The Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an intellectual and cultural movement in the eighteenth century that emphasized reason over superstition and science over blind faith. It grew out of a period of rapid social and economic change, particularly in Europe. Its supporters considered it a major turning point in Western civilization. It brought scientific advancement and a new emphasis on openness, investigation, and religious tolerance.
Ideas that Dominated Enlightenment Thought
Several ideas dominated Enlightenment thought, including rationalism, empiricism, progressivism, and cosmopolitanism. These principles were embraced by many people, but they also made the Enlightenment a highly contested period of history.
Rationalism
The most important philosophical idea of the Enlightenment was rationalism, which advocates the use of human reason to understand the world and to make sense of it. It is characterized by the belief that human reasoning has the capacity to uncover the truths hidden in conventional beliefs and to sift out unsound and irrational theories, such as those underlying religion. It is a strand of philosophy that focuses on the nature of morality and the nature of the universe, and it argues for an account of human behavior that is based on empirical knowledge about humans.
Empirical Accounts of Moral Virtue
Empirical accounts of moral virtue were a significant part of the ethical strand of the Enlightenment. The Third Earl of Shaftesbury, for example, wrote Characteristics of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times (1711), which is a work that demonstrates the importance of using empirical data to provide a foundation for the conception of moral virtue.
Re-conceiving the World
In other areas of philosophy, the focus on reason also encouraged a re-conception of the world. For example, Isaac Newton's successful re-conceiving of the natural world as a series of mathematical laws explains how nature can be observed and described without reference to the metaphysical presuppositions and doctrines of traditional theology.This re-conception, which is based on an a priori, clear and certain scientific method of observation and explanation, encouraged the development of numerous sciences throughout the period, some of which are still considered autonomous disciplines today (e.g., physics, sociology, anthropology), and others that are only formally established as such later.
Rethinking Humanity's Place in the Cosmos
As a result of this re-conception, Enlightenment thinkers often took up the challenge to re-think humanity's place in the cosmos. For instance, the French philosopher Baron d'Holbach wrote System of Nature in 1770, which at once expresses the self-assertiveness characteristic of Enlightenment thought while simultaneously painting a portrait of humanity that dramatically deflates its traditional conception of itself as a privileged species in the world.Another re-conception of the cosmos was embodied by the French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau in his On the Social Contract, which presented a strong contrast to Lockean liberal political theory and proposed that human freedom could be achieved only through direct democracy.
The Challenge of Balancing Rights and Interests
While a number of Enlightenment thinkers sought to develop a positive model of governmental organization, they struggled to explain how this could be done in a way that did not violate the ideals of liberty and equality. In particular, the problem of balancing the rights and interests of different groups in society, such as women and non-whites, remains unresolved.
