History of Western philosophy
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The word "Enlightment" redirects here. For other usages see Enlightenment.

The Age of Enlightenment (French: Siècle des Lumières; Italian: Secolo dei Lumi, or Illuminismo; German: Zeitalter der Aufklärung; Spanish: Siglo de las Luces or Ilustración; Swedish: Upplysningen; Polish: Oświecenie.; Portuguese: Século das Luzes or Iluminismo) was an eighteenth-century movement in Western philosophy. It was an age of optimism, tempered by the realistic recognition of the sad state of the human condition and the need for major reforms. The Enlightenment was less a set of ideas than it was a set of attitudes. At its core was a critical questioning of traditional institutions, customs, and morals. Some classifications of this period also include the late 17th century, which is typically known as the Age of Reason or Age of Rationalism.^[1] Image File history File links Cropped version of [1] File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... For the book by Bertrand Russell, see History of Western Philosophy (Russell) Philosophy has a long history conventionally divided into three large eras: the Ancient, Medieval and Modern. ... The Pre-Socratic philosophers were active before Socrates or contemporaneously, but expounding knowledge developed earlier. ... This page lists some links to ancient philosophy, although for Western thinkers prior to Socrates, see Pre-Socratic philosophy. ... Philosophy seated between the seven liberal arts – Picture from the Hortus deliciarum of Herrad von Landsberg (12th century) Medieval philosophy is the philosophy of Europe and the Middle East in the era now known as medieval or the Middle Ages, the period roughly extending from the fall of the Roman... Renaissance philosophy is the period of the history of philosophy in Europe that falls roughly during the between the Middle Ages and the Enlightenment. ... 17th-century Western philosophy is conventionally seen as being dominated by the coming of symbolic mathematics and rationalism to philosophy, many of the most noted philosophers were also mathematicians. ... In the 18th century the philosophies of The Enlightenment began to have a dramatic effect, the landmark works of philosophers such as Immanuel Kant and Jean-Jacques Rousseau influencing a new generation of thinkers. ... The 20th century brought with it upheavals that produced a series of conflicting developments within philosophy over the basis of knowledge and the validity of various absolutes. ... Postmodern philosophy is an eclectic and elusive movement characterized by its criticism of Western philosophy. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Eastern philosophy refers very broadly to the various philosophies of Asia, including Indian philosophy, Chinese philosophy, Persian philosophy, Japanese philosophy, and Korean philosophy. ... The Babylonians were an ancient culture located in what is now Iraq. ... Philosophy of religion is the rational study of the meaning and justification ( or rebuttal) of fundamental religious claims, particularly about the nature and existence of God (or gods, or the divine). ... It is proposed that this article be deleted, because of the following concern: Filled with OR and completely unsourced. ... Islamic philosophy (الفلسفة الإسلامية) is a branch of Islamic studies, and is a longstanding attempt to create harmony between philosophy (reason) and the religious teachings of Islam (faith). ... Jewish philosophy refers to the conjunction between serious study of philosophy and Jewish theology. ... Look up enlightenment, Enlightenment in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... Western philosophy is a modern claim that there is a line of related philosophical thinking, beginning in ancient Greece (Greek philosophy) and the ancient Near East (the Abrahamic religions), that continues to this day. ... The Age of Reason is either Thomas Paines book The Age of Reason. ...

The term "Age of Enlightenment" can more narrowly refer to the intellectual movement of The Enlightenment, which advocated reason as the primary basis of authority. Developing in France, Britain and Germany, the Enlightenment influenced most of Europe, including Russia and Scandinavia. The era is marked by such political changes as governmental consolidation, nation-creation, greater rights for common people, and a decline in the influence of authoritarian institutions such as the nobility and church. In epistemology and in its broadest sense, rationalism is any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification (Lacey 286). ... For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Scandinavia (disambiguation). ...

There is no consensus on when to date the start of the age of Enlightenment, and a number of scholars simply use the beginning of the eighteenth century or the middle of the seventeenth century as a default date.^[2] Many scholars use the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars (1804–15) as a convenient point in time with which to date the end of the Enlightenment.^[3] Still others capstone the Enlightenment with its beginning in Britain's Glorious Revolution of 1688 and its ending in the French Revolution of 1789. Combatants Austria[a] Portugal Prussia[a] Russia[b] Sicily[c] Sardinia  Spain[d]  Sweden[e] United Kingdom French Empire Holland[f] Italy Etruria[g] Naples[h] Duchy of Warsaw[i] Confederation of the Rhine[j] Bavaria Saxony Westphalia Württemberg Denmark-Norway[k] Commanders Archduke Charles Prince Schwarzenberg Karl Mack... The Glorious Revolution, also called the Revolution of 1688, was the overthrow of King James II of England (VII of Scotland) in 1688 by a union of Parliamentarians and the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau (William of Orange), who as a result ascended the English throne as William... The French Revolution (1789–1815) was a period of political and social upheaval in the political history of France and Europe as a whole, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy, underwent radical change to forms based on...

Origins

After the revolution of knowledge commenced by René Descartes and Isaac 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, and carried into the governmental sphere, in their explorations of the individual, society and the state.^[4] Its leaders believed they could lead their states to 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, French, and Haitian Revolutions, Poland's Constitution of May 3, 1791, Russia's 1825 Decembrist Revolt, the Latin American independence movement, and the Greek national independence movement. In addition, Enlightenment ideals were influential in the Balkan independence movements against the Ottoman Empire, and many historians and philosophers credit the Enlightenment with the later rise of classical liberalism, socialism, democracy, and modern capitalism. Descartes redirects here. ... Sir Isaac Newton FRS (4 January 1643 – 31 March 1727) [ OS: 25 December 1642 – 20 March 1727][1] was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, and alchemist. ... As commonly used, individual refers to a person or to any specific object in a collection. ... Young people interacting within an ethnically diverse society. ... For other uses, see State (disambiguation). ... Historical progress has been a main object of philosophy of history. ... For other uses, see Tradition (disambiguation). ... Irrationality is talking or acting without regard of rationality. ... For other uses, see Superstition (disambiguation). ... This page is about the religious concept of Tyranny. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... Combatants Haiti France Commanders Toussaint Louverture, Jean-Jacques Dessalines Charles Leclerc, vicomte de Rochambeau, Napoleon Bonaparte Strength Regular army: <55,000, Volunteers: <100,000 Regular army: 60,000, 86 warships and frigates Casualties Military deaths: unknown, Civilian deaths: <100,000 Military deaths: 57,000 (37,000 combat; 20,000 yellow... May 3rd Constitution (painting by Jan Matejko, 1891). ... Decembrists at the Senate Square The Decembrist revolt or the Decembrist uprising (Russian: ) was attempted in Imperial Russia by army officers who led about 3,000 Russian soldiers on December 14 (December 26 New Style), 1825. ... The term Latin American revolutions refers to the various revolutions that took place during the early 1800s that resulted in the creation of a number of independent countries in the Latin American region. ... Combatants Greek revolutionaries United Kingdom France Russian Empire  Ottoman Empire Egyptian Khedivate Commanders Theodoros Kolokotronis Alexander Ypsilanti Georgios Karaiskakis Omer Vryonis Mahmud Dramali Pasha ReÅŸid Mehmed Pasha Ibrahim Pasha. ... ... Motto دولت ابد مدت Devlet-i Ebed-müddet (The Eternal State) Anthem Ottoman imperial anthem Borders in 1683, see: list of territories Capital Söğüt (1299–1326) Bursa (1326–1365) Edirne (1365–1453) Ä°stanbul (1453–1922) Government Monarchy Sultans  - 1281–1326 (first) Osman I  - 1918–22 (last) Mehmed VI Grand Viziers  - 1320... Classical liberalism (also known as traditional liberalism[1] and laissez-faire liberalism[2]) is a doctrine stressing the importance of human rationality, individual property rights, natural rights, the protection of civil liberties, constitutional limitations of government, free markets, and individual freedom from restraint as exemplified in the writings of Adam... Religious socialism Key Issues People and organizations Related subjects Socialism refers to a broad array of ideologies and political movements with the goal of a socio-economic system in which property and the distribution of wealth are subject to control by the community. ... For other uses, see Capitalism (disambiguation). ...

The Age of Enlightenment receives modern attention as a central model for many movements in the modern period. 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 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 empiricist ideas and their application to political economy, government and sciences such as physics, chemistry and biology. For the second husband of Henrietta Howard, Countess of Suffolk, see George Berkeley (MP). ... Natural philosophy or the philosophy of nature, known in Latin as philosophia naturalis, is a term applied to the objective study of nature and the physical universe that was regnant before the development of modern science. ... For other uses, see Ethics (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Politics (disambiguation). ... For other persons of the same name, see Thomas Paine (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Voltaire (disambiguation). ... Rousseau redirects here. ... For other persons named David Hume, see David Hume (disambiguation). ... For the architectural structure, see Church (building). ... For other uses, see State (disambiguation). ... In philosophy generally, empiricism is a theory of knowledge emphasizing the role of experience, especially sensory perception, in the formation of ideas, while discounting the notion of innate ideas. ... The Politics series Politics Portal This box:      Political economy was the original term for the study of production, the acts of buying and selling, and their relationships to laws, customs and government. ... A magnet levitating above a high-temperature superconductor demonstrates the Meissner effect. ... For other uses, see Chemistry (disambiguation). ... For the song by Girls Aloud see Biology (song) Biology studies the variety of life (clockwise from top-left) E. coli, tree fern, gazelle, Goliath beetle Biology (from Greek: Βιολογία - βίος, bio, life; and λόγος, logos, speech lit. ...

The continent of Europe had been ravaged by religious wars in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. When political stability had been restored, notably 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. Instead (according to scholars who split the two periods), the Age of Reason sought to establish axiomatic philosophy and 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 (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. The ideas of Pascal, Leibniz, Galileo and other natural philosophers of the previous period also contributed to and greatly influenced the Enlightenment. Cassirer argued that Leibniz’s Treatise On Wisdom "identified the central concept of the Enlightenment and sketched its theoretical programme."^[5]. There was a wave of change across European thinking, exemplified by Newton's natural philosophy, which combined mathematics of axiomatic 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. For other uses of the term, see Holy War. ... Ratification of the Treaty of Münster. ... For other uses, see English Civil War (disambiguation). ... Enlightened absolutism (also known as benevolent or enlightened despotism) is a form of despotism in which rulers were influenced by the Enlightenment. ... Theory of knowledge redirects here: for other uses, see theory of knowledge (disambiguation) According to Plato, knowledge is a subset of that which is both true and believed Epistemology or theory of knowledge is the branch of philosophy that studies the nature, methods, limitations, and validity of knowledge and belief. ... Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (French pronounced ) (February 28, 1533–September 13, 1592) was one of the most influential writers of the French Renaissance. ... Descartes redirects here. ... Baruch de Spinoza (‎, Portuguese: , Latin: ) (November 24, 1632 – February 21, 1677) was a Dutch philosopher of Portuguese Jewish origin. ... Ethics is a philosophical book written by Baruch Spinoza. ... Pantheism literally means God is All and All is God. It is the view that everything is of an all-encompassing immanent God; or that the universe, or nature, and God are equivalent. ... Blaise Pascal (pronounced ), (June 20 [[1624 // ]] – August 19, 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, and religious philosopher. ... Leibniz redirects here. ... Galileo redirects here. ... Natural philosophy or the philosophy of nature, known in Latin as philosophia naturalis, is a term applied to the objective study of nature and the physical universe that was regnant before the development of modern science. ... This article is about a logical statement. ... Newtons own copy of his Principia, with handwritten corrections for the second edition. ...

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.^[6] Antisemitism, however, continued to remain a visible phenomenon throughout much of Europe during the Enlightenment, and a number of major Enlightenment figures were noted antisemites.^[7] The period is known as Haskalah in Jewish historiography, and the term carries the same connotations of "enlightenment" in Hebrew.^[8] Antisemitism (alternatively spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism, also known as judeophobia) is prejudice and hostility toward Jews as a religious, racial, or ethnic group. ... Haskalah (Hebrew: השכלה; enlightenment, education from sekhel intellect, mind ), the Jewish Enlightenment, was a movement among European Jews in the late 18th century that advocated adopting enlightenment values, pressing for better integration into European society, and increasing education in secular studies, Hebrew, and Jewish history. ... Historiography studies the processes by which historical knowledge is obtained and transmitted. ...

Many of the Founding Fathers of the United States were also influenced by Enlightenment-era ideas, particularly in the religious sphere (deism) and, in parallel with liberalism (which had a major influence on its Bill of Rights, in parallel with the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen), socialism and anarchism in the political sphere. Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States, by Howard Chandler Christy. ... For other uses, see Ceremonial Deism. ... Liberalism is an ideology, philosophical view, and political tradition which holds that liberty is the primary political value. ... The United States Bill of Rights consists of the first 10 amendments to the United States Constitution. ... Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, (French: La Déclaration des droits de lhomme et du citoyen), is one of the fundamental documents of the French Revolution, defining a set of individual rights (and... Religious socialism Key Issues People and organizations Related subjects Socialism refers to a broad array of ideologies and political movements with the goal of a socio-economic system in which property and the distribution of wealth are subject to control by the community. ... Anarchist redirects here. ...

Influence

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. Social democracy is a political ideology emerging in the late 19th and early 20th centuries from supporters of Marxism who believed that the transition to a socialist society could be achieved through democratic evolutionary rather than revolutionary means. ... Utopian socialism is a term used to define the first currents of modern Socialist thought. ... The Lawrence textile strike (1912), with soldiers surrounding peaceful demonstrators A trade union or labor union is an organization of workers who have banded together to achieve common goals in key areas such as wages, hours, and working conditions, forming a cartel of labour. ... The European Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Spring of Nations or the Year of Revolution, were a revolutionary wave which erupted in Sicily and then, further triggered by the revolutions of 1848 in France, soon spread to the rest of Europe and as far afield as... Orthodox Marxism is the term used to describe the version of Marxism which emerged after the death of Karl Marx and acted as the official philosophy of the Second International up to the First World War and of the Third International thereafter. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Socialist Reformism is the belief that gradual democratic changes in a society can ultimately change a societys fundamental economic relations and political structures. ... Bill Clinton and Tony Blair, adherents of the Third Way The Third Way, or Radical center, is a centrist political philosophy of governance that embraces a mix of market and interventionist philosophies. ... Representative democracy is a form of government founded on the principles of popular sovereignty by the peoples representatives. ... Labor rights are laws created in order to always have fairness and keep peace between employees and employers. ... Civil liberties is the name given to freedoms that protect the individual from government. ... There are three main interpretations of the idea of a welfare state: the provision of welfare services by the state. ... A mixed economy is an economic system that incorporates aspects of more than one economic system. ... This article is about secularism. ... For the product certification system ( ), see Fairtrade certification. ... Environmental movement is a term often used for any social or political movement directed towards the preservation, restoration, or enhancement of the natural environment. ... This is a list of parties in the world that consider themselves to be upholding the principles and values of social democracy. ... The official symbol of Socialist International. ... The Party of European Socialists (PES) is a European political party whose members are 33 social democratic, socialist and labour parties of the European Union member states as well as Norway. ... The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) is the worlds largest trade union federation. ... For other uses, see Eduard Bernstein (disambiguation). ... Hjalmar Branting (November 23, 1860 – February 24, 1925) was a Swedish statesman and the countrys chief Social Democratic leader. ... This is not the Friedrich Ebert involved in the founding of the GDR, but rather his father. ... Jean Jaurès. ... Léon Blum Léon Blum (9 April 1872 - 30 March 1950), was the Prime Minister of France three times: from 1936 to 1937, for one month in 1938, and from December 1946 to January 1947. ... Karl Kautsky (October 16, 1854 - October 17, 1938) was a leading theoretician of social democracy. ... James Ramsay MacDonald (12 October 1866 – 9 November 1937) was a British politician and three times Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. ... Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, PC (3 January 1883 – 8 October 1967) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951. ... For other people of the same name, see Tony Blair (disambiguation) Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born May 6, 1953)[1] is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, Leader of the Labour Party, and Member of Parliament for the constituency... Thomas Clement Douglas, PC, CC, SOM, MA, LL.D (hc) (October 20, 1904 – February 24, 1986) was a Scottish-born Baptist minister who became a prominent Canadian social democratic politician. ... For Christian theological modernism, see Liberal Christianity and Modernism (Roman Catholicism). ... Liberalism is an ideology, philosophical view, and political tradition which holds that liberty is the primary political value. ... Neoclassicism (sometimes rendered as Neo-Classicism or Neo-classicism) is the name given to quite distinct movements in the visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture. ... Descartes held that non-human animals could be reductively explained as automata — De homines 1622. ... Rationality as a term is related to the idea of reason, a word which following Websters may be derived as much from older terms referring to thinking itself as from giving an account or an explanation. ... Liberalism is an ideology, philosophical view, and political tradition which holds that liberty is the primary political value. ... For other uses, see Superstition (disambiguation). ... Intolerance is the lack of ability or willingness to tolerate something. ... Jürgen Habermas (IPA: ; born June 18, 1929) is a German philosopher and sociologist in the tradition of critical theory and American pragmatism. ... Sir Isaiah Berlin, OM (June 6, 1909 – November 5, 1997) was a political philosopher and historian of ideas, regarded as one of the leading liberal thinkers of the twentieth century. ...

This view asserts that the Enlightenment was the point when Europe broke through what historian Peter Gay calls "the sacred circle,"^[9] whose dogma had circumscribed thinking. The Enlightenment is held to be the source of critical ideas, such as the centrality of 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. Peter Gay (June 20, 1923-), a Jewish American historian of the social history of ideas, born in Berlin as Peter Joachim Fröhlich . ... For other uses, see Freedom. ... For other uses, see Reason (disambiguation). ... Market Mechanism is a term from economics, it refers to the use of money exchanged by buyers and sellers with an open and understood system of value and time trade offs to produce the best distribution of goods and services. ... For other uses, see Capitalism (disambiguation). ... Scientific method is a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge. ... It has been suggested that toleration be merged into this article or section. ... The Philosophes (French for Philosophers) were a group of French thinkers of the 18th century Enlightenment. ...

With the end of the 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. Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Postmodernity (also called post-modernity or the postmodern condition) is a term used by philosophers, social scientists, art critics and social critics to refer to aspects of contemporary art, culture, economics and social conditions that are the result of the unique features of late 20th century and early 21st century... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... “Founders” redirects here. ... Michel Foucault (pronounced ) (October 15, 1926 – June 25, 1984) was a French philosopher, historian and sociologist. ... Dialectic of Enlightenment, written by Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno made its first appearance in 1944 under the title Dialektik der Aufklärung by Social Studies Association, Inc. ... Max Horkheimer (front left), Theodor Adorno (front right), and Jürgen Habermas in the background, right, in 1965 at Heidelberg Max Horkheimer (February 14, 1895 – July 7, 1973) was a Jewish-German philosopher and sociologist, known especially as the founder and guiding thinker of the Frankfurt School of critical theory. ... Max Horkheimer (front left), Theodor Adorno (front right), and Jürgen Habermas in the background, right, in 1965 at Heidelberg. ... Instrumentally rational agents take the course of action which will optimally achieve their desired ends in any situation. ...

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, can be seen in the works of von Humboldt, Kropotkin, Bakunin and Marx, among others. No brief summary can do justice to the diversity of enlightened thought in eighteenth-century Europe. Because it was an attitude rather than a set of shared beliefs,there are many contradictory trains to follow. In his famous essay "What is Enlightenment?" (1784), Immanuel Kant described it simply as freedom to use one's own intelligence.^[10] Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American linguist, philosopher, political activist, author, and lecturer. ... Liberalism is an ideology, philosophical view, and political tradition which holds that liberty is the primary political value. ... Anarchist redirects here. ... Religious socialism Key Issues People and organizations Related subjects Socialism refers to a broad array of ideologies and political movements with the goal of a socio-economic system in which property and the distribution of wealth are subject to control by the community. ... Alexander von Humboldt (age 89): an 1859 portrait by artist Julius Schrader, showing Mount Chimborazo in the background. ... Peter Kropotkin Prince Peter Alexeievich Kropotkin (Пётр Алексе́евич Кропо́ткин) ( December 9, 1842 - February 8, 1921) was one of Russias foremost anarchists and one of the first advocates of what he called anarchist communism: the model of society he advocated for most of his life was that of a communist... Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin (Russian — Михаил Александрович Бакунин), (May 30, 1814–June 13, 1876) was a well-known Russian anarchist contemporaneous to Karl Marx. ... Marx is a common German surname. ... The first page of the 1799 version Answering the Question: What is Enlightenment? (German: Beantwortung der Frage: Was ist Aufklärung?) is the title of a 1784 essay by the philosopher Immanuel Kant. ... Kant redirects here. ...

Important figures

• Baruch Spinoza (1632–1672) Dutch, philosopher who is considered to have laid the groundwork for the 18th century Enlightenment.
• 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.
• 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.
• Jean le Rond d'Alembert (1717–1783) French. Mathematician and physicist, one of the editors of Encyclopédie.
• Thomas Abbt (1738–1766) German. Promoted what would later be called Nationalism in Vom Tode für's Vaterland (On dying for one's nation).
• Pierre Bayle (1647–1706) French. Literary critic known for Nouvelles de la république des lettres and Dictionnaire historique et critique.
• G.L. Buffon (1707–1788) French. Author of L'Histoire Naturelle who considered Natural Selection and the similarities between humans and apes.
• James Burnett Lord Monboddo Scottish. Philosopher, jurist, pre-evolutionary thinker and contributor to linguistic evolution. See Scottish Enlightenment
• James Boswell (1740–1795) Scottish. Biographer of Samuel Johnson, helped established the norms for writing Biography in general.
• Edmund Burke (1729–1797) Irish. Parliamentarian and political philosopher, best known for pragmatism, considered important to both liberal and conservative thinking.
• Marquis de Condorcet (1743–1794) French. Philosopher, mathematician, and early political scientist who devised the concept of a Condorcet method.
• 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.
• Denis Diderot (1713–1784) French. Founder of the Encyclopédie, speculated on free will and attachment to material objects, contributed to the theory of literature.
• Ignacy Krasicki (1735–1801): Polish. Leading poet of the Polish Enlightenment, hailed by contemporaries as "the Prince of Poets." After the 1764 election of Stanisław August Poniatowski as 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, the preeminent periodical of the Polish Enlightenment, sponsored by the King. He is remembered especially for his Fables and Parables.
• Benito Jerónimo Feijóo y Montenegro (1676–1764) Spanish, was the most prominent promoter of the critical empiricist attitude at the dawn of the Spanish Enlightenment. See also the portuguese Martín Sarmiento.
• 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 Almanac and polemics in favour of American Independence. Involved with writing the United States Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of 1787.
• Edward Gibbon (1737–1794) English. Historian best known for his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
• 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.
• David Hume Scottish. Historian, philosopher and economist. Best known for his empiricism and scientific scepticism, advanced doctrines of naturalism and material causes. Influenced Kant and Adam Smith.
• Thomas Reid (1710-1796) Scottish. Presbyterian minister and Philosopher. Contributed greatly to the idea of Common-Sense philosophy and was Hume's most famous contemporary critic. Best known for his An Inquiry Into The Human Mind. Heavily influenced William James.
• 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. Prescribed a politics of Enlightenment in What is Enlightenment? (1784). Influenced by Hume and Isaac Newton. Important figure in German Idealism, and important to the work of Fichte and Hegel.
• 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."
• Joseph-Alexandre-Victor Hupay de Fuveau,(1746-1818), writer and philosopher who had used for the first time in 1785 the word "communism" in a doctrinal sense.
• Adam Weishaupt (1748–1830) German who founded the Order of the Illuminati.
• Hugo Kołłątaj (1750–1812) Polish. He was active in the Commission for National Education and the Society for Elementary Textbooks, and reformed the Kraków Academy, of which he was rector in 1783–86. 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Leandro Fernández de Moratín (1760–1828) Spanish. Dramatist and translator, support of republicanism and free thinking. Transitional figure to Romanticism.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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, his writings (mainly Page of Reason and Rights of Man) made Americans study their religion, their behaviors, and the ruling hierarchy. His work "The Rights of Man" was written in defence of the French Revolution and is the classic example up of the enlightenment arguments in favor of classical liberalism.
• Francois Quesney (1694–1774) French economist of the Physiocratic school. He also practiced surgery.
• Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos. Main figure of the Spanish Enlightenment. Preeminent statesman.
• 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.
• French Encyclopédistes
• François-Marie Arouet(pen name Voltaire) (1694–1778) French Enlightenment writer, essayist, deist and philosopher. He wrote several books, the most famous of which is Dictionnaire Philosophique , in which he argued that organized religion is pernicious. He was the Enlightenment's most vigorous antireligious polemicist, as well as being a highly well known advocate of intellectual freedom.
• Sebastião de Melo, Marquis of Pombal (1699-1782) Portuguese statesman notable for his swift and competent leadership in the aftermath of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. He also implemented sweeping economic policies to regulate commercial activity and standardize quality throughout the country. The term Pombaline is used to describe not only his tenure, but also the architectural style which formed after the great earthquake.
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau Swiss political philosopher. Argued that the basis of morality was conscience, rather than reason, as most other philosophers argued. He wrote Du Contrat Social, in which Rousseau claims that citizens of a state must take part in creating a 'social contract' laying out the state's ground rules in order to found an ideal society in which they are free from arbitrary power. His rejection of reason in favor of the "Noble Savage" and his idealizing of ages past make him truly fit more into the romantic philosophical school, which was a reaction against the enlightenment. He largely rejected the individualism inherent in classical liberalism, arguing that the general will overrides the will of the individual.
• Adam Smith (1723–1790) Scottish economist and philosopher. He wrote The Wealth of Nations, in which he argued that wealth was not money in itself, but wealth was derived from the added value in manufactured items produced by both invested capital and labor. He is sometimes considered to be the founding father of the Laissez-faire economic theory, but in fact argues for some degree of government control in order to maintain equity.
• Leibniz
• Christian Wolff (1679-1754)"German" Co-founder of the German Enlightenment.
• Helvétius
• Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle
• Olympe de Gouges
• Cesare Beccaria
• Sir Isaac Newton Founder of modern physics and inventor of calculus.
• John Wilkes
• Antoine Lavoisier
• Mikhail Lomonosov
• Mikhailo Shcherbatov
• Ekaterina Dashkova
• Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) British writer, philosopher, and feminist.
• Thomas Hobbes (1588 – 1679) English philosopher, who wrote Leviathan, a key text in political philosophy.
• Alexis de Tocqueville
• Voltaire A French philosopher. He favored classical liberalism (similar to modern libertarianism) and a limited, constitutional monarchy. He idealized the English model as the basis for his philosophy.

Baruch de Spinoza (‎, Portuguese: , Latin: ) (November 24, 1632 – February 21, 1677) was a Dutch philosopher of Portuguese Jewish origin. ... Balthasar Bekker (1634 - 1698), Dutch divine, was born in Friesland, and educated at Groningen, under Jacob Alting, and at Franeker. ... Robert Hooke, FRS (July 18, 1635 – March 3, 1703) was an English polymath who played an important role in the scientific revolution, through both experimental and theoretical work. ... Boyles law (sometimes referred to as the Boyle-Mariotte law) is one of the gas laws and basis of derivation for the ideal gas law, which describes the relationship between the product pressure and volume within a closed system as constant when temperature and moles remain at a fixed... Microscopy is any technique for producing visible images of structures or details too small to otherwise be seen by the human eye, using a microscope or other magnification tool. ... Jean le Rond dAlembert, pastel by Maurice Quentin de La Tour Jean le Rond dAlembert (November 16, 1717 – October 29, 1783) was a French mathematician, mechanician, physicist and philosopher. ... Thomas Abbt (born 25 November 1738 in Ulm - died 3 November 1766 in Bückeburg) was a mathematician and German writer. ... Eugène Delacroixs Liberty Leading the People, symbolizing French nationalism during the July Revolution 1830. ... Pierre Bayle. ... Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, by François-Hubert Drouais (1727-1775). ... For other uses, see Natural selection (disambiguation). ... Lord Monboddo, pencil sketch by John Brown, circa 1777 James Burnett, Lord Monboddo (October 25, 1714 - May 26, 1799) was a Scottish judge, scholar of language evolution and philosopher. ... A jurist is a professional who studies, develops, applies or otherwise deals with the law. ... This article is about evolution in biology. ... For the journal, see Linguistics (journal). ... This article is about evolution in biology. ... The Scottish Enlightenment was a period of intellectual ferment in Scotland, running from approximately 1740 to 1800. ... James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck and 1st Baronet (October 29, 1740 - May 19, 1795) was a lawyer, diarist, and author born in Edinburgh, Scotland. ... For other persons named Samuel Johnson, see Samuel Johnson (disambiguation). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Edmund Burke (January 12, 1729[1] – July 9, 1797) was an Anglo-Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist, and philosopher, who served for many years in the British House of Commons as a member of the Whig party. ... Liberalism is an ideology, philosophical view, and political tradition which holds that liberty is the primary political value. ... Conservatism is a term used to describe political philosophies that favor tradition and gradual change, where tradition refers to religious, cultural, or nationally defined beliefs and customs. ... “Condorcet” redirects here. ... Baron dHolbach Paul-Henri Thiry, baron dHolbach (1723 – 1789) was a German-French author, philosopher and encyclopedist. ... The term encyclopedist is usually used for a group of French philosophers who collaborated in the 18th century in the production of the Encyclopédie, under the direction of Denis Diderot. ... For information about the band, see Atheist (band). ... The System of Nature is a philosophical book by Baron dHolbach (Paul Henri Thiry, 1723-1789). ... Portrait of Diderot by Louis-Michel van Loo, 1767 Denis Diderot (October 5, 1713 – July 31, 1784) was a French philosopher and writer. ... Free-Will is a Japanese independent record label founded in 1986. ... Ignacy Krasicki Ignacy Krasicki (February 3, 1735, in Galicia — March 14, 1801, in Berlin) was a Polish prince of the Roman Catholic Church, a social critic, a leading writer, and the outstanding poet of the Polish Enlightenment, hailed by contemporaries as the Prince of Poets. ... The ideas of the Age of Enlightenment in Poland were developed later then in the Western Europe, as Polish bourgeoisie was weaker, and szlachta (nobility) culture (Sarmatism) together with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth political system (Golden Freedoms) were in deep crisis. ... // StanisÅ‚aw II August Poniatowski (born Count StanisÅ‚aw Antoni Poniatowski; January 17, 1732-February 12, 1798) was the last King and Grand Duke of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1764-95). ... Mieszko I. BolesÅ‚aw I Chrobry. ... Palace on the Water, Lazienki Park, Warsaw. ... Monitor was the first newspaper in Poland, printed from 1765 to 1785, during the times of the Polish Enlightenment. ... The ideas of the Age of Enlightenment in Poland were developed later then in the Western Europe, as Polish bourgeoisie was weaker, and szlachta (nobility) culture (Sarmatism) together with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth political system (Golden Freedoms) were in deep crisis. ... Ignacy Krasicki. ... Benito Jerónimo Feijóo y Montenegro (8 October 1676 - 26 September 1764) was a Spanish monk and scholar noted for encouraging scientific thought in Spain. ... Benjamin Franklin (January 17 [O.S. January 6] 1706 – April 17, 1790) was one of the most well known Founding Fathers of the United States. ... The United States Declaration of Independence was an act of the Second Continental Congress, adopted on July 4, 1776, which declared that the Thirteen Colonies in North America were Free and Independent States and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to... Edward Gibbon (1737–1794). ... This article is about the book. ... Johann Gottfried Herder Johann Gottfried von Herder (August 25, 1744 - December 18, 1803), German poet, critic, theologian, and philosopher, is best known for his concept of the Volk and is generally considered the father of ethnic nationalism. ... Self rule is used to described a people or group being able to exercise all of the necessary functions of power without intervention from any authority which they cannot themselves alter. ... For other persons named David Hume, see David Hume (disambiguation). ... In philosophy generally, empiricism is a theory of knowledge emphasizing the role of experience, especially sensory perception, in the formation of ideas, while discounting the notion of innate ideas. ... Scientific skepticism or rational skepticism (non-US spelling, scepticism) sometimes referred to as skeptical inquiry, is a scientific, or practical, epistemological position in which one questions the veracity of claims lacking empirical evidence. ... This article is about methodological naturalism. ... For the Scottish footballer, see Thomas Reid (footballer). ... Kant redirects here. ... The first page of the 1799 version Answering the Question: What is Enlightenment? (German: Beantwortung der Frage: Was ist Aufklärung?) is the title of a 1784 essay by the philosopher Immanuel Kant. ... Johann Gottlieb Fichte Johann Gottlieb Fichte (May 19, 1762 - January 27, 1814) has significance in the history of Western philosophy as one of the progenitors of German idealism and as a follower of Kant. ... Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (August 27, 1770 - November 14, 1831) was a German philosopher born in Stuttgart, Württemberg, in present-day southwest Germany. ... Thomas Jefferson (13 April 1743 N.S.–4 July 1826) was the third President of the United States (1801–09), the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), and one of the most influential Founding Fathers for his promotion of the ideals of Republicanism in the United States. ... The United States Declaration of Independence was an act of the Second Continental Congress, adopted on July 4, 1776, which declared that the Thirteen Colonies in North America were Free and Independent States and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to... Wikisource has original text related to this article: The United States Constitution The United States Constitution is the supreme law of the United States of America. ... Joseph Alexandre Victor dHupay (La Tour-dAigues, 1746-Fuveau, 1818) was a French writer and philosopher. ... // Events Catharine de Ricci (born 1522) canonized. ... Year 1818 (MDCCCXVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Adam Weishaupt Johann Adam Weishaupt (6 February 1748 in Ingolstadt - 18 November 1830 in Gotha) was a German who founded the Order of Illuminati. ... Noble Family KoÅ‚Å‚Ä…taj Coat of Arms Kotwica Parents Antoni KoÅ‚Å‚Ä…taj Marianna MierzeÅ„ska Consorts None Children None Date of Birth April 1, 1750 Place of Birth NiecisÅ‚owice Date of Death February 28, 1812 Place of Death Warsaw Hugo KoÅ‚Å‚Ä…taj (1750-1812) was a Polish Roman Catholic... Komisja Edukacji Narodowej (KEN, Polish for Commission of National Education) was the central educational authority in Poland, created by the Sejm and king Stanisław August Poniatowski on October 14, 1773. ... For several academies alternatively called Krakow Academy, see Education in Kraków The Jagiellonian University (Polish: , often shortened to UJ) is located in Kraków, Poland. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... May 3rd Constitution (painting by Jan Matejko, 1891). ... Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (22 January 1729 – 15 February 1781), writer, philosopher, publicist, and art critic, was one of the most outstanding German representatives of the Enlightenment era. ... For other persons named John Locke, see John Locke (disambiguation). ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Leandro Fernández de Moratín, born March 10, 1760 – died June 21, 1828, was a Spanish dramatist and neoclassical poet. ... Republicanism is the ideology of governing a nation as a republic, with an emphasis on liberty, rule of law, popular sovereignty and the civic virtue practiced by citizens. ... Montesquieu redirects here. ... Portrait of Nikolay Novikov, by Dmitry Levitzky. ... Mikeshins Monument to Catherine the Great in front of the Alexandrine Theatre in St. ... For other persons of the same name, see Thomas Paine (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Common sense (disambiguation). ... John Trumbulls Declaration of Independence, showing the five-man committee in charge of drafting the Declaration in 1776 as it presents its work to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia The American Revolution refers to the period during the last half of the 18th century in which the Thirteen... Thomas Paine wrote the Rights of Man in 1791 as a reply to Reflections on the Revolution in France by Edmund Burke, and as such, it is a work glorifying the French Revolution. ... François Quesnay. ... Jovellanos painted by Goya Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos (5 January 1744 - 27 November 1811), Spanish statesman and author, was born at Gijón in Asturias, Spain. ... Emanuel Swedenborg, 75, holding the manuscript of Apocalypsis Revelata (1766). ... The Encyclopédistes were a group of 18th century writers in France who compiled the Encyclopédie (Encyclopedia) edited by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond dAlembert. ... The tone of this article is inappropriate for an encyclopedia article. ... For other uses, see Voltaire (disambiguation). ... An essayist is an author who writes compositions which can be about any particular subject. ... For other uses, see Ceremonial Deism. ... For other uses,