Together with rationalism, it constitutes a cultural movement for a long time.
The Enlightenment in this period covered natural science, philosophy, ethics, politics, economy, history, literature, education and other fields of knowledge.
Scholars in the Enlightenment are also different from those in the Renaissance. Instead of using religion to assist the Renaissance, they tried to make the knowledge system independent of the influence of religion through experience and rational thinking as a way to establish a moral, aesthetic and ideological system.
Advocates of the Enlightenment regarded themselves as fearless cultural pioneers, believing that the purpose of the Enlightenment was to lead the world out of a period full of traditional teachings, irrationality, blind faith and autocracy (this period is usually called the dark period).
Cultural critics, religious skeptics and political reformers of this era are all pioneers of the Enlightenment, but they are just a loose, informal and completely unorganized alliance.
At that time, the center of enlightenment knowledge was Paris, and French was the language of enjoyment.
The Enlightenment provided a framework for the American War of Independence and the French Revolution, and led to the rise of capitalism and socialism, which was the same period as the Baroque period in the history of music and the neoclassicism period in the history of art.
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Portrait of Rousseau
Newton's Enlightenment Works-Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy
[Editor] The beginning of rational discussion
/kloc-in the 0/8th century, after years of war during Louis XIV, the French economy was hit hard. As a result, people in this era began to question the theory of divine right, and rational thinkers began to appear, including Baron Montesquieu of France (1689- 1755) and Voltaire (1755). 1694- 1788), jean-jean-jean-jacques rousseau (17 12- 1778) and others are the most famous.
In addition, there is John Locke of Britain (1632- 1704).
There is Immanuel Kant (Immanuel Kant, 1724- 1804).
At that time, most philosophers gave priority to rational thinking and began to abandon religious superstitions.
Diderot pointed out in the article "Rationality" in Encyclopedia that rationality is "the ability of human beings to know the truth" and that "the human spirit can naturally reach a series of truths without the light of faith" represents the spirit of thinkers in this period.
[Editor] Challenges to Religion
During this period, some people used the name of the church to collect money and persecute dissidents, so the Enlightenment people were very dissatisfied with the situation of the church at that time.
[Editor] The Beginning of Historical Textual Research
During this period, people began to question the methods of explaining history by theology, philosophy and deductive logic in the Middle Ages, questioned what was recorded in historical documents, and conducted archaeological research and cultural relics excavation.
[Editor] The emergence of democratic consciousness
Most thinkers in this period questioned the theory of divine right of monarchy and advocated freedom and equality as their main work.
Take Voltaire as an example. He once said, "I don't agree with everything you say, but I will defend your right to say it to the death."
",which shows his emphasis on freedom of speech.
Montesquieu, another famous thinker, also said: "The significance of law can be said to be the enlightenment of modern sociology, and a comparative study has been made on climate, law, religion, governance principles, past examples, customs and habits and other things that constitute the spirit of society as a whole.
Although this will lead to social determinism and historical relativity, he puts the moral necessity of freedom above determinism relativity, and he also violates his own logic and insists on opposing autocratic rule, which is immoral.
This is the origin of the "separation of powers" analyzed by the British Constitution. "
Similarly, most of the works of thinkers during the Enlightenment put forward the idea of creating democracy, * * and government, which was adopted by the American Declaration of Independence and the French Declaration of Human Rights.
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With the emergence of new ideas in this era, natural science and humanities are separated from the influence of religious thoughts, resulting in academic research independent of religion.
Because of the establishment of history and philosophy, the paradigm of cultural history research and the opening of romantic historiography, this era has a unique historical imprint and is also a symbol and embodiment of its influence.
The Enlightenment eventually led to the American independence movement and the French Revolution, which transformed the human social system from absolute monarchy to * * * and regime, and enabled people to enjoy real human rights.
Therefore, the Enlightenment is an extremely important historical period in history, which has left great influence in various fields.