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The Enlightenment (1685-1850)

By: Shebra Sanders

Global History from the 15th Century Instructor: Arthur Finkle June 21, 2013

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The Enlightenment, also referred to as, the Age of Reason, came about on the heels of the prosperity and splendor of the sixteenth century. The seventeenth century brought civil wars, famine and several crises that tore Europe apart. These events also made some individuals want to do away with the traditional ways of thinking and behaving and worshipping. As literate, middle-class men and women gained confidence in being able to reason for themselves, to understand the world without calling on traditional authorities, and to publicly criticize what they found distasteful or wrong, contemporaries recognized that they were living in an increasingly enlightened age.1 Part of what gave Enlightenment thinkers such influence in Europe and beyond was that they wanted not just to convey new ideas to the elite but also to spread them widely. They hoped to change their contemporaries worldviews and to transform political and social institutions.2 Men and women Enlightenment thinkers gathered in public places they called salons, in cafs, theaters, they published newspapers, books, and pamphlets to communicate with each other and the public in general. The Enlightenment period produced inventions, scientific discoveries, laws, wars and revolutions. The American and French Revolutions were directly inspired by Enlightenment ideals and respectively marked the peak of its influence and the beginning of its decline.3 Centuries before the Enlightenment era, scientists Nicolaus Copernicus(1473-1542) and Galileo Galilei(1564-1642) sought to understand the heavens. They were both mathematicians and astronomers, and by making their charts and calculations they came to conclusions that went against traditional thinking. When Galileo confirmed Copernicuss claims that the earth revolved around the sun, he was put on trial for heresy and sentenced to house arrest. During the early Enlightenment an influential group of

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scholars committed themselves to critical thinking and observation . They adopted a method for scientific inquiry laid out by the philosopher Sir Francis Bacon(1561-1626), who claimed that real science entailed the formation of hypotheses that could be tested in carefully controlled experiments. With the new scientific method being practiced, scientists like Sir Isaac Newton defined new laws of motion and matter that went against and mocked old ideas as obsolete. Through observations and experiment, Newton wrote his Principia Mathematica which set forth the laws of motion, including the famous law of gravitation, which simultaneously explained falling bodies on earth and planetary motion.4 Perhaps equally important was John Lockes Essay Concerning Human Understanding. This work, along with Newtons Principia Mathematica provided the scientific, mathematical and philosophical groundwork for the Enlightenments major advances.5 Although the Enlightenment may have originated in European nations but its influenced reached other countries, so there was no unified Enlightenment; instead the movement could have been referred to as the French Enlightenment, Spanish Enlightenment, Scottish Enlightenment, etc. Enlightenment thinkers very often had different approaches, they seldom agreed on ideas. Locke differed from Hume, Rousseau from Voltaire, Thomas Jefferson from Frederick the Great. Their differences and disagreements, though, emerged out of the common Enlightenment themes of rational questioning and belief in progress in dialogue.6 Enlightenment thinkers believed in the power of human reason and the perfectibility of humankind; they rejected the medieval belief in mans sinful nature and helplessness in the face of earthly evils. Such thinkers included the

Sanders 4 French writers Voltaire(1694-1778) and Denis Diderot (1713-1784) and the Scottish economist Adam Smith (1723-1790). But these writers also called attention to the evils and flaws of human society: Voltaire criticized the torture of criminals, Diderot denounced the despotic tendencies of the French kings Louis XIV and Louis XV, and Smith exposed the inefficiency of mercantilism.7 Americans should study the Enlightenment because it defined most of the ideals the U. S. was founded on. The American colonies were separated geographically from the aristocrats they wanted independence from, while Europeans were not. The Founding Fathers, especially Thomas Jefferson, echoed the ideals of the Enlightenment thinkers of England, and to some extent, France. The God Jefferson summons in the Declaration of Independence is the same God Rousseau wrote of in his works. Enlightenment thinking was found all over Europe, however the impact was varied. Enlightened thought flourished in commercial centers like Amsterdam and Edinburgh and in colonial ports like Philadelphia and Boston.8 As education became more accessible to the general public, and not just a privilege for the elite, literacy rates increased, which in turn generated increased need for books, magazines and other publications. These publications were not always the product of high intellectuals, such as Voltaire or Rousseau, but from sensationalist essayists,9 who wrote of corruption in government and business , as well as sex and pornography, which sold well. Some even mocked the church and the royal family (Louis XIV being spanked, Marie Antionette having sex with her priest). Such works displayed the seamier side of the Enlightenment, but they also revealed a willingness (on the part of high and low intellectuals alike) to explore modes of thought that defied established beliefs and

Sanders 5 institutions.10 Coffee houses, book clubs and salons were established throughout Europe. In England, businessman as well as well-to-do commoners gathered to discuss things like literature, stock prices, technology and government. In Paris, women of the elite hosted salons, where they and others were free to speak their mind. Aspiring journalists frequently attended these public gatherings with hopes of finding jobs or getting commissions for their work. Also, at this time, probably as a result of the Enlightenment, libraries now opened to the public.11 Although Enlightenment thinkers took money from the aristocracy many of them challenged traditional class distinctions that were a common part of European life. Philosopher John Locke (1632-1704) and economist Adam Smith had similar beliefs that everyone was basically born equal, but with unequal opportunities most were not able to rise to higher social levels. However, Locke and Smith believed that a mixed set of social and political institutions was necessary, and they did not believe women could act as independent rational individuals in the same way that all men, presumably could.12 The Enlightenment movement set the path to Romanticism, but 19th century Liberalism and Classicism, not to mention 20th century Modernism, all owe a heavy debt to the thinkers of the Enlightenment.13

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Notes

1. Robert Tignor et al., Worlds Together Worlds Apart, 3rd ed., vol. 2 (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2011), 543. 2. Tignor et al., Worlds Together Worlds Apart, 542. 3. "Enlightenment," The History Channel Website, "The High Enlightenment: 17301780, accessed June 23, 2013, http://www.history.com/topics/enlightenment. 4. Robert Tignor et al., Worlds Together Worlds Apart, 3rd ed., vol. 2 (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2011), 544-545. 5. "Enlightenment," The History Channel Website, "The High Enlightenment: 17301780, accessed June 23, 2013, http://www.history.com/topics/enlightenment. 6. "Enlightenment," The History Channel Website, "The High Enlightenment: 17301780, accessed June 23, 2013, http://www.history.com/topics/enlightenment. 7. Robert Tignor et al., Worlds Together Worlds Apart, 3rd ed., vol. 2 (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2011), 545-546. 8. Tignor et al., Worlds Together Worlds Apart, 546. 9. Tignor et al., Worlds Together Worlds Apart, 546. 10. Tignor et al., Worlds Together Worlds Apart, 546. 11. Tignor et al., Worlds Together Worlds Apart, 547. 12. Tignor et al., Worlds Together Worlds Apart, 547. 13. "Enlightenment," The History Channel Website, "The Late Enlightenment and Beyond: 1780-1815, accessed June 23, 2013, http://www.history.com/topics/enlightenment.

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Bibliography "Enlightenment." The History Channel Website. Accessed June 23, 2013. http://www.history.com/topics/enlightenment. Tignor, Robert, Jeremy Adelman, Stephen Aron, Stephen Kotkin, Suzanne Marchand, Gyan Prakash, and Michael Tsin. Worlds Together Worlds Apart. 3rd ed. Vol. 2. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2011.