Enlightenment

The Enlightenment was an 18th-century movement in European and American thought that emphasized the power of reason and science, rather than traditional doctrine, to understand and reform the world. Some historians also include 17th-century philosophy, usually called the Age of Reason.

The Enlightenment artistic style is called "classical" (as opposed to the earlier Baroque and the later Romantic styles). The Enlightenment marked advances in philosophy, the sciences (especially physics, chemistry and mathematics), economics, political theory, geography (especially exploration), and technology (especially the origins of the Industrial Revolution), though in fact the greatest achievements in those fields were typically inspired by Christianity.

Out of the Enlightenment emerged the new philosophy of liberalism. Thinkers like Adam Smith had a major impact on creating classical liberalism and the ideals of the free market. John Locke is often considered the father of the Enlightenment and wrote several works on social contract theory and religious toleration. Several of America's Founding Fathers were actively engaged in the Enlightenment, including Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, and their political thinking influenced American political ideas of republicanism.

Developed by the philosophes in France, England, Scotland, and the German states, the Enlightenment influenced the whole of Europe including Russia and Scandinavia, as well as the American colonies in the era of the American Revolution.

Political impact

The crowning political effect of the Enlightenment was the French Revolution, which culminated in the burning of churches and the beheading of accomplished Frenchmen. Culturally, the rise of Romanticism, with its quest for the unknown future, displaced classical Enlightenment forms, especially in music, painting, literature and philosophy, after 1810.

Liberalism (Classical liberalism) was one the dominant political thoughts to emerge from the European Enlightenment. Writers like John Locke imagined the foundations of classical liberal thought in government and society. In his Second Treatise of Civil Government, Locke expounds on the basic tenets of liberalism such as individual freedom, legal equality under the law, and private property. His concept of civil society was one of a contractual agreement between the citizens and a government formed to protect the fundamental rights of all persons.

These ideas provided a foundation for constitutional government and the creation of rights in the private and public sphere. Discussions between philosophes in French salons and in British coffeehouses created a community now regarded to as the "public sphere." This sharing of ideas between individuals without the overview of authority allowed for the creation and critique of ideas without fear of traditional authority figures. This tradition of the public sphere, or the "marketplace of ideas" is an underlying institution in Western democratic theory.

Constitutionalism competed with absolutism as a source of central, government power beginning the 17th century. In 1688, constitutionalism was codified in England during the ascension of William and Mary to the throne. An English Bill of Rights was also adopted. The French Revolution of 1789 replaced the absolutist tradition of the French Monarchy. American independence established a constitution (originally the Articles of Confederation and later the Constitution of 1787) and articles like the Declaration of Independence echoed themes of social contract theory.

Leaders

Intellectually the Enlightenment was identified with the French "philosophes" who aggressively spread the new gospel of reason. They were a brilliant collection of scientists, philosophers and writers including Voltaire, Montesquieu, Holbach, Condorcet, Denis Diderot, Buffon, Turgot and Jean-Jacques Rousseau in France. Other major leaders included David Hume, Adam Smith and several others in Scotland; John Locke, Edward Gibbon, Samuel Johnson and Jeremy Bentham in England; and Johann Herder, Gotthold Lessing and Immanuel Kant in Prussia.

Enlightened despots

Philosophers were endorsed by "enlightened despots"—rulers who tried to impose reform by authoritarian means, including Joseph II of the Holy Roman Empire (Austria), Frederick II of Prussia, Catherine II of Russia, and Charles III of Spain. Despite heading absolutist rather than constitutional governments, these rulers are considered enlightened because of policies and laws enacted during their rule. For example, during his rule Joseph II abolished hereditary servitude (serfdom) and enacted the Edict of Toleration that extended civil rights to non-Catholics and Jews.

America

In America the leading Enlightenment thinkers were Benjamin Franklin (who later rejected deism), Thomas Jefferson (along with James Monroe the least Christian of the Founding Fathers) and James Madison (who cited Enlightenment thinkers in his Federalist Papers). Others, such as the Rev. Jonathan Edwards and Rev. John Witherspoon, were devout and brilliant Christians who were original in their sermons and writings.

American thinkers read deeply in European thought but did not share the anti-religious views typical of European intellectuals. Because the established churches in the colonies were relatively weak and not politically powerful, American thinkers seldom attacked them and were able to incorporate and build on Christian faith more easily than their European counterparts.

Science

Advances in science had led to principles and laws that were knowable and unchanging as described within a naturalistic framework. The advances in mathematics and chemistry were especially strong. This idea of knowledge that could be observed apart from a direct explanation dealing with God led to a change in philosophical ideals, where man could shape and determine his own destiny including areas outside of science such as social and political realities. In a sense mans' view of his own ability to bring about change and a trust in himself to determine what that change needed to be crystallized in the thought process of the times among the philosophical elite.

Writers during the Enlightenment assumed that all branches of science could emulate the achievements in physics of Isaac Newton, through a systematic and logical approach.

Deism

Some of the Enlightenment leaders of the period challenged traditional Christianity as they adopted God in a deist form that saw his role as the clockmaker, not the personal guide. While much of the population of the times remained Christian in terms of performing traditional rituals, deism took root in England, France, and the American colonies. Historians have pointed out that argues that belief in Christianity continued to flourish at the grass roots level.

Pietism

Pietism was a new and powerful religious movement that emerged among Lutheran and Reformed circles, especially in Germany. It stressed a vision of individual rebirth as opposed to ritual and theology, with stress on individual moral behavior. Pietism promoted revivals and missionary activism to convert the world to Christ. American versions of pietism include the revivals of the First Great Awakening and was especially manifest in the rapid growth of Baptist and Methodist churches. The First Great Awakening launched evangelicalism in America.

Ending

Politically the French Revolution of the 1790s ended the movement. Culturally, the rise of Romanticism, with its quest for the unknown future, displaced classical Enlightenment forms, especially in music, painting, literature and philosophy, after 1810.

In a deeper sense, the ideas and ways of thought of the Enlightenment, especially regarding the value of science and systematic inquiry, have become a permanent part of the modern world. Many ideas and methods of the Enlightenment are still with us, and conservatives especially admire the work of Montesquieu and Smith, as well as the Americans Franklin, Jefferson, Hamilton and Madison.

Counter-Enlightenment

Opposition to the spirit of the Enlightenment was led by intellectuals such as Edmund Burke in Britain, who opposed the French Revolution and exalted the bonds of tradition. Opposition escalated in the Romantic era after 1810. In Germany, Herder rejected the French love of abstract ideas in favor of the genius of the German people for instinct and poetry. Important counter-Enlightenment historians included Scottish conservative Thomas Carlyle, and French scholars Ernest Renan and Hippolyte Taine. In the 20th century Italian philosopher Benedetto Croce and German historian Oswald Spengler were notable opponents of the French Revolution, and the idea of universal reason.

See also

• Philosophes
• Declaration of the Rights of Man
• Natural born citizen

Further reading

• Becker, Carl L. The Heavenly City of the Eighteenth-Century Philosophers. (932)
• Buchan, James. Crowded with Genius: The Scottish Enlightenment: Edinburgh's Moment of the Mind (2004) excerpt and text search
• Buck-Morss, Susan. Hegel, Haiti, and Universal History. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2009.
• Burns, William. Science in the Enlightenment: An Encyclopedia (2003) 353pp
• Cassirer, Ernst. The Philosophy of the Enlightenment. 1955. a highly influential study by a neoKantian philosopher excerpt and text search
• Chisick, Harvey. Historical Dictionary of the Enlightenment. 2005. 512 pp
• Delon, Michel. Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment (2001) 1480pp
• Fitzpatrick, Martin et al., eds. The Enlightenment World. (2004). 714pp; 39 essays by scholars online edition
• Gay, Peter. The Enlightenment: The Rise of Modern Paganism (1966, 2nd ed. 1995), 952 pp; excerpt and text search vol 1; The Enlightenment: The Science of Freedom, (1969 2nd ed. 1995), a highly influential study excerpt and text search vol 2;
• Goodman, Dena. The Republic of Letters: A Cultural History of the French Enlightenment (1994) 338 pp online edition
• Hazard, Paul. European thought in the eighteenth century: From Montesquieu to Lessing (1965)
• Himmelfarb, Gertrude. The Roads to Modernity: The British, French, and American Enlightenments. 2004. 272 pp. by a leading conservative scholar
• Imhof, Ulrich. The Enlightenment. 1994. 310 pp.
• Israel, Jonathan, Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity 1650-1750. Oxford:Oxford University Press, 2001.
• Kors, Alan Charles. Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment (4 vol. 1990; 2nd ed. 2003), 1984pp excerpt and text search; also complete text online at www.oxfordreference.com by a leading conservative scholar
• May, Henry F. The Enlightenment in America. 1976. 419 pp.
• Nesbitt, Nick. Universal Emancipation: The Haitian Revolution and the Radical Enlightenment. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2008.
• Outram, Dorinda. The Enlightenment(1995) 157pp excerpt and text search
• Porter, Roy. The Enlightenment (2nd ed. 2001) excerpt and text search
• Porter, Roy. The Creation of the Modern World: The Untold Story of the British Enlightenment. 2000. 608 pp. excerpt and text search
• Reid-Maroney, Nina. Philadelphia's Enlightenment, 1740-1800: Kingdom of Christ, Empire of Reason. 2001. 199 pp.
• Reill, Peter Hanns, and Wilson, Ellen Judy. Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment. (2nd ed. 2004). 670 pp.
• Staloff, Darren. Hamilton, Adams, Jefferson: The Politics of Enlightenment and the American Founding. 2005. 419 pp. excerpt and text search
• Till, Nicholas. Mozart and the Enlightenment: Truth, Virtue, and Beauty in Mozart's Operas. 1993. 384 pp.
• Yolton, John W. et al. The Blackwell Companion to the Enlightenment. 1992. 581 pp.

Primary sources

• Broadie, Alexander, ed. The Scottish Enlightenment: An Anthology (2001) excerpt and text search
• Jacob, Margaret C. The Enlightenment: Brief History with Documents (2000) excerpt and text search
• Williams, David, ed. The Enlightenment (Cambridge Readings in the History of Political Thought) (1999) excerpt and text search