The Age of Enlightenment: Ideas and Impact
Historical Context of the Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was characterized by an age-old conflict, culminating in the revolutions that would shake Europe to its core. This era marked the end of the Ancien Régime, which had attempted to persist through enlightened despotism. These revolutions had already begun in England, but would become more radical with American Independence in 1776 and the French Revolution of 1789. This period set the stage for the revolutions that brought the bourgeoisie to power during the nineteenth century, thus giving rise to the idea of peoples and citizens. The Enlightenment was presented as a final hope for achieving human emancipation.
Socio-Cultural Context of the Enlightenment
Scientific advances, culminating in Newton’s work, gave the era the sense of entering a new age: the Age of Reason and Progress. This development led to enormous technological advancements, especially with the advent of steam power. The Enlightenment would be the century of reason. The Encyclopedia was created to compile all human knowledge. Neoclassical art became dominant. The ideals of Freedom, Equality, and Fraternity dominated political discourse. This era prepared for the transition to the new bourgeois and capitalist society through contractual liberalism and economic liberalism.
Philosophical Context of the Enlightenment
Philosophy is key to understanding the Enlightenment. The century began with the conflict between the rationalism of Descartes and the new empiricism of Locke and Hume. Key figures in political philosophy also emerged, such as Rousseau, whom Kant admired. It was the philosophy of Kant that aimed to create a synthesis transcending previous thought. The philosophy of the Enlightenment would always be a philosophy that sought to change the world by creating a new society, and not just theoretical knowledge.
The Problem of Knowledge (St. Augustine)
For St. Augustine, Truth exists, as the skeptical claim that there is no truth contradicts the truth of that very claim. He distinguished various types of knowledge:
- Sense knowledge: Changing knowledge.
- Lower rational knowledge: Where reasoning is applied to the universal and necessary.
- Higher rational knowledge: Which allows for the knowledge of eternal truths – immutable, universal, and necessary – that underlie our judgments.
These eternal truths cannot be developed through the senses but must be sought in the soul. That’s where God has placed them in every person, according to the theory of illumination. Truth, therefore, is not in reality but within the soul, accessed through divine illumination.
For Augustine, there is no rivalry between Reason and Faith; instead, they go together and are complementary.
Ethics (St. Augustine)
St. Augustine defended the freedom of human beings and, therefore, free will. Free will allows us to sin or to live well, according to the law of God. Human action must be judged in relation to the intention that guides it: if it aligns with God’s law, it is good; if not, it is a sin. Moral evil occurs when humans abuse their free will, and they are therefore personally responsible for the sin committed. The human will tends toward happiness; the supreme goal is achieved only in the afterlife, through the contemplation and love of God.