Western Civilization_ Volume B_ 1300 to 1815 - Jackson J. Spielvogel [246]
Our knowledge, then, is derived from our environment, not from heredity; from reason, not from faith. Locke’s philosophy implied that people were molded by their environment, by the experiences that they received through their senses from their surrounding world. By changing the environment and subjecting people to proper influences, they could be changed and a new society created. And how should the environment be changed? Newton had already paved the way by showing how reason enabled enlightened people to discover the natural laws to which all institutions should conform. No wonder the philosophes were enamored of Newton and Locke. Taken together, their ideas seemed to offer the hope of a “brave new world” built on reason.
The Philosophes and Their Ideas
The intellectuals of the Enlightenment were known by the French term philosophe (fee-loh-ZAWF), although not all of them were French and few were actually philosophers. The philosophes were literary people, professors, journalists, statesmen, economists, political scientists, and above all, social reformers. They came from both the nobility and the middle class, and a few even stemmed from lower origins. Although it was a truly international and cosmopolitan movement, the Enlightenment also enhanced the dominant role being played by French culture. Paris was its recognized capital, and most of the leaders of the Enlightenment were French (see Map 17.1). The French philosophes in turn affected intellectuals elsewhere and created a movement that engulfed the entire Western world, including the British and Spanish colonies in America.
Although the philosophes faced different political circumstances depending on the country in which they lived, they shared common bonds as part of a truly international movement. Although they were called philosophers, what did philosophy mean to them? The role of philosophy was to change the world, not just discuss it. As one writer said, the philosophe is one who “applies himself to the study of society with the purpose of making his kind better and happier.” To the philosophes, rationalism did not mean the creation of a grandiose system of thought to explain all things. Reason was scientific method, an appeal to facts and experience. A spirit of rational criticism was to be applied to everything, including religion and politics.
The philosophes’ call for freedom of expression is a reminder that their work was done in an atmosphere of censorship. The philosophes were not free to write whatever they chose. State censors decided what could be published, and protests from any number of government bodies could result in the seizure of books and the imprisonment of their authors, publishers, and sellers.
The philosophes found ways to get around state censorship. Some published under pseudonyms or anonymously or abroad, especially in Holland. The use of double meanings, such as talking about the Persians when they meant the French, became standard procedure for many. Books were also published and circulated secretly or in manuscript form to avoid the censors. As frequently happens when censorship is attempted, the government’s announcement that a book had been burned often made the book more popular.
MAP 17.1 The Enlightenment in Europe. “Have the courage to use your own intelligence!” Kant’s words epitomize the role of the individual in using reason to understand all aspects of life—the natural world and the sphere of human nature, behavior, and institutions.
Which countries or regions were at the center of the Enlightenment, and what could account for peripheral regions being less involved?
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Although the philosophes constituted a kind of “family circle” bound together by common intellectual bonds, they often disagreed. Spanning