What was the Enlightenment?
"The quest for human amelioration occurring between 1680 and 1800, driven principally by 'philosophy', that is what we would term philosophy, science, and political and social science including the new "science of economics", lumped together, leading to revolutions in ideas and attitudes first, and actual practical revolutions second,... both sets of revolutions seeking universal recipes for all of mankind, and ultimately, in its radical manifestation, laying the foundations for modern basic human rights and representative democracy." Jonathan Israel, Democratic Enlightenment (p. 7)
Philosophers of the period sought a "science of man" based on the "principles of nature."
The sciences of man included (but were not necessarily called this at the time): political science, the science of modern economics, rule-based ethics, psychology, sociology, cultural anthropology, and social-cultural history.
Some of the ideas of political science that were developed during the 18th century were republican government (representative democracy), freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of (religious) conscious, governmental separation of powers, the abolition of political torture and slavery, and the nascent beginnings of women's rights.
The idea of human evolution developed in the 18th century, about a century before Charles Darwin published On the Origin of the Species in 1859.
The modern concept of humanity was developed during the Enlightenment.
New theories of aesthetics in the arts were also developed in the 18th century.
Major issues of the Enlightenment
The Course Book
Anthony Pagden's The Enlightenment: and Why it Still Matters focuses on the development of the idea of a "cosmopolitan word." a world of international cooperation for the betterment of humanity (many Enlightenment thinkers referred to themselves as "citizens of the world"). Pagden's book also goes into detail about how some of the social sciences like cultural anthropology, got their start.
Historiography of the Enlightenment - (Historiography is the history of the history of a topic - i.e. How has the story changed since the event happened?)
A current historiographical trend we will be investigating...
Up until about 2000, historians had generally grouped 18th century thinkers into two camps; Enlightenment thinkers who advocated for individual liberties and rights (classical liberalism) and Counter-Enlightenment thinkers who argued for the keeping things the way they were (classical, or traditional, conservatives).
Since 2000, historian Jonathan Isreal has Enlightenment thinkers into two groups; "moderates" who wanted only some amount change (preferring monarchy, but usually constitutional, parliamentary monarchy) and some social reforms without ending aristocratic privileges, and "radicals" who advocated for a fully egalitarian society with wide civil liberties and democratic-republican government.
So there are essentially not two, but three general groups of thinkers in the 18th century.
Topics from the recent historiography we will not be discussing...
The Enlightenment beyond Great Britain, France, and Germany (e.g. the Enlightenment in Russia, the Enlightenment in Poland, the Enlightenment in Spain, the Enlightenment in Spanish America, etc)
This massive collection of Enlightenment era writings will be mentioned numerous times...
The Encyclopédie of Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert (pronounced: on-cē-clō-pē-dē)
Online at the University of Michigan in English. Published between 1751 - 1772, the Encyclopédie contains over 70,000 articles by over 140 authors.
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