The Enlightenment

The Enlightenment was a movement of European intellectuals who believed that reason could be applied to understand all aspects of life, including social and political aspects.
Enlightenment thinkers sought to apply the scientific method to questions of human nature, aiming to uncover natural laws governing politics, economics, justice, and religion.
Enlightenment thinkers were influenced by Isaac Newton's view on the universe being governed by laws.

The scientific method involves:
- Asking a question.
- Formulating a hypothesis.
- Conducting experiments to test the hypothesis.

Isaac Newton's contention that the universe could be described by laws greatly influenced Enlightenment thinkers.
This led to the belief that natural social laws could be discovered to govern politics, economics, justice, and religion.

Englishman John Locke was a key figure in the Enlightenment.
His 1690 work, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, argued against the idea that people are born with innate ideas.
Locke introduced the concept of tabula rasa, meaning a blank mind or slate at birth.
Locke argued that all knowledge is gained through experience and that people are shaped by their environment.
Changing environmental influences could alter commonly held ideas and lead to the creation of new societies and governments.
Enlightenment would facilitate this environmental change by discovering natural laws guiding human nature and the natural world.

Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher, described the Enlightenment as "man's leaving of his self-caused immaturity."
Kant's motto for the Enlightenment was "Dare to know; have the courage to use your own intelligence."
Enlightenment thinkers believed that all objects and ways of thinking should be subject to rational scientific analysis.
This required abandoning traditional beliefs and assumptions and examining the world with an open mind using reason.

The Scientific Revolution led to a growing divide between scientists and the Church.
Scientists increasingly saw the Church as an enemy of reason and scientific progress (e.g., Galileo).
European skepticism was also influenced by the Age of Exploration and reports of new peoples and lands.

Reports from European explorers, traders, and missionaries introduced new perspectives:
- Some admired foreign cultures, viewing "primitive" people as being in a natural state and happier.
- Others recognized that European civilization was not the only advanced one.
Cultural relativism emerged, with Europeans accepting that their customs were not the only way of doing things and were specific to Europe.

Enlightenment intellectuals were collectively known as philosophes, a French term.
Many influential Enlightenment thinkers were French, with Paris being the center of the movement.
The philosophes were a diverse group, including professors, economists, mathematicians, and social reformers.
Most came from the nobility, though some were middle class, and a few were from the lower classes.
The philosophes aimed not only to understand the world but also to change it.
Key philosophes included Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Diderot.

Montesquieu was a French nobleman and lawyer who became interested in Enlightenment philosophy.
His first book, Persian Letters, criticized traditional European customs and beliefs using the perspective of Persian observers.
Montesquieu criticized religious intolerance of the Catholic Church and European participation in slavery.
The Spirit of the Laws (1748) applied the scientific method to study forms of government and understand natural laws governing social and political relationships.
Montesquieu identified three basic forms of government:
- Republics: Suited to small nations, relying on citizen involvement.
- Monarchies: Appropriate for medium-sized nations, grounded in the ruling class adhering to laws (rule of law).
- Despotism/Dictatorship: Suited to large empires, dependent on fear.
Montesquieu examined England as a monarchy and developed the idea of a system of checks and balances through the separation of powers (legislative, executive, and judicial branches).
Checks and balances ensure that each branch limits the power of the others, preventing tyranny and promoting freedom and security.
Montesquieu's ideas influenced the founding fathers of the United States and the structure of the U.S. government.

Voltaire, born into a middle-class family, was a prolific writer known for his literary ability.
His Philosophic Letters on the English (1733), written during exile in England, advocated for English freedom of the press and religious toleration.
Voltaire criticized traditional religious institutions and promoted religious tolerance.
He espoused Deism, a religious outlook based on the Newtonian world machine concept.
Deism posits a God who created the universe like a mechanic creating a clock, setting it in motion to run according to natural laws.

Diderot, the son of a craftsman, was a writer and a critic of the Catholic Church.
He argued that the Church's dogmatic nature was incompatible with Enlightenment reason.
Diderot denounced Christianity as the worst religion and argued that the world is simply a collection of molecules.
Diderot's most famous work, the Encyclopedia, compiled knowledge to change the general way of thinking.
The Encyclopedia synthesized ideas from various philosophes and served as a resource for Enlightenment thinkers.
Diderot lowered the price of the Encyclopedia, making it accessible to the middle class and proliferating Enlightenment ideas among academics and common folk.

The Enlightenment belief in using Newtonian scientific methods to discover natural laws in human life led to the development of the science of man, later known as social science.
Scientists in this field sought laws governing economics, politics, and education, calling them natural laws.
These natural laws were believed to universally govern human actions.
David Hume, a Scottish philosopher, argued that observation and reflection grounded in systematized common sense could develop a science of man.
Careful examination of human experience would lead to new knowledge of human nature.

The Physiocrats, a group of French thinkers, established natural laws governing human society and economics.
They argued that land was the only source of wealth and could only be increased by agriculture, rejecting mercantilism's focus on gold and silver.
The Physiocrats also argued against government control of the economy, advocating for natural economic forces like supply and demand and individual economic self-interest.
They promoted laissez-faire economics, asserting that the state should not interfere in economic activities.
Laissez-faire economics became the most important contribution of the Physiocrats to social sciences and economics.