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.

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. The were endorsed by "enlightened despots"—rulers who tried to impose reform by authoritarian means, including 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.

Bibliography

• Baker, Keith Michael and Reill, Peter Hanns, eds. What's Left of Enlightenment? A Postmodern Question. 2001. 203 pp.
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• Buchan, James. Crowded with Genius: The Scottish Enlightenment: Edinburgh's Moment of the Mind. 2003. 436 pp.
• Burns, William. Science in the Enlightenment: An Encyclopedia (2003) 353pp
• Cassirer, Ernst. The Philosophy of the Enlightenment. 1955. a highly influential study by a neoKantian philosopher excerpt and text search
• Chisick, Harvey. Historical Dictionary of the Enlightenment. 2005. 512 pp
• Commager, Henry Steele. The Empire of Reason: How Europe Imagined and America Realized the Enlightenment. 1977. 360 pp.
• Delon, Michel. Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment (2001) 1480pp
• Dupré, Louis. The Enlightenment and the Intellectual Foundations of Modern Culture. 2004. 384 pp.
• 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;
• Goodman, Dena. The Republic of Letters: A Cultural History of the French Enlightenment (1994) 338 pp online edition
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• Hankins, Thomas L. Science and the Enlightenment. 1985. 216 pp.
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• Hunt, Margaret, et al., eds. Women and the Enlightenment. 1984.
• Imhof, Ulrich. The Enlightenment. 1994. 310 pp.
• Israel, Jonathan I. Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity, 1650-1750. 2001. 810 pp.
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• Kaiser, Thomas E. "This Strange Offspring of Philosophie: Recent Historiographical Problems in Relating the Enlightenment to the French Revolution." French Historical Studies 15 (Spring 1988): 549-62. in JSTOR
• Knott, Sarah and Taylor, Barbara, eds. Women, Gender, and Enlightenment. 2005. 769 pp.
• Kors, Alan Charles. Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment (4 vol. 1990; 2nd ed. 2003), 1984pp excerpt and text search
• Koselleck, Reinhart. Critique and Crisis: Enlightenment and the Pathogenesis of Modern 1988. excerpt and text search
• Livingstone, David N. and Withers, Charles W. J., eds. Geography and Enlightenment. 1999. 455 pp.
• Mason, Haydn Trevor. Voltaire: A Biography. 1981. 194 pp.
• May, Henry F. The Enlightenment in America. 1976. 419 pp.
• Munck, Thomas. The Enlightenment: A Comparative Social History, 1721-1794. 2000. 249 pp.
• Outram, Dorinda. The Enlightenment(1995) 157pp excerpt and text search
• Pearson, Roger. Voltaire Almighty: A Life in Pursuit of Freedom. 2005. 447 pp.
• Porter, Roy. The Creation of the Modern World: The Untold Story of the British Enlightenment. 2000. 608 pp. excerpt and text search
• Porter, Roy. The Enlightenment (2nd ed. 2001) excerpt and text search
• Reid-Maroney, Nina. Philadelphia's Enlightenment, 1740-1800: Kingdom of Christ, Empire of Reason. 2001. 199 pp.
• Reill, Peter Hanns, and Wilson, Ellen Judy. Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment. (2nd ed. 2004). 670 pp.
• Robertson, John. The Case for The Enlightenment: Scotland and Naples 1680-1760 (2005) excerpt and text search
• Roche, Daniel. France in the Enlightenment. 1998. 736 pp.
• Rothschild, Emma. Economic Sentiments: Adam Smith, Condorcet, and the Enlightenment. 2001. 353 pp.
• Spencer, Samia I., ed. French Women and the Age of Enlightenment. 1984.
• Staloff, Darren. Hamilton, Adams, Jefferson: The Politics of Enlightenment and the American Founding. 2005. 419 pp. excerpt and text search
• Sutcliffe, Adam. Judaism and Enlightenment. 2003. 314 pp.
• Till, Nicholas. Mozart and the Enlightenment: Truth, Virtue, and Beauty in Mozart's Operas. 1993. 384 pp.
• Venturi, Franco. Utopia and Reform in the Enlightenment (2 vol 1971)
• Vovelle, Michel and Cochrane, Lydia G., eds. Enlightenment Portraits. 1997. 456 pp.
• Wilson, Arthur. Diderot. 1972.
• 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
• Voltaire. The Portable Voltaire ed by Ben Ray Redman (1977)
• Williams, David, ed. The Enlightenment (Cambridge Readings in the History of Political Thought) (1999) excerpt and text search