European Enlightenment (1 Jan 1688 Jahr – 1 Jan 1789 Jahr)

Beschreibung:

The Enlightenment was a late seventeenth and eighteenth century movement that included the questioning of political sovereignty, the interaction of different ways of life and thought caused by increased movements of peoples, goods, and ideas in Asia, Europe, Africa, and America, and an increase in observation, critical thinking, and rationalism (a secular, critical way of thinking), due to the Scientific Revolution, which was applied to both human society and science.

The Enlightenment was most prominent in France, where philosophes, French intellectuals of the time, said they were bringing the light of reason to their ignorant fellow humans.

The Enlightenment involved a mix of global contacts. Debates about non-Europeans and women were prevalent. Some valued other cultures (ex. Leibniz with China, some deists with Islamic cultures) while others criticized it (ex. Montesequieu and Diderot with China, Spinoza with Islamic cultures). Linnaeus argued that nature was organized into a God-given hierarchy. Scientific racism help justify slavery. Some like the abbe Raynal, who attacked slavery and the abuses of the European colonization, former slaves Olaudah Equiano and Ottobah Cugoana who testified to the horrors of slavery, and James Beattie who pointed out that Europeans had started out as savages and many non-Europeans were advanced, but these ideas were in the minority.

Some philosophes championed greater rights and education for women yet still saw them as inferior. Women began to contribute more to Enlightenment ideas. They had more of an influence with less formal settings, like salons, weekly meetings held in wealthy households that brought together writers, aristocrats, financiers, and noteworthy foreigners, or in rococo, a new art style characterized by soft scenes of love, nature, youth, and entertainment.

Reading became more individualistic, and many groups played roles in the creation of a new public sphere that celebrated open debate informed by critical reason, yet most philosophes rejected the idea of common people and lower class engaging in philosophical speculation.


Pierre Bayle critically examined the religious beliefs and persecutions of the past in Historical and Critical Dictionary, concluding that nothing can ever be known beyond all doubt (skepticism).

Baruch Spinoza sought to apply natural philosophy to thinking about human society. He embraced the idea that mind and body were united and that God and nature are the same. Argued that actions were shaped by outside circumstances and not free will.

Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz adopted the idea of an infinite number of substances from which all matter is composed and had an optimistic view of Earth. He published Theodicy and believed Chinese ethics and political philosophy were superior to that of Europe.

Gabrielle-Emilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, marquise du Chatelet studied physics, math, published scientific articles, translated Principia into French, and advocated for gender equality.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote The Social Contract and attacked rationalism and civilization as destroying the individual. He said general will is sacred and absolute.

David Hume made an impact with his emphasis on civic morality and religious skepticism. He argued that the human mind was nothing but a bundle of impressions that originate only in sensory experiences and our habits of mentally joining these experiences together, so reason cannot tell us anything about questions that cannot be verified by sensory experience (in form of experiments or math). Reason could not supply moral principles. He also believed in the superiority of senses.

Adam Smith argued that social interaction led people to behave in ethical ways. He attacked laws and regulations created by mercantilist governments that prevented commerce from reaching full capacity in An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Sensibility (acute sensitivity of nerves and brains to outside stimuli) became influential in society and art/entertainment.

Cesare Beccaria called for a reform of the penal system and torture, arbitrary imprisonment, and capital punishment, and advocated for crime prevention over punishment.

Lady Mary Montagu challenged prevailing ideas by depicting Turkish people as sympathetic and civilized.

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