Philosophy of the Modern Age and the Enlightenment

Characteristic Features and Major Achievements of Enlightenment Philosophy

The Enlightenment era began in the latter half of the 17th century and continued until the French Revolution (1789-1799), which was preceded by the scientific revolution of the early 17th century. As a result of the Reformation, Western Europe lost its religious unity, leading to wars between Protestant and Catholic countries.

Kant remarked that “Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed immaturity.” This immaturity is not a lack of understanding but rather a deficiency of resolve and courage to use one's reason without the guidance of another. The motto of the Enlightenment was to “dare to use your own reason.” The demand of this era was to liberate reason from the guardianship of feudal authority and the essentially feudal church, which inherently held an anti-religious stance and an anti-clerical tone. While many thinkers of this period were unanimous in their anti-clericalism—expressing negative sentiments toward ecclesiastical institutions—there were significant divergences in their views on religion. The Enlightenment is often divided into two directions: deistic and atheistic.

Deism posits that God is the creator of the universe; however, after initiating its existence, God does not interfere in the unfolding of events. This viewpoint does not deny the existence of God but rather regards Him as a rational first principle underlying the world, rather than as a religious figure who oversees human affairs and may intervene in them. Efforts to influence a deistic God through prayer or other religious practices are seen as futile, leading deists to critique many religious practices, although they did not deny God's existence. Voltaire stands out as the most famous representative of deism. His attitude toward religion and the church can be illuminated by juxtaposing two of his aphoristic statements. On one hand, he declared, “Crush the infamous thing!” referring to the Catholic Church; on the other, he famously remarked, “If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him.” This statement reflects the idea that religion can serve as a constraint that keeps the masses within certain moral boundaries; in other words, for the less educated, religion may fulfill a “police” function.

The atheistic perspective, notably represented by Denis Diderot, took a critical stance not only against the church but also against the very idea of God’s existence. Atheism dismisses belief in the supernatural. Even concepts of God found in deism or pantheism appeared erroneous to atheistic thinkers, who viewed religion as a product of deception and superstition. Atheistic proponents even contested the social function of religion emphasized by Voltaire, arguing that superstition and religious dogmatism had caused immense harm to society and that a secular society would be superior to one plagued by religious superstition, even if such beliefs were meant to uphold morality. Overcoming religion and establishing a new worldview based on reason was seen by these thinkers as a necessary condition for societal progress.

The primary objective of the ideologues of this movement was to disseminate education among the masses, illuminating them with the light of knowledge and spreading ideas that would guide and instruct broad segments of the population toward the path of truth.

The philosophy of the Enlightenment proclaimed reason as the supreme deity, where reason became an active instrument for transforming life, rather than merely a passive repository of eternal ideas. Enlightened individuals fervently believed in the power of reason, convinced that the world was rationally structured and that, relying on science, new rational laws could be established to improve life.

While a theocentric worldview asserts that humans possess free will because they were created so by God, granting them the ability to choose to believe or not, the mechanistic worldview of the Enlightenment thinkers—epitomized by La Mettrie’s notion of “Man as Machine”—denies such freedom; human actions and destinies were strictly determined by the laws of nature. Thus, it was a belief in the limitless potential of human reason that became the measure of all existence for the ideologues of the Enlightenment; a faith that, by harnessing human rationality, one could improve the world by constructing a human society founded on the principles of reason, truth, and justice.

The primary goal pursued by the Enlightenment thinkers when reflecting on history was to judge it from the standpoint of reason, critiquing the irrationality and unnaturalness of what was and is, yet should not be. Here, the Enlightenment thinkers first outlined a tendency to connect “reason” with “history.” The Enlightenment also raised the crucial question of the fundamental discrepancy between the aims and outcomes of historical events. “Fundamental” in this context implies that it is neither accidental nor the result of unrealistic goals and inadequate choices of means to realize them, but rather has a different fundamental source. According to Kant, individuals who pursue their goals in history simultaneously move toward an unknown historical aim, and had they known it, there is doubt they would have been invested in it. Truly, people “do not know what they are creating.”

The Enlightenment underwent a journey from boundless optimism in reason, invariably linked with a particular type of humanity and its life in a great city, to inevitable skepticism and disillusionment. The French Revolution marked the end of hopes for restructuring society on rational foundations; instead of the luminaries of reason—Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Montesquieu—the Jacobin dictatorship emerged, complete with a “holy guillotine.” The Republic even persecuted constitutional churches, recognizing no worship other than that of liberty and equality; the law guaranteeing freedom of worship was replaced with one acknowledging the immortality of the soul; a new “revolutionary” calendar was instituted; a cult of the revolution’s victims was established, and a celebration of reason was held in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame. This second religiosity, or ersatz-religion, arises from the naive faith of the masses in the mythical qualities of reason and their hearts' simple desire to create a corresponding cult for the desired myth.

Thus, the philosophy of the New Age prioritizes the theoretical and cognitive aspect, with science becoming the primary form of worldview. A peculiar mission of science is asserted: it knows everything, can penetrate any mystery of existence, and most importantly—science can understand the world and change it for the better. The medieval faith in God is supplanted by a belief in the limitless capabilities of human reason.

Francis Bacon, the progenitor of New Age philosophy, presents it as a philosophy of industrial science. René Descartes furthered this by contemplating a method that directs our reason and seeks truth in the sciences, aspiring to equip science with a precise method, founded on the principle of doubt. In the modern era, state power is no longer derived from God but is established through a social contract made between free individuals—citizens. However, Hobbes’ Leviathan—created by humans—rises above them, escapes their control, and transforms into a monster: it holds power over its citizens while they are everywhere and always powerless beneath it.

The French Revolution signified the end of hopes for restructuring society based on reason. Through revolution, one might achieve the removal of despots and the oppression by selfish or power-hungry individuals, yet it is impossible to enact a genuine reform of thought through revolution, believed Kant. He regarded the embodiment of the spirit of the Enlightenment to be his contemporary epoch—the era of Frederick II (1712-1786). Old Fritz, a patron of the sciences and arts, was known for his motto: “Think as much as you wish about whatever you wish, but obey!”

While the Enlightenment thinkers relied on reason and science to transform the world for the better, the Romantics, leaning on faith and religion, were convinced that the result of Enlightenment activity was merely the destruction of traditions.