Origins of Enlightenment

The Enlightenment, also known as the Age of Reason, is responsible for many of our ideas of democracy and representative government today. The idea that power and authority came from the people and that governments had to protect citizens' inalienable rights came from this era. But just where did the concepts of the Enlightenment come from? The Enlightenment's origins were applying scientific principles to human society. Learn about the Enlightenment's historical context in this summary of the origins of the Enlightenment.

Origins of the Enlightenment: Summary

Any origins of the Enlightenment summary has to begin with two previous historical movements that came before it: the Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution. Both led to a resurgence of science and to explaining the world through observation, experimentation, and rational thinking.

The origins of the Enlightenment came from philosophers applying these ideas to explain and improve human society. A broad intellectual trend that included thinkers in different countries proposing different ideas, it's hard to pin exact dates on the Enlightenment. Still, it can be roughly defined as taking place from about 1680 to 1820, in a period sometimes referred to as "the long 18th century."

The origins of the Enlightenment grew from several thinkers applying reason to their thinking of politics and society. They often challenged existing political and social institutions, especially the church and absolute monarchies. Their ideas helped inspire a wave of political change from the Glorious Revolution to U.S. Independence to the French Revolution.

In the following sections, learn more about the origins of the Enlightenment, its historical context, and some of its thinkers.

Fig 1 - Painting depicting Enligthenment thinkers Rousseau and Voltaire.

Origins of the Enlightenment Historical Context

The origins of the Enlightenment are intricately connected to intellectual trends that began a few hundred years before, as well as to events in Europe.

Origins of the Enlightenment Causes

The Enlightenment's causes can be traced to the following factors:

• The Renaissance
• The Scientific Revolution
• The Reformation and Religious Strife in Europe

The Renaissance

The Renaissance was an intellectual current that ran roughly from the 14th to the 17th century. By encouraging a return to the classical knowledge and philosophy of Ancient Greece and Rome, the Renaissance helped provoke a focus on man and not the supernatural and religious. The philosophy of humanism arising out of the Renaissance would help contribute to the origins of the Enlightenment.

The Scientific Revolution

This rediscovery of learning and philosophy led to new scientific ideas and theories. Over the 16th and 17th centuries, the Scientific Revolution emerged. New scientists such as Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton challenged prevailing scientific beliefs. They proposed new ones based on their experiments and findings, sometimes bringing them into conflict with the church and other established institutions.

Meanwhile, men such as Descartes and Bacon blended the ideas of science and philosophy, defining inductive and deductive reasoning and creating the Scientific Method. Above all, the Scientific Revolution held that the world could be explained through reason.

Fig 2 - Rene Descartes.

Religious Strife and the Weakening of Institutions

The Reformation had set off more than a century of conflict and religious strife in Europe. In particular, the Thirty Years' War had brought suffering to many in the Holy Roman Empire.

This war and the other religious conflicts around Europe led to many criticizing the questioning the church as an institution. Skepticism of religion and calls for toleration and the separation of church and state became critical elements of the Enlightenment. These ideas can be seen as a reaction to the religious strife in the years preceding it.

The Enlightenment Applies Reason to Human Society and Institutions

The new emphasis on learning, questioning, and applying logic and reason was soon extended beyond explaining strictly scientific phenomena to explaining human behavior, society, and institutions. This application of reasoning to improve human society characterized the Enlightenment's ideas.

Some of the scientific ideas that the Enlightenment applied include:

• Empiricism: the notion that knowledge comes from experience and the senses
• Skepticism: being doubtful and questioning assumed truths
• Rationalism: the theory that opinions and beliefs should be based on reason and knowledge rather than religion or emotion

These ideas encouraged the challenge of traditional forms of power and the organization of society. Many Enlightenment thinkers, in particular, criticized absolute monarchy and the institutionalized church. Religion became increasingly seen as a private rather than a public matter, and the idea of a social contract where the government was meant to serve the citizens became more widely held.

These new ideas were discussed and disseminated in salons and meeting rooms of the aristocracy and emerging bourgeoisie upper-middle class.

Fig 3 - John Locke.

Origins of the Enlightenment Thinkers

It's hard to attribute the origins of the Enlightenment to anyone or one group of thinkers. Different thinkers in different countries came to similar and other conclusions and ideas. Still, they were guided by applying logic and rationalism to explain and better human institutions.

The table below shows a few of the Enlightenment thinkers' origins and contributions.

Multiple other important Enlightenment thinkers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Immanuel Kant participated in this movement. However, the ones above were some of the most important for the foundations of the Enlightenment.

Interesting Origins of the Enlightenment's Facts

See some compelling origins of the Enlightenment facts below:

• The definition of the Enlightenment is often attributed to German thinker Immanuel Kant in an essay called "What is Enlightenment?" published in 1784. He argued that Enlightenment was man learning and deciding to use their understanding.
• Liberty, tolerance, and separation of church and state were key ideas common for many Enlightenment thinkers.
• Locke's work in the 1680s is often considered the start of the Enlightenment.
• Napoleon's seizing of power, ending the more radical period of the French Revolution, is often considered a signal of the end of the Enlightenment.
• Diderot's Encyclopedia was the first Encyclopedia widely available to the public.
• Somewhat ironically, some absolutist monarchs, such as Catherine the Great and Frederick the Great, attempted to apply ideas of the Enlightenment in their governing and are often called Enlightened Despots.
• Adam Smith's work during the Enlightenment is often credited as the foundation of ideas of market capitalism.