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HIS-102 Honors

Professor Chu

May 6, 2015

The Enlightenment and the Cause of Reason

The Enlightenment period in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, saw a coupling of the

humanist ideals of the Renaissance with the rational thought and empiricism of the Scientific

Revolution of the preceding century. The Enlightenment typified a great exchange of ideas

across the continent, emphasizing progressive values of humanitarianism, religious tolerance,

and liberty. It was a period of economic growth and intellectual vitality, allowing for lives of

further comfort and curiosity to be satisfied by a newly interconnected world. The dissemination

of ideas was aided by increased rates of literacy and the affordability of printed materials for less

wealthy individuals. Philosophes and thinkers like Voltaire became famous across the continent,

pushing for political reforms and tolerance, influenced by the intellectual thought of Britain,

including Locke, Newton, and Hume. The Enlightenment was a time in which competing ideas

and philosophies on nature, man, liberty, and the state, were directed toward the larger

populations of European nations, enticing the average citizen to take positions on issues of

justice, and contributing to the rapidly shifting cultural and political landscapes of the time.

Ultimately progress became primary concern of the philosophes and thinkers of the

Enlightenment. Though often considered separate epochs in different regions (German, British,

French, Italian), Enlightenment thought was similarly imbued with the structural integrity that

scientific methodology lent discovery in the previous century, Enlightenment thinkers employed

empirical rational thought with great confidence, and sought to address complex moral concerns
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in long-form treatises. Leonard Marsak writes in The Enlightenment, "The philosophes believed

that social progress is promoted by science in stages of increasing refinement: from material

progress to the progress of knowledge, to the progress of the mind through the increase of

reason" (6). Philosophes drew from Locke's Essay concerning Human Understanding the

concept of "the goodness and perfectibility of humanity" (Cole, Symes 552), invoking new

science and seeking to organize all knowledge using the scientific method.

The time of the Enlightenment was one of great urbanization and expansion of wealth

and territory for the European states. The colonies in the Americas, as well as India and Pacific

regions provided abundant resources and wealth to trading economies in imperialist European

empires. Increased wealth allowed for massive population growth, especially in Northwest

Europe, which improved the standard of living with greater food production, better nutrition, and

availability of luxury items imported from all over the world. A true consumer economy

emerged in Britain and demand for exotic fashions grew, creating "a European economy vastly

more complex, specialized ... integrated ... commercialized ... and productive" than ever before

(Cole, Symes 551). These rapid changes allowed ordinary citizens, less concerned with

everyday survival, to view a wider world in relation to themselves, reading popular philosophy

and integrating notions of progress, justice, and history into their present circumstances.

The most famous philosphe of the time was Voltaire, born Francois Marie Arouet in

France to middle class parents. Voltaire was a staunch defender of religious freedom and civil

liberties, publically criticizing the persecution of Protestants in his native France, and lauding the

British system of governance by checks and balances. His work Philosophical Letter published

in 1734 compared the absolute monarchy of France with the British system he admired, and it

"became a stinging critique of France - and other absolutist countries on the Continent" (Cole,
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Symes 552). The Baron de Montesquieu published The Spirit of Laws in 1748, in which he

utilized "comparative historical sociology" (Cole, Symes 554) in examining the nature of

governments and their laws, characterizing each the three true forms of government, associating

monarchies with honor, republics with virtue, and despotism with fear.

The rejection of monarchal rule, as well as Church dogma disagreed with by most deist

philosophes caused tension between the intellectual movement and the existing institutions of the

time. Voltaire was a fierce critic of religious bigotry, at a time when Louis XIV's repeal of the

Edict of Nantes allowed for continued persecution of French Protestants. "The original Protestant

assertion initiates a crisis of authority regarding religious belief, a crisis of authority that,

expanded and generalized and even, to some extent, secularized, becomes a central characteristic

of the Enlightenment spirit" (stanford.edu). However, Enlightenment thinkers were often less

sympathetic to the traditions of Judaism and Islam, and the values of personal liberty and

humanitarianism often stopped short of espousing direct criticism of the slave trade that

supported the mercantile economies of France and Britain.

The Enlightenment stands as a time of great intellectual and political upheaval, though

the endeavor of Enlightenment thinkers to collect and organize information contributed so

greatly to the advancement of science, culture, and language, it may rival the impact of the

revolutions also inspired by Enlightenment thought. With the aide of his contemporaries, Denis

Diderot sought to house a summary of "the most contemporary philosophical, scientific, and

technical knowledge" (Cole, Symes 555) available in his Encyclopedia, published over twenty

years in seventeen volumes. Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus published Systema Naturae in

1735, developing the concept of taxonomy, now the binomial nomenclature used in the

cataloging of plants and animals. Samuel Johnson personally compiled and published the fist
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dictionary, consisting of 2,300 pages and 42,000 entries, and considered one of the most

important books published in the English language.

The Enlightenment thinkers' focus on religious and personal liberty naturally extended to

the laws of the state. Voltaire gained prominence for his vociferous criticism of the trial, torture

and a death sentence of Jean Calles, accused of his own son's murder. Voltaire's opinions

utilized Cesare Beccaria's On Crimes and Punishments, published in 1764, which opposed

corporal and capital punishment, arguing instead for "the greatest possible leniency compatible

with deterrence" (Cole, Symes 556). Beccaria was so influential that by 1800 most European

countries had abolished torture and "reserved the death penalty for capital crimes" (Cole, Symes

556).

Competing viewpoints on systems of economic organization were also expounded upon

in Enlightenment thought. Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations,

published by Scottish economist Adam Smith in 1776, advocates an un-tethered free market,

guided by invisible market forces that optimize an open economy free of state intervention.

Smith may prove one of the greatest influences on the political climate to follow the

Enlightenment, as socialist and capitalist viewpoints split public opinion to bellicose effect in the

turbulent 20th century. Jean Rousseau was another influential thinker; however Rousseau

considered private property and socio-economic institutions to be the root of all evil. Rousseau

advocated a return to a natural state where men were equal. Women however, remained un-

equal in the eyes of Rousseau and other Enlightenment thinkers. No surprise that Rousseau's

greatest critic was Mary Wollstonecraft, whom published A Vindication of the Rights of Women

in 1792 arguing women were as equal to men as Rousseau considered all men equal to one

another.
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The end of the Enlightenment period was a time of turbulent revolution in the new world

and on the European continent. The American Revolution against British rule was influenced by

Enlightenment thinkers, as was the French Revolution to follow. Both events altered the

political landscape, introducing democracy and republican constitutional ideals and re-shaped the

Western world for centuries to come. War and upheaval spread the ideals of liberty and

fraternity to other nations in the European continent under the control of Absolutist monarchs,

though the rise of Napoleon reinstituted imperial and monarchic values. In all the greatest

influence of the Enlightenment may be an emphasis on education and literacy fostered by liberal

laws allowing for mass publication, and thereby dissemination of literary works in the period.

The expanding of language, philosophy, liberty, education and democratic and egalitarian ideals

within the Enlightenment period stands as a marvel in human history. It is a period of great

political upheaval and revolution, as well as meticulous scientific research and encyclopedism.

The common thread of progress running through the work of thinkers in different regions and

states across Europe is one that has advanced human knowledge and liberty, and the period

serves as an emblem of the benevolence of human capability.

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Works Cited

Bristow, William, "Enlightenment", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2011

Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.),

<http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2011/entries/enlightenment/>.

Cole, Joshua and Carol Symes. Western Civilizations: Their History & Their Culture. 18th. New

York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2014.

Marsak, Leonard. The Enlightenment. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1972.