The Enlightenment

Dare to Know: A Time of Change

Voltaire

IntroductionThe Age of Enlightenment (or Age of Reason) refers to a time in Europe and the American colonies during the 1600 and 1700’s (before the French Revolution). Before this time period, it was considered the “Dark Ages”. This new age was “enlightened” by reason (common sense), science, and a respect for humanity. It was important at this time to discover truth through observation rather than through authoritative sources, such as Aristotle or the Bible.

The Enlightenment was an era in which people “dared to know”. It was a time to question and re-examine all previous ideas and values. The leaders of the “Age of Reason” mainly used the scientific method, experimenting and making careful observations. Many important ideas were discovered in anatomy (study of the body), astronomy, chemistry, math, and physics (study of motion). Knowledge was organized and put into encyclopedias.

Most thinkers of the Enlightenment accepted God and the afterlife but thought that people should be more concerned with improving this life rather than concentrating on the next. Even though many saw the church as restricting knowledge, they did believe in religion.

The philosophers (thinkers) believed that human beings have an advantage over all other creatures because they could reason. They said that when reason wasn’t used ignorance and superstition helped make decisions. The philosophers blamed people in authority (mainly the leaders of the Catholic Church) for keeping people ignorant so that they could be in power.

They believed that people have a rational will, which makes it possible to make and carry out plans. They said that animals are “slaves to their emotions”. When an animal is afraid, it tries to escape; when it’s angry, it fights. Instead, people can figure out the best way to act when they are afraid, angry, or in trouble. They also said that people can make themselves do the right thing.

During the first half of the 18th century, the leaders of the Enlightenment were in an uphill battle. A few were put in prison for their writings, and most were censored or attacked by the church. By the late 1700’s, though, they were beginning to succeed. Some ideas were getting government approval and philosophers were in charge at some academies. Newspapers and books were being published more often, and their ideas were becoming more well-known. Scientific experiments and writing about philosophy became popular, even among the royalty and clergy.

Frederick II of Prussia

Three Main Influences of the Enlightenment

John Locke’s ideas gave Thomas Jefferson the ideas for the Declaration of Independence.The power of the church declined.The Age of Enlightenment brought about the idea of the importance of progress and change.

Faith in science and human reason: Isaac

NewtonSir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) was a famous English scientist. He invented a new kind of math (calculus), discovered new information about light, and showed people how the universe is held together. Sometimes he is described as “one of the greatest names in the history of human thought”.

Newton’s Discoveries

•He and a German scientist (Gottfried Leibniz) each say that he invented calculus. Calculus can answer questions about things that are changing, and scientists use it to solve problems.

• Newton also discovered that sunlight is a mixture of all the colors of light. He passed sunlight through a prism, which separated all of the colors. When he studied the colors, he found that objects have color because they reflect light. For example, grass looks green because it reflects green light.

• Isaac Newton realized that the force that makes a rock fall to the ground is the same force that keeps the moon traveling around the earth. The force is called gravity. Gravity also keeps the planets moving around the sun.

Faith in science and human reason: Descartes

Rene Descartes (1596-1650) was a French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist. He is sometimes called a “dualist” because he thought that the world was made of two basic substances – matter and spirit. He said that matter is the physical universe (our bodies fit into this group). He also said that the human mind (or spirit) interacts with the body but can live on without it. Descartes believed that the whole world was created by God, and that all power depended on God.

Rene Descartes’ philosophy

In his most important work, Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes argued that he wasn’t sure if he could be certain of anything. He argued that he could be dreaming, so that nothing really was real. In another argument, he thought that perhaps God or some evil spirit was constantly tricking his mind, making him believe things that weren’t true. Then he began with the observation that even if he was dreaming, or constantly being deceived, he could at least be certain that he had thoughts, and therefore was a thinking being. He is known for the famous words Cogito, ergo sum, “I think, therefore I am.” Nothing could make him doubt it. He also argued that he could clearly see that a powerful and good God exists. This God would not allow him to be deceived. He did conclude, though, that our senses could often be misleading.

Descartes’ discoveries

• After studying optics, Descartes came up with the law about why light reflects: the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection.

• He was the first person to use the last letters of the alphabet (X, Y, or Z) to represent unknown numbers in math and the first to use the first letters (A, B, or C) to represent the known numbers. He also was the first to talk about the powers of numbers (ten squared = one hundred).Your school library may have a book on Descartes coming up with the Cartesian coordinates. It is titled The Fly on the Ceiling, and is written by Dr. Julie Glass. It’s aimed for younger children, but the story’s interesting

Two ideas of “human nature”

Thomas Hobbes John Locke

Hobbes felt that all people are fearful and predatory. He said that their actions are caused by appetite (pleasure) or aversion (pain).

Locke felt that the mind of a person was a tabula rasa (a blank slate to put knowledge on) at birth. He thought that all people are born good, independent, and equal.

Thomas HobbesThomas Hobbes (1588-1679) believed that humans were basically selfish creatures who would do anything to better their position. Left to themselves, he thought, people would act on their evil impulses. According to Hobbes, people therefore should not be trusted to make decisions on their own. In addition, Hobbes felt that nations, like people, were selfishly motivated. To Hobbes, each country was in a constant battle for power and wealth. People who lived during this time were shocked by his thoughts.

Hobbes also took the ideas of Galileo and decided that only matter exists and that everything that happens can be predicted by scientific laws. Many people of his time believed that he was saying that God did not exist. Hobbes denied this, though.

John Locke John Locke (1632-1704) was an English philosopher. He wrote the Two Treaties of Government. He believed that people were born with certain rights including the right to life, liberty, and property. He believed that it was the government’s job to protect these rights, and if they didn’t, the people could choose a new government. He also believed that the best kind of government was a representative one. Many of Locke’s political ideas, such as those about natural rights, property rights, the duty of government to protect these rights, and the rule of the majority, were later used in the United States Constitution.

Locke thought that revolution was not only a right but often an obligation, and he was in favor of a system of checks and balances in government. He said that there should be three branches of government, but that the legislative branch should be more powerful than the executive branch. He also believed in religious freedom and in the separation of church and state.

Influence of the Enlightenment on the beginnings of the United

StatesThe Declaration of Independence is Thomas Jefferson’s best-known work. One idea that was stressed was that all people have natural rights. This idea was not new, and neither were many of the others .

The Declaration made a huge impact on America and on Europe at a time when royalty ruled in many countries around the world. He didn’t come up with these ideas on his own. The idea of government by consent and the belief that all people are endowed with certain rights that government can’t take away are from John Locke.

To see the actual Declaration of Independence and learn more, go to:

http://www.nara.gov/exhall/charters/declaration/decmain.html

Thomas Jefferson

Separation of PowersSeparation of powers is an idea that governments should have separate branches to prevent a person (or group of people) from misusing authority. For example, the legislative branch has the power to make laws. The executive branch has the power to enforce the law by bringing lawbreakers to trial. The judicial branch has the power to try cases brought to court and to interpret the meanings of the laws. A government that has separation of powers is less likely to be run by one individual (a tyranny).

John Locke wrote about this idea in 1690, but he only mentioned having legislative and executive branches. In 1748, Baron Montesquieu outlined a three-way division of power in England between Parliament, the king, and the courts in one of his writings. It wasn’t being used by the government at the time. One of his ideas was very different from the Constitution of the United States, though. He thought that the executive branch could not be held by an elected official; only royalty could hold the position.

Montesquieu

Charles Louis de Secondat, the Baron of Montesquieu, was born in 1689 and died in 1755. He was a French writer. He became famous for writing satires (a written piece that uses humor or sarcasm to attack an idea or person) about French politics, living conditions, religion, and literature. Some people believe that his writings helped start the French Revolution.

He believed in separation of powers for governments and checks and balances to guarantee individual rights and freedoms.

Coming to an EndDuring the late 1700s certain changes began to occur in thought. Emotions became as acceptable as reasoning. In the 1770s writers began to be allowed to criticize more and more ideas. One very important event that made changes was the American Revolution. Europeans noticed that the Declaration of Independence and Revolutionary War moved past the discussion of “enlightened” ideas and put the ideas into practice. The American Revolution seemed to encourage attacks and criticisms against European governments.

It is said that the Age of Enlightenment ended with the French Revolution in 1789. Some people think that all of these new ideas are what caused the French Revolution.

The Enlightenment started a huge decline of the church. It created new ideas about politics and economics. And, it sparked many new scientific discoveries.

Further Information and Special Thanks

Websites

http://www.voltaire.ox.ac.uk/

http://www.reformation.org/newton.html

http://www.theacademysite.org/descartes.html

http://www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/nature/hobbes-bio.html

http://encarta.msn.com/find/MediaMax.asp?pg=3&ti=761552311&idx=461542200

http://encarta.msn.com/find/Concise.asp?ti=02F0C000

http://www.unf.edu/classes/freshmancore/core1images/FrederickII-2.jpg

http://education.yahoo.com/search/be?lb=t&p=url%3Am/montesquieu__baron_de

Special Thanks

6th grade NHA teacher Nancy Kopytko

Resources

The World Book Student Discovery Encyclopedia 2000

World Book Millennium Encyclopedia 2000

The Fly on the Ceiling by Dr. Julie Glass

Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 99