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The Enlightenment is commonly known as the “Age of Reason” and emerged in the early to mid-17th century from three main geographical centers: France, Germany, and Great Britain (including Scotland). This period was characterized by significant shifts in thinking that sharply contrasted with the beliefs of earlier times. Enlightenment intellectuals rejected many of the religious, philosophical, and political ideals of previous generations and paved the way for new ideas.
The Enlightenment is typically considered to have started with the ideas of Descartes and reached its peak with the French Revolution in the late 18th century. This intellectual movement spanned around 150 years and had a profound influence on Western culture, particularly in the realms of philosophy, science, and politics.
Key Aspects of the Enlightenment: Philosophy
One of the primary philosophical advancements during the Enlightenment was rationalism. René Descartes introduced rationalism to philosophical thinking through his method of systematic doubt. Descartes’ work inspired other thinkers to challenge long-held cultural beliefs and their own assumptions. The central idea of rationalism is that concepts and knowledge can be acquired independently of sensory experience—truth can be reached through reasoning. By highlighting the supremacy of the mind over the senses, rationalism provided a basis for philosophers to explore the boundaries of what can be understood through human reason alone. Notable rationalists like Baruch Spinoza proposed a form of scientific pantheism, suggesting that there is only one substance encompassing God and nature. Spinoza’s ideas paved the way for later developments focusing on the mechanization of the natural world. Christian Wolff and G. W. Leibniz were other significant rationalist thinkers who left enduring marks on philosophy.
ibniz in calculus, as well).
Partly in response to rationalism, and partly of its own accord, empiricism also developed during the Enlightenment. In contrast to rationalism, empiricism holds that knowledge begins with the senses. Francis Bacon planted the seed for empiricist thought that came to fruition in the physics of Isaac Newton. Since natural science begins with observation through the senses, the scientific revolution could not have occurred without an empiricist philosophical underpinning. The notions of observation and induction are part and parcel of empiricism. John Locke developed his famous analogy of tabula rosa (“blank slate”) to describe the mind as ideas come into it from the senses.
Skepticism also developed during the Enlightenment. David Hume famously spread doubt about whether knowledge can be obtained at all— from the senses or from reason. Hume’s conclusions led down a road that results in, at best, only probabilistic reasoning to possible conclusions. Hume also presented a significant challenge to science with his critiques of causality and inductive reasoning. These skeptical arguments and causal notions have resonated in both philosophy and science to the present day.
An important note about Enlightenment philosophical thought is the noticeable shift away from metaphysics and toward epistemology. Metaphysics, the study of what is ultimately real and/or supersensible, was supplanted by a focus on the process of knowing; i.e., what one knows was replaced by how one knows (if one can know anything at all). The scientific revolution, with its implicit focus on understanding the natural world, made it easier for Enlightenment thinkers to either move away from metaphysics (as it was traditionally understood) or to subsume it under a rationalist motif. It should also be noted that the philosophy of Immanuel Kant was developed in large part as a response to problems raised with Enlightenment philosophy.
Major Aspects of the Enlightenment: Science
The crowning scientific achievement of the Enlightenment was Isaac Newton’s seminal work Principia Mathematica (1687). In this work, Newton set the tone for a mechanistic understanding of the natural world by explaining a wide range of phenomena via mathematical formulas. Things previously considered unquantifiable or unpredictable in nature could, under Newton’s system, be understood in terms of a machine-like entity. Nature, therefore, became a subject of inquiry, something that man could harness and use to improve his life. Newton is known today as the father of modern science.
The greatest scientific benefits of Newtonian mechanics would not be felt until after the Enlightenment, but the increasingly prevalent notion of nature as describable and predictable impacted other fields during the 18th century. Significant advances were made in biology, chemistry, and medicine. Carl Linnaeus developed a formalized system of biological taxonomy that was crucial to the emerging specialized studies of biology and paleontology.
The French Encyclopedists, such as Diderot and d’Alembert, played a vital role in advocating for science. By highlighting the work of Bacon and Newton in their publications, the Encyclopedists promoted an agenda of secular thought and open-mindedness. Through the Encyclopédie, Enlightenment thought was systematically presented, making it more accessible and usable.
Major Aspects of the Enlightenment: Politics
The lasting political impact of the Enlightenment cannot be overstated. At least three major political revolutions occurred during this time period in Britain, America, and France. These revolutions embodied ideas of government by consent of the governed, social contract, freedom, and equality. In the mid-17th century, philosopher Thomas Hobbes advanced the notion of the absolute power of government over the governed to prevent barbarism. Hobbes also advanced
Enlightened ideas about the social contract and the relationship of the individual to the state were later adopted by both Locke and Rousseau.
Locke was a highly significant political philosopher during the Enlightenment. Many of his ideas and principles were examined and embraced by the founders of America, as evidenced in documents such as the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Locke stressed the natural freedom of human beings, the equality of all before God, natural law, and government by the consent of the governed. He also justified the overthrow of a government when it fails. Jean-Jacques Rousseau was another prominent thinker of the Enlightenment era. Rousseau differed from Locke regarding the role of the individual in relation to the state, emphasizing the importance of the governed being involved in politics.
The Impact of the Enlightenment on Religion
Religion was a frequently discussed topic during the Enlightenment. It is crucial to consider this period in the context of the Protestant Reformation that preceded it. The monolithic structure of the church had ended, and Enlightenment thinkers had been significantly influenced by the discussions and writings stemming from the Reformation. It is worth noting that many prominent Enlightenment thinkers were Christians, although some held unorthodox beliefs. The primary themes of Enlightenment thought on religion revolve around anti-supernaturalism, deism, and biblical criticism concerning Christianity.
Anti-Supernaturalism
Due to the emphasis on rationalism (seeking knowledge that can be known a priori—before experience—by the mind alone) and empiricism (seeking knowledge that can be known and verified by the senses and/or instrumentation), a large portion of Enlightenment thought was skeptical of the supernatural. This skepticism extended to the Bible’s accounts of miracles, especially with the emergence of physical science portraying the world as a mechanism governed by laws.
Doubt on claims that anything in nature could occur contrary to its regular operation. Spinoza famously critiqued the notion that nature can act against itself. Hume emphasized the idea that miracles are violations of the laws of nature. Because man could, by the power of reason, throw off the shackles of patristic institutions and think for himself to logical conclusions, it seemed to many in the Enlightenment that miracles or immaterial things (such as angels or demons) were simply relics of past superstition. This anti-supernatural thought provided the groundwork for atheism to become more mainstream. If God is a supernatural/supersensible being, then it was possible that belief in Him was simply irrational tradition.
Deism
In contrast to theism (belief in a single, personal creator and sustainer of all there is), deism teaches that whatever supreme intelligence created and/or organized the cosmos does not intervene in creation. The analogy of a watchmaker is frequently used to describe deistic thinking. According to deism, God simply wound up the watch of the universe, stepped back, and let it run. Things like prayer, special revelation, and a personal relationship with God are nonsensical. The natural law, derived from man’s study of nature through the sciences, is what governs morality and human conduct. Religious texts like the Christian Bible are perhaps helpful moral guides but not genuine revelation from God.
Biblical Criticism
Biblical criticism, the study of the biblical texts as ordinary historical literature, did not come to the forefront of academic work until the 19th century. However, without the anti-supernatural foundation and skeptical thought of the Enlightenment, it is unlikely that biblical criticism would have had such a lasting cultural impact. The evaluation of any historical text is a valuable pursuit, but, ironically, biblical criticism began with Enlightenment assumptions; it started by assuming certain scientific, mechanistic, and naturalistic notions.
And looked at the Bible in that light.
Starting with Hobbes and Spinoza, biblical criticism took on many facets, including textual, source, redaction, canon, and form criticism. However, the entire study takes on a different context under the Enlightenment paradigm. The Bible is a book filled with accounts of miracles, so, once supernatural events are dismissed as impossible, the entire reading changes. If theism is a priori ruled out, then the credibility of what is recorded in the Bible is undermined from the outset. Speculation becomes much easier from this platform, and many theories, such as one denying the literal reality of Jesus of Nazareth, took shape. Through the years, the criticisms of the Bible put forward by Enlightenment philosophy have been strongly refuted by careful scholarship.
Conclusion
The Enlightenment is deserving of study for many reasons, not the least of which is to better understand how the thoughts of that period shaped ensuing years. Like any other epoch considered through the lens of history, there is much commendable and much lamentable about the Enlightenment. One should be careful to take the helpful notions and leave the genuine vestiges behind. Just as we are to test all prophecies and hold on to what is good «Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. », (1 Thessalonians 5:21), so we should put Enlightenment philosophies to the test and dispense with the false.
