Chapter 17: Enlightenment
Research Topics
The Philosophes and Human Reason
Why have historians argued that the philosophes were a "party of humanity"? Why is it significant that the philosophes themselves labeled their own age an Age of Enlightenment?
Appearing directly after the Scientific Revolution, the Enlightenment of the eighteenth century elevated human reason to new heights. Using reason and criticism, the philosophes sought to free Europe from superstition, fanaticism, intolerance and bigotry. Sapere Aude! - "Dare to know!" - was the motto of the Enlightenment.
Why have historians argued that the philosophes were a "party of humanity"? Why is it significant that the philosophes themselves labeled their own age an Age of Enlightenment?
Appearing directly after the Scientific Revolution, the Enlightenment of the eighteenth century elevated human reason to new heights. Using reason and criticism, the philosophes sought to free Europe from superstition, fanaticism, intolerance and bigotry. Sapere Aude! - "Dare to know!" - was the motto of the Enlightenment.
- Montesquieu, from The Spirit of the Laws (1748)
The best form of government most conformable to nature is that which best agrees with the people in whose favor it is created. - Diderot, The Philosopher (c. 1750)
Diderot's famous article on the philosopher and truth from the Encyclopédie. - Voltaire on Toleration (1763)
Voltaire argued that all men are obliged to tolerate the ideas of others. - Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations (1776)
The greatest improvement in the power of human labor has its origin in the division of labor. - Kant, An Answer to the Question, "What is Enlightenment?" (1784)
In this short essay Kant urges all men to escape their self-imposed immaturity and "Dare to Know!"
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