what was integral to the spread of enlightenment from europe to america

21.ane: The Age of Enlightenment

21.ane.1: Enlightenment Ideals

Centered on the idea that reason is the principal source of authorisation 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 potency and legitimacy, this movement advocated such ideals as liberty, progress, tolerance, fraternity, constitutional government, and separation of church and state.
• In that location is little consensus on the precise beginning of the Historic period of Enlightenment, simply the offset of the 18th century (1701) or the middle of the 17th century (1650) are ordinarily identified as starting points. French historians ordinarily place the period between 1715 and 1789. Most scholars use the last years of the century, frequently 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 concord in most European countries, often with a specific local accent. The cultural commutation during the Age of Enlightenment ran between particular European countries and likewise in both directions across the Atlantic.
• There were two distinct lines of Enlightenment thought. The radical Enlightenment advocated democracy, individual freedom, liberty of expression, and eradication of religious say-so. 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 idea. The Enlightenment has long been hailed equally the foundation of modern Western political and intellectual culture. Information technology 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 grade note that Enlightenment ideals were non originally envisioned equally universal in the today's sense of the word. Although they did eventually inspire the struggles for rights of people of colour, women, or the working masses, most Enlightenment thinkers did not advocate equality for all, regardless of race, gender, or grade, but rather insisted that rights and freedoms were not hereditary.

Fundamental Terms

reductionism

Several related simply distinct philosophical positions regarding the connections between theories, "reducing" ane idea to another, more bones one. In the sciences, its methodologies attempt to explain unabridged 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 evidence discipline to specific principles of reasoning. It has characterized natural scientific discipline since the 17th century, consisting of systematic observation, measurement, and experimentation, and the conception, testing, and modification of hypotheses.

cogito ergo sum

A Latin philosophical proposition by René Descartes normally translated into English language as "I call up, therefore I am." The phrase originally appeared in his Soapbox on the Method. This proposition became a central element of Western philosophy, as it purported to form a secure foundation for knowledge in the face of radical doubt. While other knowledge could be a figment of imagination, deception, or mistake, Descartes asserted that the very act of doubting 1's own beingness served—at minimum—equally proof of the reality of one'due south own mind.

empiricism

The theory that knowledge comes primarily from sensory experience. It emphasizes evidence, especially data gathered through experimentation and utilize of the scientific method.

The Age of Enlightenment

The Age of Enlightenment, too known as the Enlightenment, was a philosophical motility that dominated the world of ideas in Europe in the 18th century. Centered on the idea that reason is the main source of authority and legitimacy, this motility advocated such ideals as liberty, progress, tolerance, fraternity, constitutional government, and separation of church and state. The Enlightenment was marked by an emphasis on the scientific method and reductionism along with increased questioning of religious orthodoxy. The cadre ideas advocated by modern democracies, including the civil society, human and civil rights, and separation of powers, are the production of the Enlightenment. Furthermore, the sciences and academic disciplines (including social sciences and the humanities) equally we know them today, based on empirical methods, are too rooted in the Age of Enlightenment. All these developments, which followed and partly overlapped with the European exploration and colonization of the Americas and the intensification of the European presence in Asia and Africa, make the Enlightenment a starting point of what some historians define as the European Moment in Earth History: the long period of often tragic European domination over the rest of the world.

In that location is little consensus on the precise first of the Age of Enlightenment, with the kickoff of the 18th century (1701) or the middle of the 17th century (1650) ofttimes considered starting points. French historians commonly place the catamenia between 1715 and 1789, from the beginning of the reign of Louis XV until the French Revolution. In the mid-17th century, the Enlightenment traces its origins to Descartes' Discourse on Method, published in 1637. In France, many cite the publication of Isaac Newton'south Principia Mathematica in 1687. Some historians and philosophers have argued that the showtime of the Enlightenment is when Descartes shifted the epistemological basis from external authority to internal certainty by his cogito ergo sum (1637).

Equally to its terminate, most scholars use the last years of the century, ofttimes choosing the French Revolution of 1789 or the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars (1804–15) to date the stop of the Enlightenment.

National Varieties

The Enlightenment took hold in most European countries, ofttimes with a specific local accent. For example, in France it became associated with anti-government and anti-Church building radicalism, while in Germany it reached deep into the heart classes and took a spiritualistic and nationalistic tone without threatening governments or established churches. Government responses varied widely. In France, the regime was hostile and Enlightenment thinkers fought against its censorship, sometimes being imprisoned or hounded into exile. The British government largely ignored the Enlightenment'due south leaders in England and Scotland. The Scottish Enlightenment, with its mostly liberal Calvinist and Newtonian focus, played a major role in the farther development of the transatlantic Enlightenment. In Italy, the significant reduction in the Church's power led to a period of dandy idea and invention, including scientific discoveries. In Russia, the government began to actively encourage the proliferation of arts and sciences in the mid-18th century. This era produced the first Russian academy, library, theater, public museum, and independent press. Several Americans, peculiarly Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, played a major role in bringing Enlightenment ideas to the New Globe and in influencing British and French thinkers. The cultural commutation during the Age of Enlightenment ran in both directions beyond the Atlantic. In their development of the ideas of natural freedom, Europeans and American thinkers drew from American Indian cultural practices and beliefs.

First page of the Encyclopedie published between 1751 and 1766.

The prime example of reference works that systematized scientific knowledge in the Age of Enlightenment were universal encyclopedias rather than technical dictionaries. It was the goal of universal encyclopedias to record all human knowledge in a comprehensive reference piece of work. The nearly well-known of these works is Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert'south Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. The work, which began publication in 1751, was composed of thirty-five volumes and over 71,000 separate entries. A great number of the entries were dedicated to describing the sciences and crafts in detail, and provided intellectuals across Europe with a loftier-quality survey of human knowledge.

Major Enlightenment Ideas

In the mid-18th century, Europe witnessed an explosion of philosophic and scientific activeness that challenged traditional doctrines and dogmas. The philosophic motility was led by Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who argued for a club based upon reason rather than faith and Catholic doctrine, for a new civil order based on natural police, and for scientific discipline based on experiments and observation. The political philosopher Montesquieu introduced the thought of a separation of powers in a authorities, a concept which was enthusiastically adopted by the authors of the Us Constitution.

At that place were 2 distinct lines of Enlightenment thought. The radical enlightenment, inspired by the philosophy of Spinoza, advocated democracy, individual liberty, freedom of expression, and eradication of religious authorization. A second, more moderate variety, supported by René Descartes, John Locke, Christian Wolff, Isaac Newton and others, sought accommodation between reform and the traditional systems of power and religion.

Scientific discipline came to play a leading role in Enlightenment soapbox and idea. Many Enlightenment writers and thinkers had backgrounds in the sciences and associated scientific advancement with the overthrow of organized religion and traditional say-so in favor of the development of free speech and thought. Broadly speaking, Enlightenment science profoundly valued empiricism and rational thought and was embedded with the Enlightenment ideal of advancement and progress. Nevertheless, every bit with nearly Enlightenment views, the benefits of scientific discipline were non seen universally.

The Enlightenment has likewise long been hailed as the foundation of modern Western political and intellectual civilization. It brought political modernization to the West in terms of focusing on democratic values and institutions and the cosmos of mod, liberal democracies. The fundamentals of European liberal thought, including the right of the individual, the natural equality of all men, the separation of powers, the artificial graphic symbol of the political social club (which led to the later distinction between civil society and the land), the view that all legitimate political power must exist "representative" and based on the consent of the people, and liberal interpretation of police force that leaves people costless to do whatever is not explicitly forbidden, were all adult by Enlightenment thinkers.

In religion, Enlightenment-era commentary was a response to the preceding century of religious disharmonize in Europe. Enlightenment thinkers sought to curtail the political power of organized religion and thereby prevent another age of intolerant religious war. A number of novel ideas developed, including deism (belief in God the Creator, with no reference to the Bible or whatever other source) and atheism. The latter was much discussed only had few proponents. Many, like Voltaire, held that without belief in a God who punishes evil, the moral social club of social club was undermined.

Front page of The Gentleman'southward Mag, founded by Edward Cavern in London in Jan 1731.

The increased consumption of reading materials of all sorts was one of the key features of the "social" Enlightenment. The Industrial Revolution allowed consumer appurtenances to exist produced in greater quantities at lower prices, encouraging the spread of books, pamphlets, newspapers, and journals. Cave'south innovation was to create a monthly digest of news and commentary on whatsoever topic the educated public might exist interested in, from commodity prices to Latin poetry.

Touch on

The ideas of the Enlightenment played a major role in inspiring the French Revolution, which began in 1789 and emphasized the rights of mutual men every bit opposed to the exclusive rights of the elites. As such, they laid the foundation for modernistic, rational, democratic societies. Nonetheless, historians of race, gender, and course 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, near Enlightenment thinkers did non advocate equality for all, regardless of race, gender, or grade, but rather insisted that rights and freedoms were non hereditary (the heredity of power and rights was a common pre-Enlightenment assumption). This perspective directly attacked the traditionally exclusive position of the European aristocracy but was withal largely focused on expanding the rights of white males of a detail social standing.

Attributions

• • Enlightenment Ideals

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