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| − | The word now used for one of the most important threads of the [[Renaissance]] is "humanism" -- that is, an increasing focus on the temporal and personal over merely seeing this world as a gateway to the Christian afterlife.
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| − | '''[[Renaissance]] philosophy''' is the period of the [[history of philosophy]] in Europe that falls roughly between the [[Middle Ages]] and the [[Age of Enlightenment |Enlightenment]]. It includes the [[15th century]]; some scholars extend it to as early as the [[1350s]] or as late as the [[16th century]] or early [[17th century]], overlapping the [[Reformation]] and the [[Early modern Europe|early modern era]]. Among the distinctive elements of Renaissance philosophy are the revival (''renaissance'' means "rebirth") of [[Ancient Greece|classical civilization]] and [[Classical education|learning]]; a partial return to the authority of [[Plato]] over [[Aristotle]], who had come to dominate later [[medieval philosophy]]; and, among some philosophers, enthusiasm for the [[occult]] and [[Hermeticism]]. | + | '''Modern philosophy''' is philosophy done in Europe and North America between the 17th and early 20th centuries. It is not a specific doctrine or school, (and so should not be confused with Modernism) although there are certain assumptions common to much of it, which helps to distinguish it from earlier philosophy.[1] |
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| − | As with all periods, there is a wide drift of dates, reasons for categorization and boundaries. In particular, the Renaissance, more than later periods, is thought to begin in Italy with the [[Italian Renaissance]] and roll through Europe. The [[English Renaissance]] is often thought to include Shakespeare, at a time when Italy had passed through [[Mannerism]] and to the [[Baroque]]. As importantly the [[16th century]] is split differently (see [[lumpers and splitters]]). Some historians see the Reformation and [[Counter-Reformation]] as being separated from the Renaissance and more important for philosophy, while others see the entire era as one sweeping period.
| + | The 17th and early 20th centuries roughly mark the beginning and the end of modern philosophy. How much if any of the [[Renaissance]] it should include is a matter for dispute; likewise modernity may or may not have ended in the twentieth century and been replaced by post-modernity. How one decides these questions will determine the scope of one's use of "modern philosophy". The convention, however, is to refer to philosophy of the Renaissance prior to [[René Descartes]] as "Early Modern Philosophy" (leaving open whether that puts it just inside or just outside the boundary) and to refer to twentieth-century philosophy, or sometimes just philosophy since [[Wittgenstein]], as "Contemporary Philosophy" (again, leaving open whether or not it is still modern). This article will focus on the history of philosophy beginning from Descartes through the early twentieth century ending in Ludwig Wittgenstein. |
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| − | == History == | + | ==History of modern philosophy== |
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| − | The Renaissance as a movement is described as the reaching back for classical models in Medieval Europe, the search for naturalism over stylism in Art, the reemergence of mathematics as intimately related to philosophy. The triggers generally held to be important are the expansion of trade with China and India, the printing press, and the revival of learning. Greek was studied again in Italy in the mid 14th century, and in 1462 a "Platonic Academy" was founded in Florence by [[Cosimo de' Medici]]. | + | The major figures in [[philosophy]] of [[mind]], [[epistemology]], and [[metaphysics]] during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries are roughly divided into two main groups. The "Rationalists," mostly in France and Germany, assumed that all [[knowledge]] must begin from certain "innate [[ideas]]" in the mind. Major rationalists were [[Descartes]], Baruch [[Spinoza]], Gottfried [[Leibniz]], and Nicolas [[Malebranche]]. The "Empiricists," by contrast, held that knowledge must begin with sensory [[experience]]. Major figures in this line of thought are John [[Locke]], George [[Berkeley]], and David [[Hume]]. (These are retrospective categories, for which [[Kant]] is largely responsible; but they are not too inaccurate.) [[Ethics]] and political philosophy are usually not subsumed under these categories, though all these philosophers worked in ethics, in their own distinctive styles. Other important figures in political philosophy include Thomas [[Hobbes]] and Jean-Jacques [[Rousseau]]. |
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| − | [[Pico della Mirandola]] (1463-1494) wrote ''Oratio de Hominis Dignitate'' or ''Discourse on the Dignity of Man'' in 1486. Sometimes called "the manifesto of the Renaissance", it invokes [[Plato]] and [[Aristotle]] to argue for a conception of human worth which, while rooted in faith, spreads to a belief in the importance of the human ability to encompass all knowledge. | + | In the late eighteenth century Immanuel Kant set forth a groundbreaking philosophical [[system]] which claimed to bring unity to [[rationalism]] and [[empiricism]]. Whether or not he was right, he did not entirely succeed in ending philosophical dispute. Kant sparked a storm of philosophical work in Germany in the early nineteenth century, beginning with [[German idealism]]. The characteristic theme of idealism was that the world and the mind equally must be understood according to the same categories; it culminated in the work of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich [[Hegel]], who among many other things said that "The real is rational; the rational is real." |
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| − | == List of famous philosophers ==
| + | Hegel's work was carried in many directions by his followers and critics. [[Karl Marx]] appropriated both Hegel's philosophy of history and the empirical ethics dominant in Britain, transforming Hegel's ideas into a strictly [[materialist]] form, to be used as a tool for revolution. Søren [[Kierkegaard]] dismissed all systematic philosophy as an inadequate guide to life and [[meaning]]. For Kierkegaard, life is meant to be lived, not a mystery to be solved. Arthur [[Schopenhauer]] took idealism to the conclusion that the world was nothing but the futile endless interplay of images and desires, and advocated [[atheism]] and pessimism. Schopenhauer's ideas were taken up and transformed by [[Nietzsche]], who seized upon their various dismissals of the world to proclaim "God is dead" and to reject all systematic philosophy and all striving for a fixed truth transcending the individual. Nietzsche found in this not grounds for pessimism, but the possibility of a new kind of freedom. |
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| − | * [[Petrarch]] (1304-1374)
| + | 19th-century British philosophy came increasingly to be dominated by strands of neo-Hegelian thought, and it was in this climate, that figures such as [[Bertrand Russell]] and [[George Edward Moore]] began moving the direction that became [[analytic philosophy]]. |
| − | * [[Leonardo Bruni]] (1374-1444)
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| − | * [[Lorenzo Valla]] (1405-1457)
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| − | * [[Marsilio Ficino]] (1433-1499)
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| − | * [[Pietro Pomponazzi]] (1462-1525)
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| − | * [[Pico della Mirandola]] (1463-1494)
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| − | * [[Desiderius Erasmus]] (1466-1536)
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| − | * [[Niccolò Machiavelli]] (1469-1527)
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| − | * [[Thomas More]] (1478-1535)
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| − | * [[Francisco de Vitoria]] (c.1480–1546)
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| − | * [[Martin Luther]] (1483-1546)
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| − | * [[Juan Luis Vives]] (1492-1540)
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| − | * [[Michel de Montaigne]] (1533-1592)
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| − | * [[Giordano Bruno]] (1548-1600)
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| − | * [[Francisco Suárez]] (1548-1617)
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| − | * [[Francis Bacon]] (1561-1626)
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| − | * [[Galileo Galilei]] (1564-1642)
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| − | * [[René Descartes]] (1596-1650)
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| − | * [[Nicholas of Cusa]] (1401 – 1464)
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| − | * [[Tommaso Campanella]] (1568 – 1639)
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| − | * [[Franciscus Patricius]] (1529 - 1597)
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| − | * [[Thomas Hobbes]] (1588 - 1679)
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| − | * [[Ulrich Zwingli]] (1484-1531)
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| − | {{listdev}}
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| − | == Movements of Note == | + | ==Rationalism== |
| − | *[[Heliocentrism]]
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| − | *[[Hermeticism]]
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| − | *[[Humanism]]
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| − | *[[Neoplatonism]]
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| − | *[[Secularism]]
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| − | == See also ==
| + | Modern philosophy traditionally begins with Rene Descartes and his dictum "I think, therefore I am." In the early seventeenth century the bulk of philosophy was dominated by Scholasticism: written by theologians and drawing upon Plato, Aristotle, and early Church writings. Descartes argued that many predominant Scholastic metaphysical doctrines were meaningless or false. In short, he proposed to begin philosophy from scratch. In his most important work, Meditations on First Philosophy, he attempts just this, over six brief essays. He tries to set aside as much as he possibly can of all his beliefs, to determine what if anything he knows for certain. He finds that he can doubt nearly everything: the reality of physical objects, God, his memories, history, science, even math, but he cannot doubt that he is, in fact, doubting. He knows what he is thinking about, even if it is not true, and he knows that he is there thinking about it. From this basis he builds his knowledge back up again. He finds that some of the ideas he has could not have originated from him alone, but only from God; he proves that God exists. He then demonstrates that God would not allow him to be systematically deceived about everything; in essence, he vindicates ordinary methods of science and reasoning, as fallible but not false. |
| − | * [http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Italian_Studies/pico/index.html Pico Project]
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| − | * [http://www2.sas.ac.uk/ies/events/seminars/Emphasis/index.htm EMPHASIS: Early Modern Philosophy and the Scientific Imagination Seminar]
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| − | ==='''17th-century philosophy'''=== in the West is generally regarded as seeing the start of modern philosophy, and the shaking off of the medieval approach, especially [[scholasticism]]. It is often called the "Age of Reason" and is considered to succeed the [[Renaissance]] and precede the [[Age of Enlightenment]]. Alternatively, it may be seen as the earlier part of the Enlightenment.
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| − | ==Europe==
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| − | In [[Western Philosophy]], the period is usually taken to start in the seventeenth century with the work of [[René Descartes]], who set much of the agenda as well as much of the methodology for those who came after him. The period is typified in Europe by the great system-builders — philosophers who present unified systems of [[epistemology]], [[metaphysics]], [[logic]], and [[ethics]], and often [[politics]] and the physical sciences too.
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| − | [[Immanuel Kant]] classified his predecessors into two schools: the [[Rationalism|Rationalists]] and the [[Empiricism|Empiricists]]<ref>[http://www.iep.utm.edu/k/kantmeta.htm#H1 Historical Background of Kent]</ref>, and Early Modern Philosophy (as seventeenth- and eighteenth-century philosophy is known) is often characterised in terms of a supposed conflict between these schools.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} This division is a considerable oversimplification, and it is important to be aware that the philosophers involved did not think of themselves as belonging to these schools, but as being involved in a single philosophical enterprise.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}
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| − | Although misleading in many ways, this classification has continued to be used to this day, especially when writing about the 17th and 18th centuries. The three main Rationalists are normally taken to have been [[Descartes]], [[Baruch Spinoza]], and [[Gottfried Leibniz]]. Building upon their English predecessors [[Francis Bacon]] and [[Thomas Hobbes]], the three main Empiricists were [[John Locke]], [[George Berkeley]], and [[David Hume]]. The former were distinguished by the belief that, in principle (though not in practice), all knowledge can be gained by the power of our reason alone; the latter rejected this, believing that all knowledge has to come through the senses, from experience. Thus the Rationalists took [[mathematics]] as their model for knowledge, and the Empiricists took the physical sciences.
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| − | This emphasis on [[epistemology]] is at the root of Kant's distinction; looking at the various philosophers in terms of their metaphysical, moral, or [[philosophy of language|linguistic]] theories, they divide up very differently. Even sticking to epistemology, though, the distinction is shaky: for example, most of the Rationalists accepted that in practice we had to rely on the sciences for knowledge of the external world, and many of them were involved in scientific research; the Empiricists, on the other hand, generally accepted that ''[[A priori and a posteriori (philosophy)|a priori]]'' knowledge was possible in the fields of mathematics and logic.
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| − | This period also saw the birth of some of the classics of political thought, especially [[Thomas Hobbes]]' ''Leviathan'', and [[John Locke]]'s ''Two Treatises of Government''.
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| − | The seventeenth century in Europe saw the culmination of the slow process of detachment of philosophy from [[theology]]. Thus, while philosophers still talked about – and even offered arguments for the existence of – a [[deity]], this was done in the service of philosophical argument and thought. (In the [[The Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]], the ''Age of Reason'', [[18th century|18th-century]] philosophy was to go still further, leaving theology and [[religion]] behind altogether.)
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| − | ==List of seventeenth century philosophers==
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| − | {{see also|List of philosophers born in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries|List of philosophers born in the seventeenth century}}
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| − | * [[Nicolas Malebranche]] (1638–1715)
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| − | * [[Isaac Newton]] (1642–1727)
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| − | * [[Gottfried Leibniz]] (1646–1716)
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| − | * [[Pierre Bayle]] (1647–1706)
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| − | * [[Damaris Cudworth Masham]] (1659–1708)
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| − | * [[Wang fu-zi]] (1619–1693)
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| − | * [[Huang Zongxi]] (1610-1695)
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| − | * [[Mary Astell]] (1666–1731)
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| − | * [[Mir Damad]] (d.1631)
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| − | * [[Mulla Sadra]] (1571–1640)
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| − | ===External links===
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| − | * [http://www2.sas.ac.uk/ies/events/seminars/Emphasis/index.htm EMPHASIS: Early Modern Philosophy and the Scientific Imagination Seminar]
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| − | The '''Age of Enlightenment ''' ({{lang-fr|Siècle des Lumières}}; {{lang-de|Aufklärung}}) was an eighteenth century movement in [[European philosophy|European]] and [[Western philosophy|American philosophy]], or the longer period including the [[Age of Reason]]. The term can more narrowly refer to the intellectual movement of ''The Enlightenment'', which advocated [[rationalism|Reason]] as the primary basis of authority. Developing in [[France]], [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Britain]] and [[Germany]], its sphere of influence also included [[Austria]], [[Italy]], the [[Netherlands]], [[Poland]], [[Russia]], [[Scandinavia]], [[Spain]] and, in fact, the whole of [[Europe]]. Many of the United States' [[Founding Fathers of the United States|Founding Fathers]] were also heavily influenced by Enlightenment-era ideas, particularly in the religious sphere ([[Deism]]) and, in parallel with [[classical liberalism]], in the political sphere (which had a major influence on its [[United States Bill of Rights|Bill of Rights]], in parallel with the [[Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen]]).
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| − | The era is generally agreed to have ended around the year 1800 and the beginning of the [[Napoleonic Wars]] (1804-15).
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| − | ==History==
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| − | The Enlightenment is often closely linked with the [[Scientific Revolution]], for both movements emphasized [[reason]], [[science]], and [[rationality]], while the former also sought their application in comprehension of divine or natural law. Inspired by the revolution of knowledge commenced by [[Galileo Galilei|Galileo]] and [[Isaac Newton|Newton]], and in a climate of increasing disaffection with repressive rule, Enlightenment thinkers believed that systematic thinking might be applied to all areas of human activity, carried into the [[government]]al sphere in their explorations of the [[individual]], [[society]] and the [[state]]. Its leaders believed they could lead their states to [[Progress (philosophy)|progress]] after a long period of [[tradition]], [[irrationality]], [[superstition]], and [[tyranny]] which they imputed to the [[Middle Ages]]. The movement helped create the intellectual framework for the [[American Revolution|American]] and [[French Revolution]]s, [[Poland]]'s [[Constitution of May 3, 1791]], the [[Latin American revolutions|Latin American independence movement]], the [[Greece|Greek]] national independence movement and the later [[Balkan]] independence movements against the [[Ottoman Empire]], and led to the rise of [[classical liberalism]], [[democracy]], and [[capitalism]].
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| − | The Enlightenment is matched with the high [[baroque]] and classical eras in [[music]], and the [[Neoclassicism|neo-classical]] period in the arts. It receives modern attention as a central model for many movements in the modern period.
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| − | Another important movement in 18th century philosophy, closely related to it, focused on belief and piety. Some of its proponents, such as [[George Berkeley]], attempted to demonstrate rationally the existence of a supreme being. Piety and belief in this period were integral to the exploration of [[natural philosophy]] and [[ethics]], in addition to [[politics|political]] theories of the age. However, prominent Enlightenment philosophers such as [[Thomas Paine]], [[Voltaire]], [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]], and [[David Hume]] questioned and attacked the existing institutions of both [[Church]] and [[State]]. The 19th century also saw a continued rise of [[empiricism|empiricist]] ideas and their application to [[political economy]], [[government]] and sciences such as [[physics]], [[chemistry]] and [[biology]].
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| − | The boundaries of the Enlightenment cover much of the seventeenth century as well, though others term the previous era the "[[Age of Reason]]." For the present purposes, these two eras are [[lumpers/splitters|split]]; however, it is acceptable to think of them joined as one long period.
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| − | Europe had been ravaged by religious wars; when peace in the political situation had been restored, after the [[Peace of Westphalia]] and the [[English Civil War]], an intellectual upheaval overturned the accepted belief that mysticism and revelation are the primary sources of knowledge and wisdom—which was blamed for fomenting political instability. Instead (according to those that split the two periods), the Age of Reason sought to establish axiomatic philosophy and [[Enlightened absolutism|absolutism]] as foundations for knowledge and stability. [[Epistemology]], in the writings of [[Michel de Montaigne]] and [[René Descartes]], was based on extreme skepticism and inquiry into the nature of "knowledge." The goal of a philosophy based on self-evident axioms reached its height with [[Baruch Spinoza|Baruch (Benedictus de) Spinoza]]'s ''[[Ethics]]'', which expounded a [[pantheistic]] view of the universe where God and Nature were one. This idea then became central to the Enlightenment from Newton through to Jefferson.
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| − | The ideas of [[Blaise Pascal|Pascal]], [[Gottfried Leibniz|Leibniz]], [[Galileo Galilei|Galileo]] and other philosophers of the previous period also contributed to and greatly influenced the Enlightenment; for instance, according to E. Cassirer, Leibniz’s treatise On Wisdom "... identified the central concept of the Enlightenment and sketched its theoretical programme" (Cassirer 1979: 121–23). There was a wave of change across European thinking, exemplified by Newton's [[natural philosophy]], which combined mathematics of [[axiom]]atic proof with mechanics of physical observation, a coherent system of verifiable predictions, which set the tone for what followed Newton's ''[[Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica]]'' in the century after.
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| − | The Age of Enlightenment is also prominent in the history of Judaism, perhaps because of its conjunction with increased social acceptance of Jews in some western European states, especially those who were not orthodox or who converted to the officially sanctioned version of Christianity.
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| − | ==Conflicts==
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| − | As with theology, philosophy became a source of partisan debate, with different schools attempting to develop rationales for their viewpoints. Philosophers such as [[Spinoza]] searched for a [[metaphysics]] of ethics, which influenced [[pietism]] and the [[transcendence (philosophy)|transcendental]] philosophy of philosophers such as [[Immanuel Kant]].
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| − | Religion was linked to another concept which inspired a great amount of Enlightenment thought, namely the rise of the [[Nation-state]]. In the medieval and Renaissance periods, the state was restricted by the need to work through a host of intermediaries. This system existed because of poor communication, where localism thrived in return for loyalty to some central organization. Following improvements in transportation, organization, navigation and finally the influx of gold and silver from trade and conquest, however, the state assumed more authority and power. Intellectuals responded with a series of theories on the purpose and limit of state power. Throughout The Enlightenment, [[Enlightened absolutism|absolutism]] was therefore cemented. A string of philosophers (amongst them [[John Locke]]) reacted by advocating limitations on legitimate state power, influencing both [[Voltaire]] and [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]]. The influence of these Enlightenment ideas extended to organizations seeking to affect state and social development and ultimately had a profound effect on the actions of politically active individuals worldwide.
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| − | Within the period of the Enlightenment, the question of what was the proper relationship of the citizen to the state continued to be explored. The idea that [[social contract|society is a contract]] between individual and some larger entity, whether society or state, was developed philosophically by a series of thinkers, including [[Rousseau]], [[Montesquieu]] and [[Thomas Jefferson|Jefferson]]. Other thinkers, heralding [[romanticism]], advocated the idea that nationality had a basis beyond mere preference. Philosophers such as [[Johann Gottfried von Herder]] expounded the idea that [[language]] had a decisive influence on cognition and thought, and that the meaning of a particular book or text was open to deeper exploration based on deeper connections, an idea now called [[hermeneutics]]. The two concepts -- of the contractual nature between the state and the citizen, and the reality of the nation beyond that contract -- had a decisive influence in the development of [[liberalism]], [[democracy]] and constitutional government which followed.
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| − | At the same time, the integration of [[algebra|algebraic thinking]], acquired from the Islamic world over the previous two centuries, and [[geometry|geometric thinking]] which had dominated Western mathematics and philosophy since at least [[Eudoxus of Cnidus|Eudoxus]], precipitated a scientific and mathematical revolution. Sir Isaac Newton's greatest claim to prominence came from a systematic application of algebra to geometry, and synthesizing a workable [[calculus]] which was applicable to scientific problems. The Enlightenment was a time when the solar system was truly discovered: with the accurate calculation of orbits, such as [[Halley's comet]], the discovery of the first planet since antiquity, [[Uranus (planet)|Uranus]] by [[William Herschel]], and the calculation of the mass of the Sun using Newton's theory of universal gravitation. These series of discoveries had a momentous effect on both pragmatic commerce and philosophy. The excitement engendered by creating a new and orderly vision of the world, as well as the need for a philosophy of science which could encompass the new discoveries, greatly influenced both religious and secular ideas. If Newton could order the cosmos with natural philosophy, so, many argued, could political philosophy order the body politic.
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| − | Within the Enlightenment, two main theories contended to be the basis of that ordering: [[Divine Right of Kings|divine right]] and [[natural law]]. The writings of [[Jacques-Benigne Bossuet]] (1627-1704) set the paradigm for the divine right: that the universe was ordered by a reasonable God, and therefore his representative on earth had the powers of that God. The orderliness of the cosmos was seen as proof of God; therefore it was a proof of the power of monarchy. Natural law began, not as a reaction against divinity, but instead, as an abstraction: God did not rule arbitrarily, but through natural laws that he enacted on earth. [[Thomas Hobbes]], though an absolutist in government, drew on this argument in ''[[Leviathan (book)|Leviathan]]''. Once the concept of natural law was invoked, however, it took on a life of its own. If natural law could be used to bolster the position of the monarchy, it could also be used to assert the rights of subjects of that monarch. If there were natural laws, then there were [[natural rights]] associated with them, just as there are rights under man-made laws.
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| − | What both theories had in common was the need for an orderly and comprehensible function of government. The "Enlightened Despotism" of, for example, [[Catherine the Great]] of Russia and [[Frederick the Great]] of [[Prussia]], was not based on mystical appeals to authority, but on the pragmatic invocation of state power as necessary in order to hold back the anarchy of warfare and rebellion. Regularization and standardization were seen as good things because they allowed the state to reach its power outwards over the entirety of its domain and because they liberated people from being entangled in endless local custom. Additionally, they expanded the sphere of economic and social activity.
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| − | Thus rationalization, standardization and the search for fundamental unities occupied much of the Enlightenment and its arguments over proper methodology and nature of understanding. The culminating efforts of the Enlightenment include, amongst other things, the economics of [[Adam Smith]], the physical chemistry of [[Antoine Lavoisier]], the idea of evolution pursued by [[Johann Wolfgang Goethe]] and the declaration by Jefferson of inalienable rights. Development in the philosophy of the Enlightenment was also the basis for overthrowing the idea of a completely rational and comprehensible universe, and led, in turn, to the metaphysics of Hegel and [[Romanticism]].
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| − | == Influence ==
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| − | The Enlightenment occupies a central role in the justification for the movement known as [[modernism]]. The neo-classicizing trend in modernism came to see itself as a period of rationality which overturned established traditions, analogously to the Encyclopaediasts and other Enlightenment philosophers. A variety of 20th century movements, including [[liberalism]] and [[neo-classicism]], traced their intellectual heritage back to the Enlightenment, and away from the purported emotionalism of the 19th century. Geometric order, rigor and reductionism were seen as Enlightenment virtues. The modern movement points to [[reductionism]] and [[rationality]] as crucial aspects of Enlightenment thinking, of which it is the heir, as opposed to irrationality and emotionalism. In this view, the Enlightenment represents the basis for modern ideas of [[liberalism]] against [[superstition]] and [[intolerance]]. Influential philosophers who have held this view include [[Jürgen Habermas]] and [[Isaiah Berlin]].
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| − | This view asserts that the Enlightenment was the point when Europe broke through what historian [[Peter Gay]] calls "the sacred circle," whose dogma had circumscribed thinking. The Enlightenment is held to be the source of critical ideas, such as the centrality of [[Freedom (political)|freedom]], [[democracy]] and [[reason]] as primary values of society. This view argues that the establishment of a contractual basis of rights would lead to the [[market mechanism]] and [[capitalism]], the [[scientific method]], religious [[tolerance]], and the organization of states into self-governing republics through democratic means. In this view, the tendency of the ''[[philosophes]]'' in particular to apply rationality to every problem is considered the essential change. From this point on, thinkers and writers were held to be free to pursue the truth in whatever form, without the threat of sanction for violating established ideas.
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| − | With the end of the [[World War II|Second World War]] and the rise of [[post-modernity]], these same features came to be regarded as liabilities - excessive specialization, failure to heed traditional wisdom or provide for unintended consequences, and the romanticization of Enlightenment figures - such as the [[Founding Fathers]] of the United States, prompted a backlash against both Science and Enlightenment based dogma in general. Philosophers such as [[Michel Foucault]] are often understood as arguing that the Age of Reason had to construct a vision of unreason as being demonic and subhuman, and therefore evil and befouling, whence by analogy to argue that rationalism in the modern period is, likewise, a construction. In their book, ''[[Dialectic of Enlightenment]]'', [[Max Horkheimer]] and [[Theodor Adorno]] wrote a critique of what they perceived as the contradictions of Enlightenment thought: Enlightenment was seen as being at once liberatory and through the domination of [[instrumental rationality]], tending towards totalitarianism.
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| − | Still yet, other leading intellectuals, such as [[Noam Chomsky]], see a natural evolution, using the term loosely, from early Enlightenment thinking to other forms of social analysis, specifically from The Enlightenment to [[liberalism]], [[anarchism]] and [[socialism]]. The relationship between these different schools of thought, Chomsky and others point out {{Fact|date=August 2007}}, can be seen in the works of [[von Humboldt]], [[Kropotkin]], [[Bakunin]] and [[Marx]], among others.
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| − | ==Important figures==
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| − | <!-- is this chronological? It's not alphabetical. -->
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| − | * [[Baruch Spinoza]] (1632-1672) Dutch philosopher who is considered laying the groundwork for the 18th century Enlightenment.
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| − | * [[Balthasar Bekker]] (1634 - 1698) ''Dutch'', a key figure in the Early Enlightenment. In his book De Philosophia Cartesiana (1668) Bekker argued that theology and philosophy each had their separate terrain and that Nature can no more be explained from Scripture than can theological truth be deduced from Nature.
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| − | * [[Robert Hooke]] (1635 - 1703) ''English'', probably the leading experimenter of his age, Curator of Experiments for the Royal Society. Performed the work which quantified such concepts as [[Boyle's Law]] and the inverse-square nature of gravitation, father of the science of [[microscopy]].
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| − | * [[Jean le Rond d'Alembert]] (1717-1783) ''French''. Mathematician and physicist, one of the editors of ''Encyclopédie''.
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| − | * [[Thomas Abbt]] (1738-1766) ''German''. Promoted what would later be called [[Nationalism]] in ''Vom Tode für's Vaterland'' (On dying for one's nation).
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| − | * [[Pierre Bayle]] (1647-1706) ''French''. Literary critic known for ''Nouvelles de la république des lettres'' and ''Dictionnaire historique et critique''.
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| − |
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| − | * [[Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon|G.L. Buffon]] (1707-1788) ''French''. Author of ''L'Histoire Naturelle'' who considered [[Natural Selection]] and the similarities between humans and apes.
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| − |
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| − | * [[James Burnett Lord Monboddo]] ''Scottish''. Philosopher, [[jurist]], pre-[[evolution]]ary thinker and contributor to [[linguistics|linguistic]] [[evolution]]. See [[Scottish Enlightenment]]
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| − | * [[James Boswell]] (1740-1795) ''Scottish''. Biographer of [[Samuel Johnson]], helped established the norms for writing [[Biography]] in general.
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| − | * [[Edmund Burke]] (1729-1797) ''Irish''. Parliamentarian and political philosopher, best known for pragmatism, considered important to both [[liberalism|liberal]] and [[conservatism|conservative]] thinking.
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| − | * [[Marquis de Condorcet]] (1743-1794) ''French''. Philosopher, mathematician, and early political scientist who devised the concept of a Condorcet method.
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| − | * [[Baron d'Holbach]] (1723-1789) ''French''. Author, [[encyclopaedist]] and Europe's first outspoken [[atheist]]. Roused much controversy over his criticism of religion as a whole in his work ''[[The System of Nature]]''.
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| − | * [[Denis Diderot]] (1713-1784) ''French''. Founder of the ''Encyclopédie'', speculated on [[free will]] and attachment to material objects, contributed to the theory of literature.
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| − | * [[Ignacy Krasicki]] (1735-1801): ''[[Poland|Polish]]''. Leading poet of the [[Polish Enlightenment]], hailed by contemporaries as "the Prince of Poets." After the 1764 election of [[Stanisław August Poniatowski]] as [[List of Polish monarchs|King of Poland]], Krasicki became the new King's confidant and chaplain. He participated in the King's famous "[[Thursday dinners]]" and co-founded the ''[[Monitor (Polish newspaper)|Monitor]]'', the preeminent periodical of the [[Polish Enlightenment]], sponsored by the King. Consecrated [[Bishop of Warmia]] in 1766, Krasicki thereby also became an ex-officio [[Senator]] of the [[Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth]]. On [[Warmia]]'s 1772 annexation by [[Frederick the Great]]'s [[Prussia]] in the [[Partitions of Poland|First Partition]] of the [[Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth]], Krasicki became a subject of the Prussian King and a habitué at the Prussian court. In 1795 Krasicki became [[Archbishop of Gniezno]] and thus [[Primate of Poland]]. He is remembered especially for his ''[[Fables and Parables]]''.
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| − | * [[Benito Jerónimo Feijóo e Montenegro]] (1676-1764) was the most prominent promoter of the critical empiricist attitude at the dawn of the Spanish Enlightenment. See also [http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mart%C3%ADn_Sarmiento Martín Sarmiento].
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| − | * [[Benjamin Franklin]] (1706-1790) ''American''. Statesman, scientist, political philosopher, pragmatic deist, author. As a philosopher known for his writings on nationality, economic matters, aphorisms published in ''Poor Richard's Alamanac'' and polemics in favour of American Independence. Involved with writing the [[Declaration of Independence]] and the Constitution of 1787.
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| − | * [[Edward Gibbon]] (1737-1794) ''English''. Historian best known for his ''[[The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire|Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire]]''.
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| − | * [[Johann Gottfried von Herder]] ''German''. Theologian and Linguist. Proposed that language determines thought, introduced concepts of ethnic study and nationalism, influential on later Romantic thinkers. Early supporter of democracy and republican [[self rule]].
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| − | * [[David Hume]] ''Scottish''. Historian, philosopher and economist. Best known for his [[empiricism]] and [[scientific scepticism]], advanced doctrines of [[naturalism (philosophy)|naturalism]] and material causes. Influenced Kant and Adam Smith.
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| − | * [[Immanuel Kant]] (1724-1804) ''German''. Philosopher and physicist. Established critical philosophy on a systematic basis, proposed a material theory for the origin of the solar system, wrote on ethics and morals. Influenced by Hume and Isaac Newton. Important figure in German Idealism, and important to the work of [[Fichte]] and [[Hegel]].
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| − | * [[Thomas Jefferson]] (1743-1826) ''American''. Statesman, political philosopher, educator, deist. As a philosopher best known for the ''[[United States Declaration of Independence]]'' (1776) and his interpretation of the ''[[United States Constitution]]'' (1787) which he pursued as president. Argued for natural rights as the basis of all states, argued that violation of these rights negates the contract which bind a people to their rulers and that therefore there is an inherent "Right to Revolution."
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| − | * [[Adam Weishaupt]] (1748-1830) ''German'' who founded the Order of the Illuminati.
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| − | * [[Hugo Kołłątaj]] (1750-1812) ''Polish''. He was active in the [[Commission for National Education]] and the Society for Elementary Textbooks, and reformed the [[Jagiellonian University|Kraków Academy]], of which he was rector in 1783-86. An organizer of the townspeople's movement, in 1789 he edited a memorial from the cities. He co-authored the [[Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth]]'s [[Constitution of May 3, 1791]], and founded the Assembly of Friends of the Government Constitution to assist in the document's implementation. In 1791-92 he served as Crown Vice Chancellor. In 1794 he took part in the [[Kościuszko Uprising]], co-authoring its Uprising Act ([[March 24]], [[1794]]) and [[Proclamation of Połaniec]] ([[May 7]], [[1794]]), heading the Supreme National Council's Treasury Department, and backing the Uprising's left, Jacobin wing.
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| − | * [[Gotthold Ephraim Lessing]] (1729-1781) ''German''. Dramatist, critic, political philosopher. Created theatre in the German language, began reappraisal of Shakespeare to being a central figure, and the importance of classical dramatic norms as being crucial to good dramatic writing, theorized that the centre of political and cultural life is the middle class.
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| − | * [[John Locke]] (1632-1704) ''English'' Philosopher. Important empiricist who expanded and extended the work of Francis Bacon and Thomas Hobbes. Seminal thinker in the realm of the relationship between the state and the individual, the contractual basis of the state and the rule of law. Argued for personal liberty with respect to [[property]].
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| − | * [[Leandro Fernández de Moratín]] (1760-1828) ''Spanish''. Dramatist and translator, support of [[republicanism]] and free thinking. Transitional figure to Romanticism.
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| − | * [[Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu|Montesquieu]] (1689-1755) ''French'' political thinker. He is famous for his articulation of the theory of separation of powers, taken for granted in modern discussions of government and implemented in many constitutions all over the world.
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| − | * [[Nikolay Novikov]] (1744-1818) ''Russian''. Philanthropist and journalist who sought to raise the culture of Russian readers and publicly argued with the Empress. See [[Russian Enlightenment]] for other prominent figures.
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| − | * [[Thomas Paine]] (1737-1809) ''English/American''. Pamphleteer, Deist, and polemicist, most famous for ''[[Common Sense]]'' attacking England's domination of the colonies in America. The pamphlet was key in fomenting the [[American Revolution]]. Also wrote ''[[The Age of Reason]]'' which remains one of the most persuasive critiques of the Bible ever written.
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| − | * [[Francois Quesney]] (1694-1774) ''French'' economist of the Physiocratic school. He also practiced surgery.
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| − | * [[Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos]]. Main figure of the Spanish Enlightenment. Preeminent statesman.
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| − | * [[Emanuel Swedenborg]] (1688-1772) Natural philosopher and theologian whose search for the operation of the soul in the body led him to construct a detailed metaphysical model for spiritual-natural causation.
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| − | * [[French Encyclopédistes]]
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| − | * [[Voltaire]] (1694-1778) French Enlightenment writer, [[essayist]], [[deism|deist]] and [[philosophy|philosopher]]
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| − | * [[Leibniz]]
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| − | * [[Lord Monboddo]]
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| − | * [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]] Political philosopher that wrote the [[Social Contract]].
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| − | * [[Helvétius]]
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| − | * [[Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle]]
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| − | * [[Olympe de Gouges]]
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| − | * [[Cesare Beccaria]]
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| − | * [[Adam Smith]] (1723-1790) Economist who wrote the [[Wealth of Nations]]
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| − | * [[Isaac Newton]]
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| − | * [[John Wilkes]]
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| − | * [[Antoine Lavoisier]]
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| − | * [[Mikhail Lomonosov]]
| |
| − | * [[Mikhailo Shcherbatov]]
| |
| − | * [[Ekaterina Dashkova]]
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| − | * [[Mary Wollstonecraft]]
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| − |
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| − | ==See also==
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| − | * [[Natural philosophy]]
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| − | * [[Humanism]]
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| − | * [[Secularism]]
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| − | * [[Infidel]]s
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| − | * [[Higher criticism]]
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| − | * [[Deism]]
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| − | * [[Robert Boyle]]
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| − | * [[John Ruskin]]
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| − | * [[Counter-Enlightenment]]
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| − | * [[Intellectualism]]
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| − | * [[Anti-intellectualism]]
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| − | * [[Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment]]
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| − | * [[The Select Society]]
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| − | * [[Christianity]]
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| − |
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| − | ==Further reading==
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| − | * [[Henry F. May]] ''The Enlightenment in America'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 1976)
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| − | * [[Ernst Cassirer]], ''The Philosophy of the Enlightenment,'' Princeton University Press 1979
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| − | * [[Mark Hulluing]] ''Autocritique of Enlightenment: Rousseau and the Philosophes'' 1994
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| − | * [[Peter Gay|Gay Peter]]. ''The Enlightenment: An Interpretation''. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1996
| |
| − | * [[Michel Foucault]], [http://foucault.info/documents/whatIsEnlightenment/foucault.whatIsEnlightenment.en.html What is enlightenment?]
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| − | * [[Benjamin Redkop|Redkop, Benjamin]], ''The Enlightenment and Community'', 1999
| |
| − | * [[Melamed, Yitzhak Y]], ''Salomon Maimon and the Rise of Spinozism in German Idealism'', Journal of the History of Philosophy, Volume 42, Issue 1
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| − | * [[Roy Porter|Porter, Roy]] ''The Enlightenment'' 1999
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| − | * [[Margaret Jacob|Jacob, Margaret]] ''Enlightenment: A Brief History with Documents'' 2000
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| − | * [[Thomas Munck]] ''Enlightenment: A Comparative Social History, 1721-1794''
| |
| − | * [[Arthur Herman]] ''How the Scots Invented the Modern World: The True Story of how Western Europe's Poorest Nation Created Our World and Everything in It'' 2001
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| − | * [[Stuart Brown]] ed., ''British Philosophy in the Age of Enlightenment'' 2002
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| − | * [[Alan Charles Kors]], ed. ''Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment''. 4 volumes. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003
| |
| − | * [[James Buchan|Buchan, James]] ''Crowded with Genius: The Scottish Enlightenment: Edinburgh's Moment of the Mind'' 2003
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| − | * [[Bernard Dieterle]], [[Manfred Engel]] (ed.), ''The Dream and the Enlightenment / Le Rêve et les Lumières.'' Paris: Honoré Champion 2003, ISBN 2-7453-0672-3.
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| − | * [[Louis Dupre]] ''The Enlightenment & the Intellctural Foundations of Modern Culture'' 2004
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| − | * [[Gertrude Himmelfarb|Himmelfarb, Gertrude]] ''The Roads to Modernity: The British, French, and American Enlightenments'', 2004
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| − | * [[Stephen Eric Bronner]] ''Interpreting the Enlightenment: Metaphysics, Critique, and Politics'', 2004
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| − | * [[Jonathan Hill]], ''Faith in the Age of Reason,'' Lion/Intervarsity Press 2004
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| − | * [[Stephen Eric Bronner]] '' The Great Divide: The Enlightenment and its Critics''
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| − | * The [http://www.ucl.ac.uk/philosophy/LPSG/ London Philosophy Study Guide] offers many suggestions on what to read, depending on the student's familiarity with the subject: [http://www.ucl.ac.uk/philosophy/LPSG/Modern.htm Modern Philosophy]
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| − |
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| − | ==External links==
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| − | * [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/cgi-local/DHI/dhi.cgi?id=dv2-10 ''Dictionary of the History of Ideas'':] The Enlightenment
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| − | * [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/cgi-local/DHI/dhi.cgi?id=dv2-11 ''Dictionary of the History of Ideas'':] The [[Counter-Enlightenment]]
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| − | * [http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/15970/introduction_to_enlightenment_thought.html Introduction to the Enlightenment]
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| − | * [http://www.pinellasfla.com/litenlightenment.htm The greatest works of Enlightenment Literature]
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| − | * {{fr}}{{cite news | title='L'esprit des Lumières a encore beaucoup à faire dans le monde d'aujourd'hui' by [[Tzvetan Todorov]] | publisher=Le Monde | date=March 4, 2006 | url=http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3246,36-747585@51-696669,0.html}}
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| − | [[Category: General Reference]]
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| | [[Category: Modern Philosophy]] | | [[Category: Modern Philosophy]] |
