkers===
{{collist|2|
*[[Pierre Bayle]]
*[[Baron d'Holbach]]
*{{wpl|Denis Diderot}}
*{{wpl|Émilie du Châtelet}}
*[[David Hume]]
*[[Thomas Jefferson]]
*[[Immanuel Kant]]
*{{wpl|Pierre-Simon Laplace}}
*{{wpl|Antoine Lavoisier}}
*[[John Locke]]
* [[Thomas Paine]]
*{{wpl|Thomas Reid}}
*{{wpl|Jean le Rond d'Alembert}}
* [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]]
*[[Spinoza|Baruch Spinoza]]
*[[Giambattista Vico]]
*[[Voltaire]]
* {{wpl|John Wilmot}}&nbsp;— the father of libertinism.
}}

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|90%}}

===Sources===
==== Primary sources ====
* Kant, I., 2013. ''An answer to the question:'What is enlightenment?'.'' Penguin UK.
* Locke, J., 2015. ''The second treatise of civil government.'' Broadview Press; [https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7370 Project Gutenberg link];                                   [https://openlibrary.org/search?q=The+second+treatise+of+civil+government&mode=everything Internet Archive link].
* de Lafayette, M., 1789., ''Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen.'' Approved by the National Constituent Assembly of France, August 26, 1789.
* Paine, T., 2011. ''Rights of man.'' Broadview Press.
* Rousseau, J.J., 2018. ''Rousseau: The Social Contract and other later political writings.'' Cambridge University Press.

====Secondary sources ====
== Further Reading ==
* Israel, J., 2011. [http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9011.html ''A Revolution of the Mind: Radical Enlightenment and the Intellectual Origins of Modern Democracy''].
* Wilmot, J., 2002. A Satyr against Reason and Mankind. ''The Debt to Pleasure: John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, in the Eyes of His Contemporaries and in His Own Poetry and Prose.'' New York: Routledge, pp.98-103.
== External Links ==
* Steinberg, J., Summer 2019 Edition, [https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2019/entries/spinoza-political "Spinoza’s Political Philosophy"], The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Edward N. Zalta (ed.).
*[http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3742 Project Gutenberg: ''The rights of man''].

{{DEFAULTSORT:Enlightenment}}
[[Category:Classical liberalism]]
[[Category:European history]]
[[Category:Liberalism]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]
[[Category:Rationalism]]
[[Category:Secularism]]
[[Category:United States history]]

Categories: Classical liberalism, European history, Liberalism, Philosophy, Rationalism, Secularism, United States history