The Enlightenment

The Enlightenment was an 18th-century movement in Western philosophy and intellectual life generally, that emphasized the power or reason and science to understand and reform the world. Some classifications also include 17th-century philosophy, usually called the Age of Reason. The style it favored is called "classical" (as opposed to the earlier Baroque and the later Romantic styles). The Enlightenment saw major advances in philosophy, the sciences (especially physics, chemistry and mathematics), economics, political theory, geography (especially exploration), and technology (especially the origins of the Industrial Revolution.

The Enlightenment advocated reason as the primary basis of authority, downplaying emotion and ecclesiastical authority. As presented by Voltaire, Isaac Newton was the great hero for his demonstration that rational thought could explain the heavens. Developed in France, England, Scotland, and the German states, it influenced the whole of Europe including Russia and Scandinavia, as well as the American colonies in the era of the American Revolution.

Intellectually the Enlightment was identified with "the philosophes," who aggressively spread the new gospel of reason. They were a brilliant collection of scientists, philosophers and writers including Voltaire, Montesquieu, Holbach, Condorcet, Denis Diderot, Buffon, Turgot and Jean-Jacques Rousseau in France; David Hume and Adam Smith in Scotland; John Locke, Edward Gibbon, Samuel Johnson and Jeremy Bentham in England; and Johann Herder, Gotthold Lessing and Immanuel Kant in Prussia, as well as Jonathan Edwards, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton in America. They were endorsed by "enlightened despots"—rulers who tried to impose reform by authoritarian means, including Joseph II of the Holy Roman Empire (Austria), Frederick II of Prussia, Catherine II of Russia, and Charles III of Spain.

Politically the Enlightenment was marked by governmental consolidation, nation creation, greater rights for the common people, and a diminution of the influence of authoritarian institutions such as the nobility and the Church. The ideology of Republicanism led to the American Revolution and the French Revolution. By 1800 or so the Enlightenment was replaced by the Romantic Era, with special impact on the arts.

Further reading

for a more detailed guide see the Bibliography subpage

• Chisick, Harvey. Historical Dictionary of the Enlightenment. 2005. 512 pp
• Delon, Michel. Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment (2001) 1480pp
• Fitzpatrick, Martin et al., eds. The Enlightenment World. (2004). 714pp; 39 essays by scholars online edition
• Gay, Peter. The Enlightenment: The Rise of Modern Paganism (1966, 2nd ed. 1995), 952 pp; excerpt and text search vol 1; The Enlightenment: The Science of Freedom, (1969 2nd ed. 1995), a highly influential study excerpt and text search vol 2;
• Hazard, Paul. European thought in the eighteenth century: From Montesquieu to Lessing (1965)
• Himmelfarb, Gertrude. The Roads to Modernity: The British, French, and American Enlightenments. 2004. 272 pp.
• Imhof, Ulrich. The Enlightenment. 1994. 310 pp.
• Kors, Alan Charles. Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment (4 vol. 1990; 2nd ed. 2003), 1984pp excerpt and text search; also complete text online at www.oxfordreference.com
• Outram, Dorinda. The Enlightenment(1995) 157pp excerpt and text search
• Porter, Roy. The Enlightenment (2nd ed. 2001) excerpt and text search
• Reill, Peter Hanns, and Wilson, Ellen Judy. Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment. (2nd ed. 2004). 670 pp.
• Yolton, John W. et al. The Blackwell Companion to the Enlightenment. 1992. 581 pp.

Primary sources

• Jacob, Margaret C. The Enlightenment: Brief History with Documents (2000) excerpt and text search
• Williams, David, ed. The Enlightenment (Cambridge Readings in the History of Political Thought) (1999) excerpt and text search