In 1784, the German philosopher, Immanuel Kant described the Enlightenment as the: “man’s emergence from his self-imposed nonage. Nonage is the inability to use one’s own understanding without another’s guidance. This nonage is self-imposed if its cause lies not in lack of understanding, but in indecision and lack of courage to use one’s own mind without another’s guidance. Dare to know! (Sapere aude. ) ‘Have the courage to use your own understanding,’ is therefore the motto of the Enlightenment” (Kant).
Meanwhile, past periods had been restricted to use their own intelligence without the guide from another source, this motto made an invitation to mankind to draw themselves into knowledge and discovery, the expansion of knowledge was associated with light, as it shines freely, destroys darkness. Darkness was associated with ignorance for the philosophers of this movement. Consequently, the Enlightenment was not a defined incident, rather a historical movement, due to its strong bases, the ideals it held and the way it influenced modern human thought, more than a group of established ideals, it was an attitude and a way of thought.
Prior to this movement, the light metaphor was commonly used to describe the process of humanity discovering knowledge, yet, there was a divine influence in all the actions they performed. If men, through their own effort and faith were able to set themselves free from the chains of their human wishes, which set them apart from a purer world, their souls were illuminated by the light from a deity. One example of this is how Plato imagined human souls becoming brighter as it remembered ideas from the intelligible world, this metaphor was as Platonic as Christian.
In contrast to this belief, Enlightened men from the XVIII century aspired for something else, the light that was received did not come from a divine entity but from their own selves, their Socarras 3 hard work and effort. It was mankind who projected light, with a new sight, a new understanding and criticism of the world. Faith in mankind was not an idle and baseless concept. During prior centuries, civil and religious wars exploded and Europe bleed itself to death in the ambition of building a society ruled by the church, which had taken control over many social nstitutions.
Humanity had seen the effects of the absolute powers of the church, which led them to find another way to administrate social order. In this way, men gave their minds to science, at first working consequently with old theology, then basing themselves in empiricism. In the late XVII century, it was clear that Isaac Newton’s science was stable and widely accepted, also, John Locke had proved that philosophy represented the operations of the human soul, recreating the simpler impressions into complex systems of ideas.
These two big changes, one scientific and the other philosophical had received enough acceptance in Europe to convince people that it was the appropriate way to achieve social order. In these accomplishments, humans of the XVIII century found the starting point to believe in themselves, both institutions traced the new path to follow. Newton’s science proved that it was possible to extend the world’s knowledge, as Voltaire exposes “From hence, Sir Isaac, rising by degrees to discoveries which seemed not to be formed for the human mind, is bold enough to compute the quantity of matter contained in the sun and every planet” (Manuel 24).
In the other hand, Locke’s philosophy showed that this extension was possible due to human forces, Voltaire describes him as the one who: Displayed the human soul, in the same manner as an excellent anatomist explains the springs of the human body. He everywhere takes the light of physics for his guide. He sometimes presumes to speak affirmatively, but then he presumes also to doubt. Instead of Socarras 4 concluding at once what we know not, he examines gradually what we would know. (Manuel 20).
Human knowledge was based on mankind self-consciousness. Knowing their capabilities, allowed men to develop them in a responsible way, not exceeding their limits. Another important philosopher was Francis Bacon, his contributions to science and they way of using the scientific method influenced many characters from the Enlightenment, Voltaire says, about him “no one, before the Lord bacon, was acquainted with experimental philosophy, nor with the several physical experiments which have been made since his time” (Manuel 18).
Philosophers were impressed by the achievements of the Scientific Revolution, referring to reasoning meant pleading for the use of the scientific method as a tool for understanding life itself. Philosophers from this movement had different perspectives, for the majority, it included rejection of traditional Christianity. Religious wars and intolerance had disgusted the intellectuals to the point they were openly impatient to embrace the ideas of the Scientific Revolution.
During this time period, Europe was marked by the emergence of secularism, which has characterized the modern occidental mindset. Therefore, institutions and systems of thought were controlled by rational and scientific ideas. The new spirit of the Enlightenment, allowed critical and scientific positions about topics that were strictly reserved for the church. One of the biggest locations where this movement spread was France, here we have philosophers such as Voltaire, Baron de Montesquieu, and Jean Jacques Rousseau.
Influenced by Locke, Montesquieu (1689-1755) developed works for the separation of powers, not relaying the absolute power in a specific institution, he proposed a balanced government with three different branches, which later on, would influence many other countries. Peter Gay described some of his ideas, which were recorded Socarras, 5 in Montesquieu’s work The Spirit of the Laws, as “believing passionately in liberty for all men, not just aristocrats. He condemned the imposition of the death penalty on the testimony of a single witness, and suggested that the severity of punishment should be scaled to the degree of the crime” (59).
Although Voltaire (1694-1778) agreed with Montesquieu’s perspective on human rights, he believed in a noble aristocracy, he supported destructing the social principles of that time, specially religion. His easy prose, filled with criticism and cleverness made him acclaimed by the crowds, who supported him in radical campaigns. Rousseau (1712-1778) was also highly critical of the society of that time, specially with the “illusion” of progress that dominated Europe after the Renaissance.
He criticized the belief of the relation between cultural development and, as he said, the way it did not contribute to the actual progress of humanity, mostly due to the lack of moral progress and happiness that these people reflected. He was also a writer, his most important work being The Social Contract. His view on politics relayed on the social contract theory, which explained the origin of society and the state as an agreement between individuals, he says “each of us puts his person and all his power in common nder the supreme direction of the general will, and, in our corporate capacity, we receive each member as an indivisible part of the whole. ” (Durant) who move from a state of nature, where the necessary elements for interactions and life in community, such as families and languages do not exist. These differences between characters from the Enlightenment, affirm that it was not a particular way of thought, yet it was a movement that allowed men to develop their own understanding, nevertheless, some similarities have been established among these philosophers.
This intellectual revolution was related to the expansion of knowledge, rationality is the tool that humans have to find the truth, as Descartes proposed, yet, empiricism is seen as the way of learning, these two opposed philosophies combine to understand Socarras, 6 human development, according to Enlightened men, they were looking for a rational explanation of nature and the universe, using the scientific method they established conclusions. The questioning of the church authority, the knowledge of the society of that time and their traditions.
Another vision of human being was given, individual and social work was valued differently, ideas of liberty, equality, human rights and tolerance were given. There is no doubt that the Enlightenment left a long lasting influence in the XIX and XX centuries, since it represented a key step in the decline of the absolute authority of the church and the growth of secularism, it served as a model for political and economical liberalism, also, the remarked idea of general social progress perdured until the XX century.
The ideas from the Enlightenment influenced the actions of the Independence of United States and many other European colonies in the Americas, also the French Revolution, the widely spread ideas of rejection of the autocracy and the prevalence of human rights from the Enlightenment strongly influenced the leaders of this movement.
The French Enlightenment was the one who had the major influence in the process of independence, its principles are based in the ideas of the human rights to have a peaceful life, liberty and property, in July 4th, 1776 the Declaration of Independence would be signed, being inspired by the ideas of Locke, as he “in his second treatise of government, Locke identified the basis of a legitimate government. According to Locke, a ruler gains authority through the consent of the governed.
The duty of that government is to protect the natural rights of the people, which Locke believed to include life, liberty, and property. If the government should fail to protect these rights, its citizens would have the right to overthrow that government” (American Government). Socarras, 7 Peter Gay reflects that “an age that takes its name from an intellectual atmosphere cannot be fixed within rigid chronological limits” (10).
Although there is a specific time period where the Enlightenment can be placed, its ideals perdured until the XX century and still influence modern thought, which makes this event trascend to a movement and a state of thought, the Enlightenment was one of the bases for the spirit of human revolution, which has permitted the development of social progress throughout history. Thus, the Enlightenment was the beginning of a mindset of change.