Philosophy Of The Modern Age

Philosophy of the Enlightenment

The eighteenth century is inscribed in history as the Age of Enlightenment. Enlightenment, a philosophical and political movement, united all progressive-minded politicians, philosophers, jurists, cultural figures, and naturalists, reaching its zenith in France, where the center of European philosophy had shifted. Among its most illustrious representatives were François-Marie Voltaire (1694-1778), Denis Diderot (1713-1784), Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), Paul Holbach (1723-1789), Charles-Louis Montesquieu (1689-1755), and Claude-Adrien Helvétius (1715-1771).

One of the central tenets of seventeenth-century philosophy—the notion of a “rational” world—transformed in the eighteenth century into the idea that education is the primary driving force of history, the source and main means by which humanity achieves equality, brotherhood, and freedom, thereby aligning itself with the demands of reason. Everything—religion, understanding of nature, and political order—faced relentless criticism from the standpoint of rationality. The motto of the Enlightenment was: “Have the courage to use your own understanding,” as proposed by I. Kant in his essay "Answering the Question: What is Enlightenment?" (1784). According to Kant, Enlightenment is the emergence of humanity from its self-imposed immaturity, a condition brought about by a lack of resolve and courage to think independently without guidance from others. Individuals should be educated to utilize their own reason, liberated from superstition, dogma, and prejudice through a critical reassessment of all values. A distinctive feature of the Enlightenment was its significant role in shaping a new type of individual—the citizen—who consciously serves society based on intrinsic motivations rather than external impositions.

Enlightenment thinkers emphasized that humans are, above all, products of their surrounding environment, thereby calling for a radical transformation of social orders to establish a society that is “humane,” that is, rational and compassionate. For they believed that human beings are born neither good nor evil by nature; rather, they become so only within society. A properly educated individual, that is, an enlightened person, would adopt a stance of rational self-interest.

Arguing that the latest achievements in science and philosophy should primarily involve rulers, Enlightenment thinkers cultivated the ideal of “enlightened governance.” They attributed an essential role in societal improvement to philosophy, viewing it as the beacon of reason, law, and humanity.

As knowledge about nature and society contradicted religious assertions, one of the Enlightenment's most crucial tasks was to critique religion and combat religious dogmas, which gave rise to an anti-clerical perspective among many thinkers, reaching atheistic conclusions in the works of some, such as Diderot and Holbach. In opposition to traditional religion, they proposed the concept of “natural religion,” which aligns with human nature and embodies universal moral principles applicable to all humanity. This universal morality was encapsulated in the principle: “Act only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time, will that it should become a universal law.”

Enlightenment philosophy was predominantly materialistic, as its main theoretical premise was to explain the material world from itself. However, similar to the seventeenth century, French materialism in the eighteenth century was characterized by mechanistic tendencies. For instance, Julien La Mettrie regarded the human organism as a complex machine, portraying even humanity as highly organized matter subject to the laws of mechanics. Moreover, eighteenth-century materialism exhibited a kind of idealism in explaining social phenomena; it identified consciousness, human passions, moods, imaginations, and the will of prominent individuals as the primary driving forces of history, underscoring that “thoughts rule the world.”

French Enlightenment thinkers laid the groundwork for the French Revolution of 1789-1793, which advanced and justified principles of civil society such as freedom, equality, brotherhood, social justice, and humanitarianism. The philosophy of the French Enlightenment instilled social optimism and established a lasting belief in progress and the possibility of restructuring society based on principles of justice and humanity.