What was the Enlightenment?

The Enlightenment was an 18th century European intellectual movement.  Generally, Enlightenment philosophers advocated for progress, liberty, rationality, scientific advancement, classical liberalism, education, constitutional, and sometimes republican, government with separation of powers, freedom of religion and political speech, separation of church and state, humane warfare, ending political torture and the death penalty, laissez faire economics, and rational, rule-based ethics (utilitarianism, deontology).  In 1789, during the French Revolution, the concept of universal human rights was given its first expression in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.  Enlightenment philosophers also laid the groundwork for the social sciences (e.g. sociology and cultural anthropology).  This is the subject of the second course. 

The Enlightenment was preceded by a century of "early modern" (or "pre-Enlightenment")  philosophy that began distancing philosophy from the theology of the high medieval Catholic churchmen like Thomas Aquinas.  In an atmosphere of religious wars, the English Civil War and Glorious Revolution, and the rise of commerce and scientific inquiry, 17th century philosophers challenged the divine right of kings, advocated for religious toleration, human equality, and advanced a more secular approach to understanding the physical world and the human mind.  The beginnings of the modern fields of political science and psychology can be found in the works of 17th century philosophers.  This is the subject of the Prelude to the Enlightenment course. 

These two centuries of thought influenced the French Revolution of 1789 and subsequent European revolutions for representative democratic government.  It also had great influence on American founders like Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Rush, and James Madison.  

While many aspects of Enlightenment thought seem to have provided favorable results in the two centuries since its passing, the Enlightenment has also been been blamed for many of society's ills:  

"... Are we sometimes inhumane?  Then that is fault of the Enlightenment's icy rationalism.  The Enlightenment has at various times been found responsible for the French Revolution's Reign of Terror.... and for fascism, communism, psychiatric malpractice, economic exploitation, sexism, the extinction of species, madcap utopian schemes, environmental degradation and much else..." 

Anthony Gottlieb The Dream of Enlightenment, p. 241

While the traditional history of the Enlightenment focused on the most important French, British, German and Dutch philosophers, recent trends have also examined the Enlightenment in places such as Italy, Poland, Russia, and North and South America.  (Due to time constraints, we will only be discussing the first group of philosophers).