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The enlightenment period finds basis in the development of a new European culture in the eighteenth century. Defined as “mankind’s exit from its self incurred immaturity” (Schmidt 58), enlightenment called for independent thought for progress. By the end of the seventeenth century, society and cultures had changed drastically as opposed to the traditions that dominated humanity at that time. Otherwise referred to as the Age of Enlightenment, the Enlightenment Period saw a rise in a need to find cause and independence in matters found in the society. Consequently, the Enlightenment Period called for scientific facts, a change in the societal norms that found reason in existing faith and known traditions. This directly affected the church as it ministrations and alleged miracles were put under scrutiny hence defying the church’s authority. Enlightenment called for evidence and statistics in light of existing issues in a bid to reach sound conclusions. Philosophers argued that history, politics, and the economy were the bases for social cohesion and a peoples’ progress during the age of enlightenment.
The enlightenment took place in two stages with the philosophers in the prior revolution affecting the ideologies and reasoning of those that followed. The Early Enlightenment (1685-1730) is said to have found its roots in the ideas of Newton Isaac and Locke John who published works that questioned everything known in society. In turn, the two provided both philosophical and mathematical factors that saw a huge leap in the enlightenment. Consequently, the works that emerged during the Age of Enlightenment sought to determine the eligibility of all that man knew while ensuring that facts were not distorted in the process (Schmidt 58).
The background and past of the people were used by most of the philosophers in explaining the enlightenment. This was done to encourage said people to aim for progress rather than societal norms. In other words, History was regarded as the blinding force to complete enlightenment (Israel 7). The peoples’ pasts were a hindrance to their benefits that was to come from the scientific revolution sweeping across Europe. Enlightenment was therefore going against everything that the society and the government regarded to be right. A good example is Astell Mary’s publication of “Serious Proposal to the Ladies” (1967) in which she urged women to pursue better education as their male counterparts to achieve better comprehension in their lives (Israel 35). Her ideas were attested to by Condorcet who published “On the Admission of Women to the Rights of Citizenship” (1790) a dissertation on women’ rights that suggested equality between the two genders in politics (Schmidt 58). These two are perfect examples to the urge given towards defying historical foundations of the European society. It is safe to argue that these ideas originated from those of previous scholars specifically Locke John who in “Some Thoughts Concerning Education” (1693) suggests equal education for both genders. (Israel 35)
Therefore, as stated before, history as a base for socialization and progress served more of a hindrance. For complete realization of the benefits brought by the enlightenment, the people needed to forget the past and if not, question its theories and ideologies for evidence to support the same. In turn, with the governing concepts, full socialization was hindered, as the women were considered inferior to the men. At the same time, female education was uncommon therefore ensuring that women could not relate to the men at the academic level, further limiting socialization. All these concepts existed in the history of Europe and enlightenment sought to change them as a form of revolution.
The sole political aim of the age of enlightenment lay in the analysis of the power attributed to the monarch. In the Pre-enlightenment period, roles of the government were solely at the hands of a sovereign rule that saw to the functions of the country while maintaining societal organizations. Hobbes Thomas publishing of the “Leviathan” (1651) sought to justify the ideas of a single authoritative political power but also served as the base of future analysis on political powers (Schmidt 201). The first response to this was Locke John’s “Two Treatises of Government” (Schmidt 201) that refuted Hobbes’ assertions by placing the powers of the government on the choices made by its people. These arguments were concluded by the ideas of possible coups by unsatisfied people. In addition, Rousseau Jean-Jacques of the High Enlightenment period (1730-1780) published “The Social Contract” (1762) refuting Hobbes’ ideologies and reinforcement to Locke’s arguments (Schmidt 201). This is so in the sense that his argument revolves around the liberty and freedom of a people that can only be achieved when citizens are willing to give some rights to the government. This is in direct correlation with the ideas of Locke where there is evidence of a voting system through which people have a chance to choose their leaders.
Political philosophies in the enlightenment period were aimed at giving more power to the people as opposed to the existing governance that concentrated more on the government than the citizens. Voltaire’s “Candide” (1759) suggests as much as he advocates for more civil liberation in Europe and a separation of the church from the central government (Israel 173). It is therefore safe to argue that, the enlightenment period saw politics as the gateway to the new society that the enlightenment philosophers sought after. At the same time, progress entailed the government being answerable to the people and in turn ensured the peoples’ needs were met rather than the officials’ desires. With more responsibilities to the country society will be unified with each person seeking to participate in governing powers. This is evidenced by present day choice of political parties’ supporters.
Finally yet the importantly, the philosophers published works regarding the economy in light of the Enlightenment period. In “Influence of Enlightenment on Economic & Social Thought” Brooks states that the enlightenment encouraged the thoughts of “free trade or laissez faire” to improve Europe’s economy. This encouraged economic practices outside the traditional farming and as a result, led to the migrations of people to the urban settlements. The publication of “The Wealth of Nations” (1776) by Smith Adam is said to be the map of the Industrial Revolution (Influence of Enlightenment on Economic & Social Thought). In turn, the Enlightenment saw vast changes in Europe’s economy as more people saw sense in the advocated means of trade.
The economy saw to the encouragement of socialization, as people were forced to interact more based on trade. Therefore, progress was ensured as more people adopted the new ideas of trade that in turn saw to acquisition of wealth among the people. The Industrial Revolution saw to this as it marked major changes in the economic settings in Europe while guaranteeing massive growth for the people’s wealth (Influence of Enlightenment on Economic & Social Thought). However, it also led to the increased gap between the rich, the poor, and more awareness of the governments functions.
Work Cited
Brooks, DiMauro. Influence of Enlightenment on Economic & Social Thought . 4 March 2011. Web. 7 April 2014.
Israel, Jonathan I. Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity 1650-1750. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Schmidt, James. What is Enlightenment?: Eighteenth-century Answers and Twentieth-century Questions. California : University of California Press, 1996.
