The Enlightenment

The later Enlightenment (*liberty)

By the end of the 18th Century, some philosophers began to move beyond their predecessors after growing up with the worldview of the Enlightenment. Rousseau was perhaps the most famous philosopher that argued that people had adopted laws and governors in order to preserve their private property. In doing so however, they became enslave by the government. Rousseau found an answer to this problem in the concept of the social contract, whereby an entire society agreed to be governed by its general will. He argued that although individuals will be putting their particular will, or self interest, the overall "general will" will come on top since it would be ethical and not just political, represented what the entire community was all about. It is important to point out that Rousseau viewed women as "naturally different" from men.

Voltaire (* progress and toleration)

Considered the greatest figure of the Enlightenment. His major focus was in the idea that government needs to be separate from the church. He was well known for his criticism of traditional religion and his strong attachment to the ideal of religious toleration. He argued that often kings believed that they got their rights to rule from god, would take that religion and force it upon their people. He believed that all churches were no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit. He was not an atheist, but rather considered "deism": a religious outlook shared by most other philosophers. Deism was built on the Newtonian world-machine, which implied the existence of a mechanical God who had created the universe. To him and others, the universe was like a clock, and god was the clock-maker who had created it, set it in motion, and allowed it to run according to its own natural laws. In that sense, God exists but no longer intervenes in his creation.

Isaac Newton (*science)

Discovered the natural Laws of Nature. He demonstrated that one mathematically proven universal law could explain all motion in the universe. At the same time, the Newtonian synthesis created a new cosmology in which the universe was seen as one huge, regulated machine that operated according to natural laws in absolute time, space, and motion: Newton's World-machine. It was often argued by the thinkers of the 18th century that if he managed to discover the natural laws of nature, than they too, by using reason, could discover the natural laws that govern politics, economics, justice, and religion.

Mary Wollstonecraft (*progress)

For many centuries, male intellectuals argued that the nature of women made them inferior to men and made male domination of women necessary and right. Female thinkers in the 18th century disagreed with this attitude and offered suggestion to improve the conditions of women. Mary made the strongest statement and was considered the founder of modern Feminism and wrote the "Vindication of the Rights of Women" in 1792. She argued that the Enlightenment was based on an ideal of reason innate in all human beings. If women have reason, then they should have the same rights as men to obtain an education and engage in economic and political life.

Diderot (*progress)

He considered Christianity as the worst, "the most absurd and the most atrocious in its dogma." His major contribution was the Encyclopedia, or Classified Dictionary of the Science, Arts, and Trades. It was a twenty-eight-volume collaborative effort to compile and distribute a wide variety of knowledge from an "enlightenment" perspective. Its main purpose was to "change" the general way of thinking." Neither the Church nor the Government had control over it. so it became a major weapon of the philosophers' crusade against the old French Society. This Encyclopedia was sold to doctors, clergymen, teachers, lawyers, and even military. It attacked religious intolerance and advocate a program for social, legal, and political improvements that would lead to a society that was more cosmopolitan, more tolerant, more humane, and more reasonable.

John Locke (*reason)

In his essay Concerning Human Understanding, Locke denied the existence of innate ideas and argued instead that every person was born with a "Tabula rasa": a blank mind. What his philosophy implied was that people were molded by the environment, by whatever they perceived through their surrounding world. So by altering this environment and subjecting people to proper influences, they could be changed and a new society created. It was believed that the way this environment changed, was through Newton. He paved the way: reason enabled enlightened people to discover the natural laws to which all institutions should conform. Locke also believed that people were born with three natural rights: Life, Liberty, and Property. He said that the role of the government was to protect these three basic natural rights.

Montesquieu (*liberty)

In his published work, The Spirit of the Laws, he attempted to apply scientific method to the social and political arena to ascertain the "natural Law" governing the social and political relationships of human beings. He came up with the three basic kinds of government: Republic, Monarchy, and Despotism. He compared England to an example of Monarchy, and believed that their "separation of powers" (Executive, Legislative, and Judicial) served to limit and control each other, provided the greatest freedom and security for the state. The translation of his work two years later ensured that the American leaders read it and eventually incorporated it.

Progress

The Enlightenment is about moving forward, not being satisfy with the current way that society is, and achieving an ideal society through the use science and reason. Therefore, liberty is needed to reach progress.

The Three French Giants

The Enlightenment spanned almost a century, but only a few individuals dominated the lanscape so completely that we can gain insight into the core ideas of the philosophes by focusing on: Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Diderot

Reason

This is the power of the mind to think, understand, and form judgments by a process of logic. If an idea is not credible to the human reason, it is not knowledge but superstition.

Science

an orderly investigation into the known world and known universe with a potential risk of finding something that could challenge something in that present. Finding a challenge is a recipe for progress, as pointed out by Newtons discovery of the Natural Laws that govern the Universe.

Liberty

necessary in order to use rational capacity, in order to experiment with science, discuss new ideas to bring the people from where they were, to where they can to go next and not being satisfy with the current present.

Adam Smith (*liberty)

one of the founders of the modern discipline of economics. He believed that individuals should be free to pursue their own economic self-interest. Through these actions of these individuals, all society would benefit. Argued that the State should not interrupt this free-play of natural economic forces by government regulations on the economy but should leave it alone. Smith allotted government only three basic functions: to protect society from invasion, defend its citizens from injustice, and keep up certain public works, such as railroads and canals, that private individuals could not afford.

Toleration

other side of liberty; it takes patience and conviction to accept other peoples sense of how things should be. Montesquieu is a perfect example of toleration. He designed a government based on empirical evidence, based on reason, not based on the idea of the divine right of king, but a government that works. More importantly based on the empirical understanding of human nature: human beings are selfish. He realized that it's not about how things should be, but more about how things are. His idea was to design institutions based around human selfishness because that's how the world is.

Values of the Enlightenment

reason, science, progress, liberty, toleration. These values together represent "Worldly Thinking" or Realism

State of "nonage" (Immanuel Kant)

state of adult-childhood because people would look or discover the world as it is because of how they were taught without considering to use their own train of thought, or rather never using their own reason.

Immanuel Kant (*reason)

wrote an essay tittle "Answering the Question: What is Enlightenment" where he stated that the "Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-incurred immaturity." He argues that the immaturity is self-inflicted not from lack of understanding, but from the lack of courage to use one's reason, intellect, and wisdom without the guidance of another.