The Enlightenment is the philosophical, political, literary and scientific movement that developed in Europe and its colonies throughout the eighteenth century, giving rise to the Age of Enlightenment. In this article we intend to present everything related to The Enlightenment – Age of Enlightenment, Characteristics, Representatives and Photos.
What is the Enlightenment and how did it come about?
represented an important cultural modernizationconsequence of progress and dissemination of the new «Ideas», of the new scientific knowledge. All this led to the attempt to transform the old structures of the Old Regime.
Man poses new questions, under the domination of the reasondespises everything that has to do with the past, the old beliefs.
The illustrated man is a lit man who confronts the unshakable doctrines of the church and cares about seek knowledges through new ways of thinking.
This movement of illumination of the mind of the new forms of thought was what led to denominate this century as “Age of Enlightenment”.
The Enlightenment was born in Great Britainwhere some of the fundamental features of the movement occurred earlier than elsewhere, although it had a greater impact in France. Admiration for English culture and traditions were spread by Voltaire.
A new ideological movement is born, encyclopedismits main representatives were Montesquieu, Diderot, Rousseau, Buffon, etc.
The illustration gradually spread to other European areas throughout the seventeenth century, reaching countries such as the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Poland, Russia, Sweden, etc. and even reached the American colonies.
It is the ideology and culture elaborated by the European bourgeoisie, in constant struggle against absolutism and the nobility. A wealthy bourgeoisie but unable to make political decisions against a monarchy and impoverished nobility.
Learn more about Enlightenment:
What are the main ideas of the illustration
Illustration can also be defined as the culmination of Renaissance rationalism. The Enlightenment is the criticism adopted by the bourgeoisie against the already established order. The characteristics or main ideas of the Enlightenment are the following:
- Rationalism
- Pursuit of happiness
- Belief in the natural goodness of man
- The optimism
- secularism
rationalism
Rationalism is undoubtedly the most used word in the eighteenth century both in literature, as in philosophy and science. Thanks to the intellectuals of this century it is also known as “Age of Enlightenment”.
The lights of reason that illuminate the shadows of ignorance, being light, logic and the intelligence that should illuminate the world.
Enormous importance is attached to reason, a criterion by which, man can understand everything through his intelligence. Only what can be understood by science is real. That which is not rational must be rejected as false and useless.
The reason and progress, constitute the path to happiness. It serves as a guide against superstition, religious fanaticism and ignorance. The author who most vehemently criticized the intolerance and fanaticism of religion in his time was Voltaire.
This treatment of reason had its sources of inspiration in the Descartes philosophybased on the “methodical doubt”whose first rule of the method was “indubitable evidence” and in the general laws of the Newtonian Physics.
Pursuit of happiness
The happiness for the enlightened man It is a right of the individual, it cannot be a divine gift as a reward for good deeds or upright conduct. Happiness must be achieved on Earth.
«The citizen has every right to be happy and it is a responsibility of the rulers to achieve it».
It is convinced that Nature has created man to be happy. But according to the bourgeois mentality, this happiness to be authentic, it must be based on private property, freedom and equality.
When the enlightened mention equality, they do not refer to economic equality, but to political and legal equality, that is, equality before the law and justice.
This was the Enlightenment in Spain:
Belief in the Natural Goodness of Man
Man by nature is good, every human being is born good and free, however everything traditional oppresses him until little by little society ends up corrupting him, destroying the nature with which he is born.
Rousseau advocates the thesis of the noble savage, by which any human being in a primitive state is naive and good, but it is culture and society that pervert him, leading him towards a life of vices, amorality and disorder in all aspects. senses.
A reflection that concludes with a statement about the difference between a man in a primitive state as a being with a superior morality compared to civilized man.
This theory collided with the traditional belief that advocated that man is bad because he will always subordinate his own well-being to that of others. The wild man commits cruelties and will do whatever is necessary for his survival, including violent acts.
His heritage as a radical and revolutionary thinker is probably best expressed in his two most famous phrases, one contained in The Social Contract, “Man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains”the other, present in his Emilio, or Of education, “Man is good by nature”, hence his idea of the possibility of education.
The optimism
The man of the eighteenth century thinks that nature is a kind of perfect machine that does everything right where there are no mistakes, therefore there is reason to be optimistic.
Secondly, history is considered to suppose the progressive evolution of humanity, that is to say, that man with the passing of the centuries is continually perfecting himself, since he is accumulating history, so the time will come when the perfect society will be built, a kind of paradise on earth.
secularism
The illustration begins to look at religion with different eyes. Some new currents appear around religious sentiments such as deism and atheismwhere it is put on alert the excessive power of the churcheducation was in the hands of the church, the economic power of the church and how it interfered in political affairs.
The church seen from a scientific point of view and more in a century that is characterized by the power of reason. New questions arise, religion versus science, the man of the age of enlightenment reject old beliefs claims empirical proof of religious dogmas.
Religion begins to be considered as a personal issueman has a commitment to God, abandoned dogmatic impositions that the church imposed. The illustration advocated plurality and tolerance before any type of religion or dogma.
arise the contradictions between faith and knowledgehaving ethics as the goal that all religions should have.
deism advocates the existence of God but rejects religion, his belief will depend on both nature and the scientific method. Is about knowing God through reason and observation. God does not intervene in the designs of the world, the world only obeys natural laws.
Facing this position are the more traditional religions such as Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism or Islam, who continue to think of a God who intervenes in earthly affairscapable of working miracles.
The Enlightenment is the first secular culture in the history of Europe. A culture outside of Christianity, and in some ways anti-Christian. This has its explanation in a certain rejection by the Church of the bourgeois way of life. The bourgeoisie constitutes a class that, since its appearance, lives from trade, loans with interest and profit.
Still in the eighteenth century we find theologians who regarded lending at interest as usury, with moralists who continued to speak of illicit profits and with ecclesiastics who preached that it was easier to save a man dedicated to leisure than a merchant.
Christian virtues are transformed into secular virtuesthus the enlightened never speak of charity (love of neighbor for love of God), but use the word philanthropy (love of man for man himself).
The non-religious nature of the Enlightenment it is also noted in the readings of the time. In the 17th century, the most published books were the lives of saints and works of piety, while in the 18th century the most published works were on philosophy, natural sciences, and only religious books.
What was the purpose of the illustration?
The Enlightenment pursues nothing less than educating the people, breaking established dogmas and promoting research, since it is not for nothing that it is an intellectual and scientific movement. He intended to make people think and thus be interested in education, science and knowledge in general. They wanted to make people, for the first time, want to get to know the world through other channels than those imposed by the religious.
Diffusion Forms in Illustration
The problem with the Enlightenment is that it only penetrated between a very minority sector of the population, but despite this, tried to spread and spread their ideas in many different ways:
- The scientific societiesheiterative or artistic and the academiessupported by public authorities.
- The societies of friends of the countrynormally established in the main cities and provincial capitals.
- The halls. Gatherings, coffees or enlightened meetings to deal with the most diverse topics.
- The encyclopedia. An illustrated dictionary is elaborated that collected all the knowledge of humanity up to that moment.
For the elaboration of the Encyclopedia, the following strictly scientific criteriawhich brought him the opposition of the most reactionary sectors of society and of course, the persecution ecclesiastical, becoming part of the books prohibited by the church.
Enlightened Thought
It would not be understood without first putting in background the situation in England Y Holland during the seventeenth century. The evidence is found in Newton from the scientific point of view, «Modern physics» and in the English Revolution of 1688 in its political aspects. The latter introduced parliamentarism, which would exercise so much influence in Voltaire and Montesquieu.
Political Thought
- Montesquieu: He theorized about the division of powers (Executive, Judicial and Legislative). Following Locke’s theories, he considers that man must seek Freedom and to achieve it, it is necessary to limit the power of the absolutist princes.
- Voltaire: He inquired into the freedom of thought and advocated a new religion (deism) to replace the revealed ones (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, etc). He repudiated the excessive power of the clergy and advocated a religion based on reason and respect, away from fanaticism and intolerance. He was in favor of a system parliamentary limiting the power of…