" If you had to summarize six ways that the Enlightenment mattered, you might list them like this:
First of all, without question, Enlightenment thought — although the Enlightenment thinkers disagreed on many things, and a few were atheists, but not many, most were Deists and believed that God was everywhere — the Enlightenment did weaken the hold of traditional religion, particularly the role of the Catholic Church as a public institution in France. Of course, if you read in high-school French or wherever Candide, which is blatantly antireligious, of Voltaire, you'll see the most extreme example of that.
Secondly, and related to this, Enlightenment thinkers taught a secular code of ethics, one that was divorced from religious beliefs. That they were engaged with humanity. They loved humanity. They thought people were basically good, and this shouldn't be just a valley of tears awaiting eternal life, and went out to make such claims.
Third is that they developed a critical spirit of analysis not to accept routine tradition. Truths that were passed down from generation to generation, particularly those passed down by the religious establishment and — not to accept routine tradition, such, for example, routine hierarchies. This was part of their spirit of analysis.
Fourth, they were curious about history and believed in progress. They were convinced that France had a special role to play in this. To be sure, the Enlightenment was to be found in many places in Europe, and in what became the United States. Paris particularly played a central role in that.
Fifth, that they differentiated absolutism from despotism. In order to understand what happens in this remarkable series of events in 1789 and in subsequent years, as I said before, there weren't ten people in France who considered themselves republicans, that is who wanted a republic in 1789 and how it was that two or three years later, in 1793 it became easy for the majority of the population to imagine a life without any king at all.
Sixth — and here's the role of the Grub Street hacks, of the third division of Enlightenment thinkers that I'll talk about in just a few minutes — they heaped abuse against what they considered to be unearned, unjustified privilege, and — how can one put this — disrespected the monarchy and the nobles who hung around the king. One can say in hindsight, because we know what happened next, that the Enlightenment helped prepare the way for the French Revolution and that the French Revolution transferred power, transferred authority to people who were very influenced by the Enlightenment. The classic example which I will give, because I enjoy talking about him so much and he is important, is Maximilian Robespierre, who in many ways was a child of the philosophes... As the twelve of the Committee of Public Safety sat around that big green table making decisions that affected the lives of lots of people in France, Enlightenment influence was certainly there."
© John Merriman
Yale Lectures on European Civilization, 1648-1945 (2008)
[link]
First of all, without question, Enlightenment thought — although the Enlightenment thinkers disagreed on many things, and a few were atheists, but not many, most were Deists and believed that God was everywhere — the Enlightenment did weaken the hold of traditional religion, particularly the role of the Catholic Church as a public institution in France. Of course, if you read in high-school French or wherever Candide, which is blatantly antireligious, of Voltaire, you'll see the most extreme example of that.
Secondly, and related to this, Enlightenment thinkers taught a secular code of ethics, one that was divorced from religious beliefs. That they were engaged with humanity. They loved humanity. They thought people were basically good, and this shouldn't be just a valley of tears awaiting eternal life, and went out to make such claims.
Third is that they developed a critical spirit of analysis not to accept routine tradition. Truths that were passed down from generation to generation, particularly those passed down by the religious establishment and — not to accept routine tradition, such, for example, routine hierarchies. This was part of their spirit of analysis.
Fourth, they were curious about history and believed in progress. They were convinced that France had a special role to play in this. To be sure, the Enlightenment was to be found in many places in Europe, and in what became the United States. Paris particularly played a central role in that.
Fifth, that they differentiated absolutism from despotism. In order to understand what happens in this remarkable series of events in 1789 and in subsequent years, as I said before, there weren't ten people in France who considered themselves republicans, that is who wanted a republic in 1789 and how it was that two or three years later, in 1793 it became easy for the majority of the population to imagine a life without any king at all.
Sixth — and here's the role of the Grub Street hacks, of the third division of Enlightenment thinkers that I'll talk about in just a few minutes — they heaped abuse against what they considered to be unearned, unjustified privilege, and — how can one put this — disrespected the monarchy and the nobles who hung around the king. One can say in hindsight, because we know what happened next, that the Enlightenment helped prepare the way for the French Revolution and that the French Revolution transferred power, transferred authority to people who were very influenced by the Enlightenment. The classic example which I will give, because I enjoy talking about him so much and he is important, is Maximilian Robespierre, who in many ways was a child of the philosophes... As the twelve of the Committee of Public Safety sat around that big green table making decisions that affected the lives of lots of people in France, Enlightenment influence was certainly there."
© John Merriman
Yale Lectures on European Civilization, 1648-1945 (2008)
[link]
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