The Enlightenment: Reason, Society, and Cultural Transformation
General Characteristics
The Enlightenment was a broad cultural movement that developed during the eighteenth century, particularly in England, France, and Germany. This era marked a shift from tradition and subservience to God and princes, akin to a new Renaissance. Reason came of age, aiming to build a better, more humane society. Ideas of duty, God’s presence in man, and tradition were questioned in the name of reason. Humanity sought to build a world of freedom of thought, justice, and dignity.
Historical-Cultural Context
Economically, this was a golden age. Despite lingering epidemics, rebellions, and wars, nations prospered from raw materials, industry, international trade, and colonial expansion. Politically, England, after the Glorious Revolution of 1668, enjoyed a liberal government, unlike much of Europe, where absolute monarchies persisted, albeit with humanized and rationalist pretensions—enlightened despotism: everything for the people, but without the people. The ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity, realized in the American colonies’ independence (1776) and the French Revolution (1789), were pursued throughout the century.
Socially, the bourgeoisie rose in prominence, wielding wealth and status, while the court and nobility’s splendor waned after Louis XIV. Cities became centers of social life, with new avenues, squares, gardens, cafes, theaters, and salons.
Culturally, the bourgeoisie drove significant changes. They read avidly, commissioned art, enjoyed opera, and published newspapers. Academies, museums, and libraries were established to combat ignorance. Intellectuals debated in clubs and cafes, leading to the publication of books, dictionaries, abstracts, and summaries. Physics experiments, botanical collections, and state-funded expeditions expanded knowledge.
The eighteenth century saw the publication of the Encyclopedia, a compendium of all available knowledge, edited by Voltaire, Diderot, and d’Alembert. It emphasized science and practical information, spreading throughout Europe via subscription.
Religiously, enlightened thinkers challenged dogmatic and obscurantist Christianity, seeking a more humane religion based on reason rather than fear. They sought a natural religion devoid of dogma and mystery, understandable through reason.
The artistic style of the period was Rococo—festive, delicate, sensual, elegant, graceful, and frivolous.
Physics, advanced by Newton, gained prominence, shifting focus from mathematics. Knowledge expanded, requiring classification, as Linnaeus did for plants and animals. Geology emerged, electricity was harnessed in the Leyden jar, and Franklin grounded lightning. History, literature, and art also attracted considerable interest.
Philosophical Context
For Enlightenment thinkers, the vocation of man is to acquire the broadest possible knowledge, quantitatively and qualitatively more autonomous and critical, in order to act technically on nature and morally and politically on society. Moreover, in acquiring this knowledge, man is obliged not to admit any bias or let any external influence affect their thinking and judgments. The content of this knowledge must be determined solely by the critical reason of man.
L. Goldmann’s (1913-1970) words summarize the Enlightenment philosophers’ aims. It was a century of critical analysis of thought, questioning epistemological, religious, moral, and political values. Enlightenment thinkers aimed to popularize thought, extending philosophy beyond schools and specialists to literature, articles, letters, essays, and plays.
Kant’s thought synthesized two major modern schools: rationalism and empiricism.
From rationalism, he adopted the idea that reason is the only reliable means of analyzing reality, inspired by Newton’s cosmos governed by physical laws and Descartes’ methodical reason. However, Kant rejected dogmatic rationalism and the notion that reason could operate independently of experience.
From empiricism, he accepted the necessity of sensory data for knowledge, acknowledging Hume’s awakening him from dogmatic slumber. However, Kant criticized empiricism’s skepticism and reduction of knowledge to sensory input alone, neglecting reason’s role.
Kant’s synthesis posited that knowing reality requires both sensory data and reason’s ordering capacity.
Kantian reason aimed for thorough self-examination, establishing a more solid philosophy with the rigor of other sciences. Kant’s work sought to answer: What is man? This question, in turn, required answering three others: What can I know? What should I do? What may I hope?
The first question is addressed in sections 2 and 3 of this issue, and the second in section 4.