Illustration

We explain what the Enlightenment, its general characteristics and its main representatives was. In addition, what was enlightened despotism.

What was the Enlightenment?

The illustration was an intellectual movement that developed in Europe During the 18th century and influenced politics, economics, science, art, religion and other aspects of Western culture.

Illustrated thinkers also called illuminists, They wondered about the world that surrounded them through the use of reason that was considered the light that illuminated knowledge and that could end ignorance. Because this movement took place mainly in the 18th century, this century is usually called “the century of lights.”

According to enlightened philosophers, all knowledge could be achieved through reason, which entered into conflict with religious dogmas and the hereditary foundations of political authority. By influence of the Enlightenment, revolutionary processes were triggered such as the independence of the United States (1776) and the French Revolution (1789).

The historical context

The intellectual background of the Enlightenment

The Illustration It emerged in Europe at the end of the seventeenth century and acquired its greatest impulse throughout the 18th century. In those years, religious dogma remained influential in the way of understanding the world, but a series of facts had modified the basis of knowledge, the intellectual authority of the Catholic Church had questioned and had released the way for the formulation of new illustrated ideas:

• THE HUMANIST MOVEMENT (XV and XVI centuries) that he had returned the centrality to the human being against the religious principle that God was the measure of all things.
• The scientific revolution (sixteenth and seventeenth centuries) which developed a study method based on observation, calculation, hypothesis formulation and experimentation.

The political context of the Enlightenment

Two political factors influenced the emergence of enlightened thought:

• The glorious revolution (1688) in England which established a parliamentary monarchy and promoted new ways of understanding the relationship between politics, thought and economic growth.
• The validity of absolutism in France whose absolute monarch ruled “by divine right” on a society divided into estates, in which the clergy and the aristocracy had inherited privileges. Some enlightened French saw in England a model of “progress” against religious darkness and political tyranny of the old French regime.

The illustration by countries

The Illustration It was especially strong in France where its exponents adopted the name of “philosophers” (Philosophes). Among them, some names such as Voltaire, Montesquieu and Jean-Jacques Rousseau stood out. It was also in France where the Encyclopediaa monumental work compiled by Denis Diderot and Jean Le Rond d’Alembert that contained texts on various topics written by enlightened philosophers.

In Great Britain and its American colonies Thinkers like David Hume, Adam Smith and Thomas Jefferson stood out, and John Locke is usually recognized as a precursor. In Germany Immanuel Kant was very influential, and In Italy Cesare Beccaria.

In Spain The thought of Gaspar Melchor of Jovellanos was very relevant, but the exponents of enlightened despotism, such as the Count of Campomanes, had more political influence. However, the Spanish territories in America arrived illustrated ideas from various countries, and together with the revolutionary episodes in Europe and the United States, they influenced the subsequent processes of independence.

Illustration characteristics

Some of the characteristics of the Enlightenment were:

• Rational thought . It was considered that the use of reason was the only means to achieve the truth and understand the world, so religious dogmas and beliefs that were not sustained in empirical observation and logic were abandoned.
• Knowledge as a path to progress . Scientific discoveries and technological innovations were considered a stimulus for both material and moral progress, because they were able to improve people’s quality of life and lead them to happiness.
• The enunciation of laws of nature . The studies and experiments carried out through the scientific method allowed to explain until then inexplicable phenomena or traditionally interpreted by theological doctrines. In this way, laws of nature were formulated, such as the laws of Newton mechanics.
• Encyclopedism . The collection of knowledge and its dissemination was carried out through encyclopedias, with the aim of combating ignorance and transmitting the “light” of reason. The most eloquent expression was the Encyclopedia Compiled in France by Denis Diderot and Jean Le Rond d’Alembert, which was held in the argument that knowledge was associated with freedom.
• Anthropocentrism . The principle of Renaissance humanism according to which man was the center of the existence or the main reason for any reflection on the universe, against the theological doctrines that focused on God was recovered. Unlike some previous ideas, which supported this anthropocentric principle in mere human existence, the Enlightenment highlighted as something peculiarly human the ability to reason and think critically.
• Population instruction . It was considered that the transformative capacity of reason should be disclosed by instruction of large layers of the population. The bourgeoisie and the aristocracy were able to access the books and encyclopedias illustrated. Private meetings were also used in which various issues of politics, science, philosophy, among others were discussed. Just as many bourgeois sectors were supported by enlightened ideas, there were also aristocrats who expressed adhesion, and even in some royal courts it was sought to combine monarchical absolutism with an enlightened reformism (which was subsequently called “enlightened despotism”).
• The criticism of the Church . The power of the Church and traditional social structures were questioned for being obstacles to the search for truth, personal fulfillment and social progress. Although some enlightened were identified with a rationalist theology called “deism”, others promoted skepticism, agnosticism or atheism.
• The rejection of absolutism . A critical position regarding absolutism was adopted and instead the defense of political and civil liberties was proposed. This implied the rejection of aristocratic privileges and the defense of the principle according to which there were natural rights common to all human beings, so the concept of the individual became important. These ideas approached some enlightened to democratic or republican movements and influenced liberalism.

Illustrated despotism

Illustrated despotism, also known as illustrated absolutism, was a mode of government characteristic of some European monarchies of the second half of the 18th century . It was absolute monarchies in which political power was concentrated in the king, who ruled with the advice of some ministers. But, unlike classical absolutism, enlightened despotism incorporated the principle that the use of reason should guide political decisions.

The term “enlightened despotism” was first used by German historians in the nineteenth century to highlight the Attempt from these monarchies to reconcile political absolutism with illustrated ideas . The monarch, instructed in these ideas or advised by enlightened ministers or thinkers, manifested a discursive sensitivity towards the needs of the people and implemented reforms based on the idea of ​​progress, although political power remained absolutely concentrated.

The phrase that represented enlightened despotism was “everything for the people, but without the people”, which meant that The Government executed measures for the people, but the decisions were made without the intervention of the people . This principle opposed the ideas of many enlightened philosophers who proposed constitutional government models or formulated the idea that the people were sovereign and should govern themselves.

Some representative examples of enlightened despotism were the monarchies of Federico II of Prussia (1740-1786), Carlos III of Spain (1759-1788), Catalina II of Russia (1762-1796), Gustavo III of Sweden (1771-1792), or María Teresa (1740-1780) and José II (1780-1790) of Austria.

Illustration representatives

Among the main representatives of the Enlightenment were:

• Isaac Newton (1642-1727) . He was an English scientist and theologian who, through observation and calculation, enunciated a series of laws that govern nature, including the law of universal gravitation and the laws of movement that placed the foundations of classical mechanics. He is considered an inspirer of enlightened thought.
• John Locke (1632-1704) . It was an English philosopher who established that each human being has three natural rights: to life, to freedom and private property. He was one of the parents of liberalism and was a precursor to the ideas of the Enlightenment.
• Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) . Better known as Montesquieu, it was a French philosopher who established the principle of the State powers division (previously outlined by John Locke): Legislative, Executive and Judicial.
• David Hume (1711-1776) . It was a Scottish philosopher and economist who stood out for his contribution to the philosophical current called empiricism, which argued that there are no innate ideas, but that they all come from the sensitive experience.
• Denis Diderot (1713-1784) . He was a French philosopher and writer, creator with Jean Le Rond d’Alembert de la Encyclopedia, the most emblematic work of the thought of the Enlightenment.
• François-Marie Aouet, better known as Voltaire (1694-1778) . He was a French writer and thinker, who defended freedom of thought based on reason and criticized religious intolerance and fanaticism.
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) . He was a Swiss writer who contributed a vision of the human being in a state of nature and that he rethinks the idea of ​​the social contract. Unlike the English thinker Thomas Hobbes, who supposed that the state of nature was a struggle against all, Rousseau considered the good human being by nature, but claimed that he was corrupted by life in society.
• Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier (1743-1794) . He was a French chemist and economist considered the father of modern chemistry for his studies on combustion and the importance of oxygen in that reaction, among other contributions.
• Jean Le Rond d’Alembert (1717-1783) . He was a French mathematician and philosopher who considered that mathematics and laws of physics were the fundamental principles to understand the world. Created with Denis Diderot the Encyclopedia.
• Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) . It was a German philosopher who made important contributions in the fields of epistemology and ethics, and who wrote some of the most influential works of Western philosophy, such as Criticism of pure reason.

CONSEQUENCES OF THE ILLUSTRATION

Among the consequences of the Enlightenment are some political episodes that marked the end of the 18th century and influenced the nineteenth century. Although the only reason to explain these facts cannot be considered, in general the impact of illustrated thinking in events such as The Independence of the United States (1776) and the French Revolution (1789) as well as in the ideas of some revolutionary leaders of Latin America at the beginning of the 19th century.

The illustration also promoted critical thinking and influenced philosophical and scientific currents of the nineteenth century like positivism. However, it also generated reactions, such as romanticism that, at the beginning of the 19th century, put the emphasis on feelings. On the other hand, confidence in reason and progress were considered consistent with the industrialization process, although the social struggles and wars of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries weakened the optimism that the enlightened had encouraged.

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References

• Beales, D. (2005). Enllightnement and reform in 18th-century Europe. Tauris
• Duignan, B. (2022). Enlightenment. Britannica Encyclopedia. https://www.britannica.com
• Hunt, L., Martin, Tr, Rosenwein, BH & Smith, BG (2016). The Making of the West. Peoples and Cultures. 5th Edition. BEDFORD/ST. Martin’s.
• MUNck, T. (2001). Social History of Enlightenment. Criticism.