20 The Age of Enlightenment
21.1: The Age of Enlightenment
21.1.1: Enlightenment Ideals
Centered on the idea that reason is the primary source of authority and legitimacy, the Enlightenment was a philosophical movement that dominated the world of ideas in Europe in the 18th century.
Learning Objective
Identify the core ideas that drove the Age of Enlightenment
Key Points
- The Age of Enlightenment was a philosophical movement that dominated the world of ideas in Europe in the 18th century. Centered on the idea that reason is the primary source of authority and legitimacy, this movement advocated such ideals as liberty, progress, tolerance, fraternity, constitutional government, and separation of church and state.
- There is little consensus on the precise beginning of the Age of Enlightenment, but the beginning of the 18th century (1701) or the middle of the 17th century (1650) are commonly identified as starting points. French historians usually place the period between 1715 and 1789. Most scholars use the last years of the century, often choosing the French Revolution of 1789 or the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars (1804–15) to date the end of the Enlightenment.
- The Enlightenment took hold in most European countries, often with a specific local emphasis. The cultural exchange during the Age of Enlightenment ran between particular European countries and also in both directions across the Atlantic.
- There were two distinct lines of Enlightenment thought. The radical Enlightenment advocated democracy, individual liberty, freedom of expression, and eradication of religious authority. A second, more moderate variety sought accommodation between reform and the traditional systems of power and faith.
- Science came to play a leading role in Enlightenment discourse and thought. The Enlightenment has long been hailed as the foundation of modern Western political and intellectual culture. It brought political modernization to the West. In religion, Enlightenment era commentary was a response to the preceding century of religious conflict in Europe.
- Historians of race, gender, and class note that Enlightenment ideals were not originally envisioned as universal in the today’s sense of the word. Although they did eventually inspire the struggles for rights of people of color, women, or the working masses, most Enlightenment thinkers did not advocate equality for all, regardless of race, gender, or class, but rather insisted that rights and freedoms were not hereditary.
Key Terms
- reductionism
- Several related but distinct philosophical positions regarding the connections between theories, “reducing” one idea to another, more basic one. In the sciences, its methodologies attempt to explain entire systems in terms of their individual, constituent parts and interactions.
- scientific method
- A body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge that apply empirical or measurable evid