Diderot

The Age of Enlightenment (also called the Age of Reason) in Europe began in the 1600’s and reached its height during the early to mid-1700’s. It brought together the ideas of the Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution.

Before the Renaissance, scholars felt that life on earth was not worth very much, and the task of mankind was to devote itself to preparing for what they believed would come after death - life in a wonderful, heavenly place. They believed that life began only after death, and that focusing on the enjoyment of earthly life was sinful.

Until the 1500’s, western Europeans generally saw the world in one of several ways. Many believed it was best to rely on faith, and most truths were beyond the understanding of the common people. If one simply lived obediently by the rules of the church, without questioning its authority, that would be enough. Some scholars had learned to use reason to explain their observations, and relied on this rather than church teachings - but this was fairly new. Most people thought everything in nature and society was connected, and that they were like parts of a living thing, which therefore couldn’t be changed. Society was seen to be like a tree - with the peasants at the roots, the clergy and merchants in the lower branches, and the nobles at the very top. This perspective helped to strengthen rigid social classes, and it was considered natural that some people would be poor and powerless, some rich and powerful. While this may seem very oppressive to us today, at that time it gave people the feeling they had their own particular place in the world, and they understood what was expected of them. Most people didn’t question it.

These ideas began to change during the years of the Renaissance. Followers of a philosophy called “humanism” emphasized the importance of human beings and their particular place in the universe. Humanism taught that every person has dignity and value, and emotions and personalities are important and should be respected. They believed people can improve their lives by understanding the world and changing it. The value humanists placed on earthly life opened up a great deal of interest in learning and developing the arts. All kinds of art, education, and scientific inquiry thrived during the Renaissance. European explorers were traveling to different cultures and bringing back new perspectives, new inventions, new ideas. People began to believe that progress could be a good thing.

The Scientific Revolution is a term used for a point of view that became popular at the end of the Renaissance. It taught that the only way to really understand life is through science, not as had previously been thought, through religion. Nicolaus Copernicus, Andreas Vesalius, Galileo, Johannes Kepler, Francis Bacon, and Isaac Newton were among the scientists during this period who made important contributions to the scientific understanding of the laws of nature. They and other scholars studied scientific writings from earlier centuries, and began taking a closer look at the natural world around them. Their observations and experiments led to new thought concerning the importance and relevance of science. The scientists of the Renaissance made many discoveries that changed people’s ideas about how the world works.

The work of these scientists paved the way for what is called the Age of Enlightenment, when philosophers tried to apply scientific reasoning to all aspects of life. During the Age of Enlightenment, philosophers believed that happiness didn’t come from devoting one’s life to God, as was previously thought, but from following a set of natural laws which would result in greater freedom for mankind. These philosophers and scientists saw the universe as a sort of machine, which was set in motion by its creator, then left alone to run by the laws that were designed to keep it going. They believed the only way to understand anything was by reason, not by faith.

The leading thinkers of the Enlightenment were called philosophes, which means philosophers in French. The philosophes didn’t agree with each other on everything, but there were certain themes that appeared over and over in their writings.

Scholars during the Age of Enlightenment, or Reason said humans have an important advantage over animals because of their ability to reason. They said animals were only able to act from their emotions and instincts, but humans were able to make decisions by using their minds, and act by their own force of will rather than from their feelings. “Knowledge is power,” was the key idea during the Enlightenment.

Freedom of thought was considered to be crucial. The philosophes said that because humans are capable of reason, they should challenge anything smacking of ignorance or superstition, and carefully question traditional authorities - especially Christian theology. In the words of Immanual Kant, “The motto of the Enlightenment is ‘Dare to Know! Have the courage to use your own intelligence!’”

Human progress was a common theme in the writings of the philosophes. They believed that the “golden age” was ahead, not to be found by studying Greek philosophers and other thinkers of the past. Part of the idea of human progress involved humanitarianism, or a belief in the importance of improving people’s daily lives. Easing human suffering was seen as a worthy goal, and the thinkers of the Enlightenment spoke out against religious persecution, slavery, and oppression of all kinds.

Thomas Hobbes, an Englishman in the 1600’s, believed people are basically wicked and selfish, and they need a strict ruler to keep them in order. This was in a time when most of the countries of Europe were strictly ruled by very powerful kings and queens, and many political thinkers were promoting ideas of freedom and liberty. He said people had no right to rebel, because if they were left to themselves, they would destroy themselves. Hobbes thought that without an all-powerful government, people’s lives would be “poor, nasty, brutish, and short,” because people were basically driven by fear of each other and a desire for power, and therefore needed to be controlled. Without control, human society would simply be “a war of all against all.”

In direct opposition to these beliefs were the ideas of John Locke. John Locke was an English philosopher who said people have a right to life, liberty, and property. He said this was a “natural” right because humans are born free and equal. Locke believed people were reasonable beings, and had a natural ability to govern themselves and work for the welfare of the whole society. In his mind, government should be a sort of contract between the people and their rulers, in which the rulers promise to protect the natural rights of the people. He encouraged rebellion against an oppressive government that abused these basic rights.

Several other philosophers also had an important impact on thinking during the Enlightenment years. René Descartes was a French philosopher and mathematician who fiercely believed in questioning everything and vowed “never to accept anything for true which I did not clearly know to be such.” He said nothing should be accepted on faith, and everything should be doubted until it could be proved by reason. He knew himself to be a thinking, doubting, questioning person, and therefore he knew he existed. He is well known for his statement,

“I think, therefore I am.”

Voltaire (born as Francois Marie Arouet) was a popular writer who had strong political and philosophical opinions, especially concerning religious intolerance and anything else that interfered with the rights of individuals. He hated intolerance and injustice of any kind, and wrote, “I shall not cease to preach tolerance from the rooftops as long as persecution does not cease.” In defense of free speech, Voltaire is thought to have said, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

In the 1700’s, wealthy families often displayed scientific instruments in their homes, just as people today display works of art or other things that are important to them. Telescopes and microscopes were primitive then, compared with what we have today, but guests were often invited to look through them, to see the night sky or to observe some tiny thing of interest, such as the wing of a butterfly.

Originating in Paris, it became fashionable in Europe for wealthy hostesses to invite poets, musicians, philosophers, and other interesting conversationalists to their homes for social gatherings called salons. These salons became intellectual centers where great artists, writers, and scientists would gather each week to share ideas. It was still generally believed that women were not as capable as men, and they couldn’t make real contributions in the arts and sciences - but the women who conducted salons achieved prominence by providing an important forum for the exchange of ideas. The salons came to be considered so important that Catherine the Great, of Russia, paid someone to attend them regularly and report back to her about what had been said.

The ideas of the Enlightenment played a significant role in some of the events that followed. These years introduced ideas of liberty and freedom that had never really been considered before. Later this year you will learn about two revolutions that took place partly as a result of the questioning and arguing that began in the salons of Europe.

Enlightened despots no longer justified their absolute power by saying they had “divine right” to rule, but identified themselves as being “servants of the state.” Frederick the Great of Prussia, Catherine the Great of Russia, Maria Theresa and her son, Joseph II, of Austria, were all enlightened despots. They built roads and bridges, increased religious tolerance, sometimes conducted experiments, learned to play musical instruments, and wrote poetry.

A French philosophe named Denis Diderot spent almost twenty-five years working with twenty other men to compile all the knowledge of the world in one place. Of course, it wasn’t really all the knowledge of the whole world. It was a huge collection of articles on literature, religion, government, science, technology, representing the bulk of everything known about the sciences, technology, and history at that time. This great work was called the Encyclopédie. It took twenty-one years to get all 35 volumes printed and published.

 
Diderot wanted to show people all the wonders of modern reasoning and scientific thought. The Encyclopédie showed beautiful, detailed illustrations of the latest machines of the day, surgical techniques, birds and animals from newly explored continents, drawings that showed the step-by-step construction of a tennis racket, and many other amazing things which expanded the public’s view of the world. It also contained articles criticizing the government and the Catholic church, and preached religious tolerance.

The following excerpt from the Encyclopedie shows some of the political views held during the Enlightenment:

“No man has received from nature the right to rule others. Liberty is a gift of heaven and each individual of the same species has the right to enjoy is at soon as he enjoys reason. If nature has established any authority, it is paternal power, but paternal power has its limits, and in the state of nature it would end as soon as children were in a position of self-dependence. All other authority originates in something other than nature. Close examination will show that it derives from one of two sources, either the force and violence of those who take possession of it, or the consent of those who have submitted to it through a contract made or assumed between them and whoever they have vested with authority.”

Because of such statements, Diderot and some of the other men who worked on this massive enterprise went to prison. But the Encyclopédie was read by many, and its ideas spread through Europe. Before long, English and Scottish writers, inspired by Diderot’s accomplishment, produced the first Encyclopedia Britannica. Fifty years later the Encyclopedia Americana was published.

At around the same time, the first daily and weekly newspapers began as a means for writers to share their ideas. More and more people learned to read, so the demand for written material increased. It was not uncommon for a group of working class people to gather together in order to read pamphlets and newspapers aloud to each other and debate the ideas presented. Soon people began to gather in coffeehouses to argue and discuss politics, recent scientific developments, and anything else of interest. The Age of Reason reached into many homes throughout Europe in this way.

New ideas come before changes in society. The concept of “progress” which came about during the Enlightenment meant that people looked into the future rather than into the past. As ideas changed and people broke free from old, rigid thought, the way was opened for even bigger changes to come. People had higher expectations for a good quality of life, but monarchs clung fast to their power. The discrepancy between people’s dreams and ideals on one hand, and the reality of poverty and powerlessness on the other, led to enormous struggles.