The Enlightenment, an intellectual movement of the Eighteenth Century, was characterized by interest in social progress and reason.
What is the Enlightenment?
The Enlightenment was an intellectual movement during the second half of the Eighteenth Century, marked by an intense interest in social progress, reason and the birth of social science. Great thinkers, such as John Locke and Voltaire helped spread the ideas of the Enlightenment throughout Europe.
The Scientific Revolution
The Scientific Revolution of the 16th and 17th Centuries played an important role in the emergence of the Enlightenment. There was a general belief among scholars that natural science should be examined and used to understand all parts of life. “Reason” as it became known, became a favorite word of Enlightened thinkers, who accepted nothing based on faith. Everything that happened in the world, both good and bad, had a rational, logical explanation. Of course, this new way of thinking went directly against centuries of religious beliefs and teachings.
The Enlightenment and Social Progress
One of the most important ideas borne out of the Enlightenment was that of social progress. For as long as man could remember, society had a strict caste system royalty, aristocracy, middle and peasant classes. Enlightenment thinkers believed that if science could progress, so could humans. In fact, it was possible to create better societies with better people. As a result of this belief, many positive changes took place in societies of Western Europe during the second half of the 18th Century.
During the Renaissance, humanist thinkers looked backwards to the ancient Greeks and Romans. Thinkers of the Protestant Reformation were mainly concerned with saving souls from sin. To enlightened thinkers, it did not make sense to look back at antiquity or search for answers in a book that had no real scientific basis. In order for society to improve, people had to look forward, to progress and change. And the only way to do that was through careful scientific reasoning and thought.
The Age of Reason and Religion
Current events of the 18th Century also played a part in this new disdain for religion. The French Wars of Religion, which had been battling on and off for over a century, had taken their toll on the French people. Many began to question the wisdom religious uniformity. Was it really necessary, since all it did was cause more trouble? This is not to say that all enlightened thinkers viewed religion more as superstition. Isaac Newton, whose work during the 17th Century laid the very foundation for enlightened thought, did a great deal of study on angels and believed firmly that the study of science was not to disprove the existence of God, but rather to glorify Him and His work.
As more and more reports trickled back to Europe of exotic lands, like Africa, China, India and the Americas, European perceptions of culture changed. Educated Europeans were fascinated with these new cultures, where people worshipped other gods, dressed in outlandish styles and practiced an entirely foreign set of manners and customs. Perhaps the European way of life was not the only way, or the right way to live. Who was to say which culture was right?
Foreign Cultures and The Enlightenment
Essays by enlightened thinks such as John Locke and Voltaire made their way through most educated European households and by the end of the 18th Century, the Age of Reason was at its peak. Inevitably a backlash ensued by a generation of people who longed for less reasoning and scientific thinking. These Romantics, as they were called, began a whole new movement based on the release of emotional exuberance.
Sources
Mckay, Hill, Buckler. A History of World Societies: Volume II Since 1500. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. 1992
