The Enlightenment is an intellectual movement which is related to the new thoughts, old beliefs, reason and nature. This movement got an extension in the European society during the seventeenth and eighteenth century though the process was commenced a long time ago. This movement is known for several reasons and naming itself was a unique feature of this movement. Several scholars, thinkers participated in this process of enlightenment which affected the thoughts of the people, religious beliefs and the society in a larger perspective.
When cities were developed and they became the hub of commercial activities mainly because of industrialization, people migrated towards these cities and in new atmosphere they came to learn a lot of things. They saw new and changed laws, a number of new opportunities, and formation of new governments. The change was noticeable in every area and it affected every aspect of the life like art, architecture, music, science, and philosophy.
Concepts of secularism, welfare government, development, political ideology, and innovations were developed and new theories were evolved. All these changes ignited the mind of the people and their approach was enlightened. Several thinkers like john lock, Voltaire, Rousseau, and Diderot played very important role in the process of the enlightenment and fuelled the thought process of the society. John Lock talked about the relation between the individual and the state; he also advocated the need of the government. Voltaire expressed his views on the human liberty and also he talked about the separation of powers among the church, people and the state. Rousseau talked about the society and he talked about the people’s participation in the creation of the society. Thomas Hobbes seems to be a bit pessimistic when he argues that people are basically selfish and the government is the best ruler that a society can get. Their views on the democracy, monarchy, human rights, reforms, logic, liberty and the society were noble and people were heavily influenced by these ideas.
The strength of this movement was that this movement gave new ideas and thoughts to the society. People became aware of their social, political and other rights and they started raising their voices against the ongoing aristocracies. People realized how dignified there life could be while on the other hand the weakness of this movement was that it weakened the traditional structure of the society and people left their ancestral places and their ancestral occupations. Due to the heavy migration towards the industrialized cities, old places were almost deserted. People abandoned the old occupation like agriculture.
Baron d'Holbach was a philosopher who believed in the theory of materialism. He made the French people acquainted with the different and revolutionary opinions from the other parts of the world by translating a number of literatures in the French. This accelerated the process of the enlightenment and people came to know `about the ongoing exploitation in the hands of their rulers. The mechanistic philosophy espoused by Baron d'Holbach was the logical outcome of the core beliefs of the Enlightenment. The materialistic approach was the outcome as well as it became one of the afterward effects that became the face of the newly formed societies.
Reference
Fitzpatrick, M. (2004). The Enlightenment world. London: Routledge.
