Editing Age of Enlightenment (section)

==Topics==
===Philosophy===
[[File:Frans Hals - Portret van René Descartes.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[René Descartes]], widely considered a seminal figure in the emergence of [[modern philosophy]] and science]]
Bacon's [[empiricism]] and Descartes' [[Rationalism|rationalist]] philosophy laid the foundation for enlightenment thinking.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iCyZCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT4 |isbn=978-1-63149-208-2 |title=The Dream of Enlightenment: The Rise of Modern Philosophy |date=2016 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company}}</ref> Descartes' attempt to construct the sciences on a secure [[metaphysics|metaphysical]] foundation was not as successful as his [[Cartesian doubt|method of doubt]] applied to philosophy, which led to a [[Mind–body dualism|dualistic doctrine]] of mind and matter. His [[skepticism]] was refined by Locke's ''[[An Essay Concerning Human Understanding|Essay Concerning Human Understanding]]'' (1690) and Hume's writings in the 1740s. Descartes' dualism was challenged by Spinoza's uncompromising assertion of the unity of matter in his [[Tractatus Theologico-Politicus|''Tractatus'']] (1670) and ''[[Ethics (Spinoza book)|Ethics]]'' (1677).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rahman |first=Shoaib |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hoDkEAAAQBAJ |title=The Roots of Enlightenment: A HISTORICAL ANALYSIS OF THE AGE OF REASON IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY EUROPE |date=2023 |edition=Hardcover |publisher=Fadew, Inc. |isbn=979-8-8681-1641-4 |language=en}}</ref>

According to [[Jonathan Israel]], these laid down two distinct lines of Enlightenment thought: first, the moderate variety, following Descartes, Locke, and [[Christian Wolff (philosopher)|Christian Wolff]], which sought accommodation between reform and the traditional systems of power and faith, and, second, the Radical Enlightenment, inspired by the philosophy of Spinoza, advocating democracy, individual liberty, freedom of expression, and eradication of religious authority.{{sfn|Israel|2006|p=15}}{{sfn|Israel|2010|pp=vii–viii, 19}} The moderate variety tended to be [[Deism|deistic]] whereas the radical tendency separated the basis of morality entirely from theology. Both lines of thought were eventually opposed by a conservative [[Counter-Enlightenment]] which sought a return to faith.{{sfn|Israel|2010|p=11}}

In the mid-18th century, [[Paris]] became the center of philosophic and scientific activity challenging traditional doctrines and dogmas. After the [[Edict of Fontainebleau]] in 1685, the relationship between church and the absolutist government was very strong. The early enlightenment emerged in protest to these circumstances, gaining ground under the support of [[Madame de Pompadour]], the mistress of [[Louis XV]].{{sfn|Haakonssen|2008|p=33}} Called the ''Siècle des Lumières,'' the philosophical movement of the Enlightenment had already started by the early 18th century, when [[Pierre Bayle]] launched the popular and scholarly Enlightenment critique of religion. As a [[skeptic]] Bayle only partially accepted the philosophy and principles of rationality. He did draw a strict boundary between morality and religion. The rigor of his ''[[Dictionnaire Historique et Critique]]'' influenced many of the Enlightenment ''[[Encyclopédistes]].''{{Sfn|Haakonssen|2008|p=34}} By the mid-18th century the French Enlightenment had found a focus in the project of the ''[[Encyclopédie]].''{{Sfn|Haakonssen|2008|p=33}} The philosophical movement was led by Voltaire and Rousseau, who argued for a society based upon reason rather than faith and Catholic doctrine, for a new civil order based on [[natural law]], and for science based on experiments and observation. The political philosopher Montesquieu introduced the idea of a [[separation of powers]] in a government, a concept which was enthusiastically adopted by the authors of the [[Constitution of the United States|United States Constitution]]. While the ''[[philosophes]]'' of the French Enlightenment were not revolutionaries and many were members of the nobility, their ideas played an important part in undermining the legitimacy of the [[Ancien Régime|Old Regime]] and shaping the [[French Revolution]].{{Sfn|Petitfils|2005|pages=99–105}}

[[Francis Hutcheson (philosopher)|Francis Hutcheson]], a moral philosopher and founding figure of the [[Scottish Enlightenment]], described the [[utilitarianism|utilitarian]] and [[consequentialism|consequentialist]] principle that virtue is that which provides, in his words, "the greatest happiness for the greatest numbers." Much of what is incorporated in the [[scientific method]] (the nature of knowledge, evidence, experience, and causation) and some modern attitudes towards the relationship between science and religion were developed by Hutcheson's protégés in [[Edinburgh]]: David Hume and Adam Smith.<ref name="Denby">{{cite magazine |title=Northern Lights: How modern life emerged from eighteenth-century Edinburgh |last=Denby |first=David |magazine=The New Yorker |date=11 October 2004 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2004/10/11/northern-lights-3 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606141619/http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2004/10/11/041011crat_atlarge |archive-date=6 June 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Scottish enlightenment and the challenges for Europe in the 21st century; climate change and energy |last=Barroso |first=José Manuel |authorlink=José Manuel Barroso |date=28 November 2006 |url=https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/SPEECH_06_756}}</ref> Hume became a major figure in the [[philosophical skepticism|skeptical philosophical]] and empiricist traditions of philosophy.

[[File:Immanuel Kant portrait c1790.jpg|thumb|upright|German philosopher [[Immanuel Kant]], one of the most influential figures of Enlightenment and modern philosophy]]
Kant tried to reconcile rationalism and religious belief, [[Individualism|individual freedom]] and political authority, as well as map out a view of the public sphere through private and public reason.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://web.mnstate.edu/gracyk/courses/web%20publishing/KantOnElightenment.htm |title=Kant's essay What is Enlightenment? |work=mnstate.edu |access-date=4 November 2015 |archive-date=17 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200217062357/http://web.mnstate.edu/gracyk/courses/web%20publishing/KantOnElightenment.htm |url-status=dead}}</ref> Kant's work continued to shape German thought and indeed all of European philosophy, well into the 20th century.<ref>Manfred Kuehn, ''Kant: A Biography'' (2001).</ref>

[[Mary Wollstonecraft]] was one of England's earliest [[Feminism|feminist]] philosophers.<ref>{{cite web |last=Kreis |first=Steven |url=http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/wollstonecraft.html |title=Mary Wollstonecraft, 1759–1797 |publisher=Historyguide.org |date=13 April 2012 |access-date=14 January 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140111055540/http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/wollstonecraft.html |archive-date=11 January 2014}}</ref> She argued for a society based on reason and that women as well as men should be treated as rational beings. She is best known for her work ''[[A Vindication of the Rights of Woman]]'' (1792).<ref>Mary Wollstonecraft, ''A Vindication of the Rights of Woman'' (Renascence Editions, 2000) [https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1794/785/vindication.pdf?sequence=1 online]</ref>

===Science===
{{Main|Science in the Age of Enlightenment}}
Science played an important role in Enlightenment discourse and thought. Many Enlightenment writers and thinkers had backgrounds in the sciences and associated scientific advancement with the overthrow of religion and traditional authority in favour of the development of free speech and thought.<ref>Bruce P. Lenman, ''Integration and Enlightenment: Scotland, 1746–1832'' (1993) [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0748603859 excerpt and text search]</ref> There were immediate practical results. The experiments of [[Antoine Lavoisier]] were used to create the first modern chemical plants in Paris, and the experiments of the [[Montgolfier brothers]] enabled them to launch the first manned flight in a [[hot air balloon]] in 1783.<ref>Sarmant, Thierry, ''Histoire de Paris,'' p. 120.</ref>

Broadly speaking, Enlightenment science greatly valued empiricism and rational thought and was embedded with the Enlightenment ideal of advancement and progress. The study of science, under the heading of [[natural philosophy]], was divided into [[physics]] and a conglomerate grouping of [[chemistry]] and [[natural history]], which included [[anatomy]], [[biology]], geology, [[mineralogy]], and [[zoology]].<ref>Porter (2003), 79–80.</ref> As with most Enlightenment views, the benefits of science were not seen universally: Rousseau criticized the sciences for distancing man from nature and not operating to make people happier.<ref>Burns (2003), entry: 7,103.</ref>

Science during the Enlightenment was dominated by scientific societies and [[academy|academies]], which had largely replaced universities as centres of scientific research and development. Societies and academies were also the backbone of the maturation of the scientific profession. Scientific academies and societies grew out of the Scientific Revolution as the creators of scientific knowledge, in contrast to the scholasticism of the university.<ref>Gillispie, (1980), p. xix.</ref> Some societies created or retained links to universities, but contemporary sources distinguished universities from scientific societies by claiming that the university's utility was in the transmission of knowledge while societies functioned to create knowledge.<ref>James E. McClellan III, "Learned Societies," in ''Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment,'' ed. Alan Charles Kors (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003) {{cite web |url=http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/HistoryWorld/Modern/?view=usa&ci=9780195104301 |title=Oxford University Press: Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment: Alan Charles Kors |access-date=16 October 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120330082517/http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/HistoryWorld/Modern/?view=usa&ci=9780195104301 |archive-date=30 March 2012}} (accessed on 8 June 2008).</ref> As the role of universities in institutionalized science began to diminish, learned societies became the cornerstone of organized science. Official scientific societies were chartered by the state to provide technical expertise.<ref>Porter, (2003), p. 91.</ref>

Most societies were granted permission to oversee their own publications, control the election of new members and the administration of the society.<ref>See Gillispie, (1980), "Conclusion."</ref> In the 18th century, a tremendous number of official academies and societies were founded in Europe, and by 1789 there were over 70 official scientific societies. In reference to this growth, [[Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle|Bernard de Fontenelle]] coined the term "the Age of Academies" to describe the 18th century.<ref>Porter, (2003), p. 90.</ref>

Another important development was the [[popular culture|popularization]] of science among an increasingly literate population. ''Philosophes'' introduced the public to many scientific theories, most notably through the ''Encyclopédie'' and the popularization of [[Newtonianism]] by Voltaire and [[Émilie du Châtelet]]. Some historians have marked the 18th century as a drab period in the history of science.<ref>see Hall (1954), iii; Mason (1956), 223.</ref> The century saw significant advancements in the practice of medicine, mathematics, and physics; the development of biological [[taxonomy (biology)|taxonomy]]; a new understanding of [[magnetism]] and electricity; and the maturation of chemistry as a discipline, which established the foundations of modern chemistry.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}

The influence of science began appearing more commonly in poetry and literature. Some poetry became infused with scientific metaphor and imagery, while other poems were written directly about scientific topics. [[Richard Blackmore]] committed the Newtonian system to verse in ''Creation, a Philosophical Poem in Seven Books'' (1712). After Newton's death in 1727, poems were composed in his honour for decades.<ref name="Burns, 2003, entry: 158">Burns, (2003), entry: 158.</ref> [[James Thomson (poet, born 1700)|James Thomson]] penned his "Poem to the Memory of Newton," which mourned the loss of Newton and praised his science and legacy.<ref>Thomson, (1786), p. 203.</ref>

===Sociology, economics, and law===
[[File:Cesare Beccaria.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Cesare Beccaria]], father of classical criminal theory]]

Hume and other [[Scottish Enlightenment]] thinkers developed a "[[A Treatise of Human Nature|science of man]],"<ref name="Magnusson">{{cite magazine |last=Magnusson |first=Magnus |title=Review of James Buchan, ''Capital of the Mind: how Edinburgh Changed the World'' |magazine=New Statesman |date=10 November 2003 |url=http://www.newstatesman.com/200311100040 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606015918/http://www.newstatesman.com/200311100040 |url-status=dead |archive-date=6 June 2011 |access-date=27 April 2014}}</ref> which was expressed historically in works by authors including [[James Burnett, Lord Monboddo|James Burnett]], [[Adam Ferguson]], [[John Millar (philosopher)|John Millar]], and [[William Robertson (historian)|William Robertson]], all of whom merged a scientific study of how humans behaved in ancient and primitive cultures with a strong awareness of the determining forces of [[modernity]]. Modern sociology largely originated from this movement,<ref>{{cite journal |jstor=588406 |title=Origins of Sociology: The Case of the Scottish Enlightenment |journal=The British Journal of Sociology |volume=21 |issue=2 |pages=164–180 |last1=Swingewood |first1=Alan |year=1970 |doi=10.2307/588406}}</ref> and Hume's philosophical concepts that directly influenced [[James Madison]] (and thus the U.S. Constitution), and as popularised by [[Dugald Stewart]] was the basis of [[classical liberalism]].<ref>D. Daiches, P. Jones and J. Jones, ''A Hotbed of Genius: The Scottish Enlightenment, 1730–1790'' (1986).</ref>

In 1776, Adam Smith published ''[[The Wealth of Nations]],'' often considered the first work on modern economics as it had an immediate impact on British economic policy that continues into the 21st century.<ref name="Fry">M. Fry, ''Adam Smith's Legacy: His Place in the Development of Modern Economics'' (Routledge, 1992).</ref> It was immediately preceded and influenced by [[Anne Robert Jacques Turgot]]'s drafts of ''[[Reflections on the Formation and Distribution of Wealth]]'' (1766). Smith acknowledged indebtedness and possibly was the original English translator.<ref>The Illusion of Free Markets, Bernard E. Harcourt, p. 260, notes 11–14.</ref>

Beccaria, a jurist, criminologist, philosopher, and politician and one of the great Enlightenment writers, became famous for his masterpiece ''Dei delitti e delle pene'' (Of Crimes and Punishments, 1764). His treatise, translated into 22 languages,<ref name="history-world.org">{{cite web |url=http://history-world.org/enlightenment_throughout_europe.htm |title=The Enlightenment throughout Europe |publisher=History-world.org |access-date=25 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130123082708/http://history-world.org/enlightenment_throughout_europe.htm |archive-date=23 January 2013 |url-status=usurped}}</ref> condemned torture and the death penalty and was a founding work in the field of [[penology]] and the [[classical school (criminology)|classical school of criminology]] by promoting [[criminal justice]]. [[Francesco Mario Pagano]] wrote important studies such as ''Saggi politici'' (Political Essays, 1783); and ''Considerazioni sul processo criminale'' (Considerations on the Criminal Trial, 1787), which established him as an international authority on criminal law.<ref>Roland Sarti, ''Italy: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present,'' Infobase Publishing, 2009, p. 457</ref>

===Politics===
The Enlightenment has long been seen as the foundation of modern Western political and intellectual culture.<ref>Daniel Brewer, ''The Enlightenment Past: reconstructing eighteenth-century French thought'' (2008), p. 1</ref> The Enlightenment brought [[political modernization]] to the West, in terms of introducing democratic values and institutions and the creation of modern, liberal democracies. This thesis has been widely accepted by scholars and has been reinforced by the large-scale studies by [[Robert Darnton]], [[Roy Porter]], and, most recently, by Jonathan Israel.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=De Dijn |first1=Annelien |author-link=Annelien de Dijn |year=2012 |title=The Politics of Enlightenment: From Peter Gay to Jonathan Israel |journal=Historical Journal |volume=55 |issue=3 |pages=785–805 |doi=10.1017/s0018246x12000301 |s2cid=145439970}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=von Guttner |first=Darius |title=The French Revolution |url=https://www.academia.edu/9869783 |year=2015 |publisher=Nelson Cengage |pages=34–35}}{{Dead link|date=January 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> Enlightenment thought was deeply influential in the political realm. European rulers such as [[Catherine the Great|Catherine II of Russia]], [[Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor|Joseph II of Austria]], and [[Frederick the Great|Frederick II of Prussia]] tried to apply Enlightenment thought on religious and political tolerance, which became known as [[enlightened absolutism]].<ref name="Black" /> Many of the major political and intellectual figures behind the [[American Revolution]] associated themselves closely with the Enlightenment: [[Benjamin Franklin]] visited Europe repeatedly and contributed actively to the scientific and political debates there and brought the newest ideas back to Philadelphia; [[Thomas Jefferson]] closely followed European ideas and later incorporated some of the ideals of the Enlightenment into the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]]; and Madison incorporated these ideals into the U.S. Constitution during its framing in 1787.<ref>Robert A. Ferguson, ''The American Enlightenment, 1750–1820'' (1994).</ref>

====Theories of government====
[[File:John_Locke.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|Philosopher [[John Locke]] argued that the authority of government stems from a [[social contract]] based on [[Natural rights and legal rights|natural rights]]. According to Locke, the authority of government [[limited government|was limited]] and required the [[consent of the governed]].]]
Locke, one of the most influential Enlightenment thinkers,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/locke/influence.html |title=John Locke > The Influence of John Locke's Works (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) |publisher=Plato.stanford.edu |access-date=14 January 2014}}</ref> based his governance philosophy in [[social contract]] theory, a subject that permeated Enlightenment political thought. English philosopher [[Thomas Hobbes]] ushered in this new debate with his work ''[[Leviathan (Hobbes book)|Leviathan]]'' in 1651. Hobbes also developed some of the fundamentals of European liberal thought: the right of the individual, the natural equality of all men, the artificial character of the political order (which led to the later distinction between [[civil society]] and the state), the view that all legitimate political power must be "[[Representative democracy|representative]]" and based on the consent of the people, and a liberal interpretation of law which leaves people free to do whatever the law does not explicitly forbid.<ref>Pierre Manent, ''An Intellectual History of Liberalism'' (1994) pp. 20–38</ref>

Both Locke and Rousseau developed social contract theories in ''[[Two Treatises of Government]]'' and ''[[Discourse on Inequality]],'' respectively. While quite different works, Locke, Hobbes, and Rousseau agreed that a social contract, in which the government's authority lies in the [[consent of the governed]],<ref>Lessnoff, Michael H. ''Social Contract Theory.'' New York: NYU, 1990. Print.{{page needed|date=February 2020}}</ref> is necessary for man to live in civil society. Locke defines the [[state of nature]] as a condition in which humans are rational and follow natural law, in which all men are born equal and with the [[right to life]], liberty, and property. However, when one citizen breaks the law of nature both the transgressor and the victim enter into a state of war, from which it is virtually impossible to break free. Therefore, Locke said that individuals enter into civil society to protect their natural rights via an "unbiased judge" or common authority, such as courts. In contrast, Rousseau's conception relies on the supposition that "civil man" is corrupted, while "natural man" has no want he cannot fulfill himself. Natural man is only taken out of the state of nature when the inequality associated with [[private property]] is established.<ref>Discourse on the Origin of Inequality</ref> Rousseau said that people join into civil society via the social contract to achieve unity while preserving individual freedom. This is embodied in the sovereignty of the [[general will]], the moral and collective legislative body constituted by citizens.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}

Locke is known for his statement that individuals have a right to "Life, Liberty, and Property," and his belief that the natural right to property is derived from labor. Tutored by Locke, [[Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury]], wrote in 1706: "There is a mighty Light which spreads its self over the world especially in those two free Nations of England and Holland; on whom the Affairs of Europe now turn."<ref>{{cite book |first=B. |last=Rand |title=The Life, Unpublished Letters and Philosophical Regimen of Anthony, Earl of Shaftesbury |year=1900 |page=353}} Quoted in: {{block indent|em=3|{{cite book |first=Roy |last=Porter |title=Enlightenment, Britain and the Creation of the Modern World |publisher=Allen Lane, The Penguin Press |year=2000 |page=3}} }}</ref> Locke's theory of natural rights has influenced many political documents, including the U.S. Declaration of Independence and the French National Constituent Assembly's [[Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen]].

Some ''philosophes'' argued that the establishment of a contractual basis of rights would lead to the [[market mechanism]] and [[capitalism]], the scientific method, religious [[toleration|tolerance]], and the organization of states into self-governing republics through democratic means. In this view, the tendency of the ''philosophes<!-- "philosophes" is correct -->'' in particular to apply [[rationality]] to every problem is considered the essential change.<ref>Lorraine Y. Landry, ''Marx and the postmodernism debates: an agenda for critical theory'' (2000) p. 7</ref>

Although much of Enlightenment political thought was dominated by social contract theorists, Hume and Ferguson criticized this camp. Hume's essay ''Of the Original Contract'' argues that governments derived from consent are rarely seen and civil government is grounded in a ruler's habitual authority and force. It is precisely because of the ruler's authority over-and-against the subject that the subject tacitly consents, and Hume says that the subjects would "never imagine that their consent made him sovereign," rather the authority did so.<ref>''Of the Original Contract''</ref> Similarly, Ferguson did not believe citizens built the state, rather polities grew out of social development. In his 1767 ''[[An Essay on the History of Civil Society]],'' Ferguson uses the four stages of progress, a theory that was popular in Scotland at the time, to explain how humans advance from a [[Hunter-gatherer|hunting and gathering]] society to a commercial and civil society without agreeing to a social contract.

Both Rousseau's and Locke's social contract theories rest on the presupposition of [[Natural rights and legal rights|natural rights]], which are not a result of law or custom but are things that all men have in pre-political societies and are therefore universal and inalienable. The most famous natural right formulation comes from Locke's ''Second Treatise,'' when he introduces the state of nature. For Locke, the law of nature is grounded on mutual security or the idea that one cannot infringe on another's natural rights, as every man is equal and has the same inalienable rights. These natural rights include perfect equality and freedom, as well as the right to preserve life and property.

Locke argues against [[indentured servitude]] on the basis that enslaving oneself goes against the law of nature because a person cannot surrender their own rights: freedom is absolute, and no one can take it away. Locke argues that one person cannot enslave another because it is morally reprehensible, although he introduces a caveat by saying that enslavement of a [[Prisoner of war|lawful captive in time of war]] would not go against one's natural rights.

====Enlightened absolutism====
{{Main|Enlightened absolutism}}
[[File:SebastiãoJoseph.png|thumb|left|upright=.8|The [[Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquis of Pombal|Marquis of Pombal]], as the head of the government of Portugal, implemented sweeping socio-economic reforms.]]

The leaders of the Enlightenment were not especially democratic, as they more often look to absolute monarchs as the key to imposing reforms designed by the intellectuals. Voltaire despised democracy and said the absolute monarch must be enlightened and must act as dictated by reason and justice—in other words, be a "[[Philosopher king|philosopher-king]]."<ref>{{cite book |editor=David Williams |title=Voltaire: Political Writings |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LV7GZhQEULEC&pg=PR14 |year=1994 |pages=xiv–xv |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-43727-1}}</ref>

In several nations, rulers welcomed leaders of the Enlightenment at court and asked them to help design laws and programs to reform the system, typically to build stronger states. These rulers are called "enlightened despots" by historians.<ref>Stephen J. Lee, ''Aspects of European history, 1494–1789'' (1990) pp.&nbsp;258–266</ref> They included Frederick the Great of Prussia, Catherine the Great of Russia, [[Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor|Leopold II]] of [[Grand Duchy of Tuscany|Tuscany]] and Joseph II of Austria. Joseph was over-enthusiastic, announcing many reforms that had little support so that revolts broke out and his regime became a comedy of errors, and nearly all his programs were reversed.<ref>Nicholas Henderson, "Joseph II," ''History Today'' (March 1991) 41:21–27</ref> Senior ministers [[Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquis of Pombal|Pombal in Portugal]] and [[Johann Friedrich Struensee]] in Denmark also governed according to Enlightenment ideals. In Poland, the model [[Constitution of 3 May 1791|constitution of 1791]] expressed Enlightenment ideals, but was in effect for only one year before [[Second Partition of Poland|the nation was partitioned]] among its neighbors. More enduring were the cultural achievements, which created a nationalist spirit in Poland.<ref>John Stanley, "Towards A New Nation: The Enlightenment and National Revival in Poland," ''Canadian Review of Studies in Nationalism,'' 1983, Vol. 10 Issue 2, pp.&nbsp;83–110</ref>
[[File:Struensee - miniature portrait.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|Denmark's minister [[Johann Friedrich Struensee|Johann Struensee]], a social reformer, was publicly executed in 1772 for usurping royal authority.]]

Frederick the Great, the king of Prussia from 1740 to 1786, saw himself as a leader of the Enlightenment and patronized philosophers and scientists at his court in Berlin. Voltaire, who had been imprisoned and maltreated by the French government, was eager to accept Frederick's invitation to live at his palace. Frederick explained: "My principal occupation is to combat ignorance and prejudice... to enlighten minds, cultivate morality, and to make people as happy as it suits human nature, and as the means at my disposal permit."<ref>Giles MacDonogh, ''Frederick the Great: A Life in Deed and Letters'' (2001) p. 341</ref>

====American Revolution and French Revolution====
The Enlightenment has been frequently linked to the [[American Revolution]] of 1776<ref>"Enlightenment ideals of rationalism and intellectual and religious freedom pervaded the American colonial religious landscape, and these values were instrumental in the American Revolution and the creation of a nation without an established religion." [https://pluralism.org/enlightenment-and-revolution Enlightenment and Revolution], Pluralism Project, [[Harvard University]].</ref> and the [[French Revolution]] of 1789—both had some intellectual influence from Thomas Jefferson.<ref>{{cite book |first=Gregory |last=Fremont-Barnes |title=Encyclopedia of the Age of Political Revolutions and New Ideologies, 1760–1815 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6_2wkP4j-EsC&pg=PA190 |year=2007 |publisher=Greenwood |page=190 |isbn=978-0-313-04951-4}}</ref><ref>"Recognized in Europe as the author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson quickly became a focal point or lightning rod for revolutionaries in Europe and the Americas. As United States minister to France when revolutionary fervor was rising toward the storming of the Bastille in 1789, Jefferson became an ardent supporter of the French Revolution, even allowing his residence to be used as a meeting place for the rebels led by Lafayette." [https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/jeffworld.html Thomas Jefferson. A Revolutionary World.] [[Library of Congress]].</ref> One view of the political changes that occurred during the Enlightenment is that the "[[consent of the governed]]" philosophy as delineated by Locke in ''Two Treatises of Government'' (1689) represented a paradigm shift from the old governance paradigm under [[feudalism]] known as the "[[divine right of kings]]." In this view, the revolutions were caused by the fact that this governance paradigm shift often could not be resolved peacefully and therefore violent revolution was the result. A governance philosophy where the king was never wrong would be in direct conflict with one whereby citizens by natural law had to consent to the acts and rulings of their government.

[[Alexis de Tocqueville]] proposed the French Revolution as the inevitable result of the radical opposition created in the 18th century between the monarchy and the men of letters of the Enlightenment. These men of letters constituted a sort of "substitute aristocracy that was both all-powerful and without real power." This illusory power came from the rise of "public opinion," born when absolutist centralization removed the nobility and the [[bourgeoisie]] from the political sphere. The "literary politics" that resulted promoted a discourse of equality and was hence in fundamental opposition to the monarchical regime.<ref>Chartier, 8. See also Alexis de Tocqueville, ''L'Ancien Régime et la Révolution,'' 1850, Book Three, Chapter One.</ref> De Tocqueville "clearly designates... the cultural effects of transformation in the forms of the exercise of power."<ref>Chartier, 13.</ref>

===Religion===
{{Quote box
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|quote=It does not require great art or magnificently trained eloquence, to prove that Christians should tolerate each other. I, however, am going further: I say that we should regard all men as our brothers. What? The Turk my brother? The Chinaman my brother? The Jew? The Siam? Yes, without doubt; are we not all children of the same father and creatures of the same God?
|source=Voltaire (1763)<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20060107013835/http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_2/voltaire.html ''A Treatise on Toleration'']</ref>
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[[File:Voltaire-lisant.jpg|thumb|left|French philosopher [[Voltaire]] argued for [[religious tolerance]].]]

Enlightenment era religious commentary was a response to the preceding century of religious conflict in Europe, especially the [[Thirty Years' War]].<ref>Margaret C. Jacob, ed. ''The Enlightenment: Brief History with Documents,'' Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2001, Introduction, pp.&nbsp;1–72.</ref> Theologians of the Enlightenment wanted to reform their faith to its generally non-confrontational roots and to limit the capacity for religious controversy to spill over into politics and warfare while still maintaining a true faith in God. For moderate Christians, this meant a return to simple Scripture. Locke abandoned the corpus of theological commentary in favor of an "unprejudiced examination" of the [[Sola scriptura|Word of God alone]]. He determined the essence of Christianity to be a belief in Christ the redeemer and recommended avoiding more detailed debate.<ref>{{cite book |first=John |last=Locke |title=Reasonableness of Christianity |volume="Preface" The Reasonableness of Christianity, as delivered in the Scriptures |year=1695}}</ref> [[Anthony Collins (philosopher)|Anthony Collins]], one of the English [[Freethought|freethinkers]], published his "Essay concerning the Use of Reason in Propositions the Evidence whereof depends on Human Testimony" (1707), in which he rejects the distinction between "above reason" and "contrary to reason," and demands that revelation should conform to man's natural ideas of God. In the ''[[Jefferson Bible]],'' Thomas Jefferson went further and dropped any passages dealing with miracles, visitations of angels, and the [[resurrection of Jesus]] after [[Crucifixion of Jesus|his death]], as he tried to extract the practical Christian moral code of the [[New Testament]].<ref>{{cite book |first={{nowrap|R. B.}} |last=Bernstein |title=Thomas Jefferson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4vrD1WKLicwC&pg=PA179 |year=2003 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=179 |isbn=978-0-19-975844-9}}</ref>

Enlightenment scholars sought to curtail the political power of [[organized religion]] and thereby prevent another age of intolerant religious war.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Ole Peter |last1=Grell |last2=Porter |first2=Roy |title=Toleration in Enlightenment Europe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JPTdIQBIvS0C |year=2000 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=1–68 |isbn=978-0-521-65196-7}}</ref> Spinoza determined to remove politics from contemporary and historical theology (e.g., disregarding [[Halakha|Judaic law]]).<ref>[[Baruch Spinoza]], ''Theologico-Political Treatise,'' "Preface," 1677, [http://www.gutenburg.com gutenberg.com]</ref> [[Moses Mendelssohn]] advised affording no political weight to any organized religion but instead recommended that each person follow what they found most convincing.<ref>{{cite web |first=Moses |last=Mendelssohn |title=Jerusalem: Or on Religious Power and Judaism |year=1783 |url=http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/assets/pdfs/mendelssohn1782.pdf}}</ref> They believed a good religion based in instinctive [[morality|morals]] and a belief in God should not theoretically need force to maintain order in its believers, and both Mendelssohn and Spinoza judged religion on its moral fruits, not the logic of its theology.<ref>{{cite book |last=Goetschel |first=Willi |title=Spinoza's Modernity: Mendelssohn, Lessing, and Heine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CYcOfkrduWYC&pg=PA126 |year=2004 |publisher=Univ of Wisconsin Press |page=126 |isbn=978-0-299-19083-5}}</ref>

Several novel ideas about religion developed with the Enlightenment, including [[deism]] and talk of [[atheism]]. According to [[Thomas Paine]], deism is the simple belief in [[Creator deity|God the Creator]] with no reference to the Bible or any other miraculous source. Instead, the deist relies solely on personal reason to guide his [[creed]],<ref>Thomas Paine, ''Of the Religion of Deism Compared with the Christian Religion,'' 1804, Internet History Sourcebook</ref> which was eminently agreeable to many thinkers of the time.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Ellen Judy |last1=Wilson |first2=Peter Hanns |last2=Reill |title=Encyclopedia Of The Enlightenment |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t1pQ4YG-TDIC&pg=PA148 |year=2004 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |page=148 |isbn=978-1-4381-1021-9}}</ref> Atheism was much discussed, but there were few proponents. Wilson and Reill note: "In fact, very few enlightened intellectuals, even when they were vocal critics of Christianity, were true atheists. Rather, they were critics of [[Orthodoxy|orthodox]] belief, wedded rather to skepticism, deism, vitalism, or perhaps pantheism."{{sfn|Wilson|Reill|2004|p=26}} Some followed [[Pierre Bayle]] and argued that atheists could indeed be moral men.<ref>{{cite book |last=Pagden |first=Anthony |title=The Enlightenment: And Why it Still Matters |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GnURng7tsWIC&pg=PA100 |year=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=100 |isbn=978-0-19-966093-3}}</ref> Many others like Voltaire held that without belief in a God who punishes evil, the moral order of society was undermined; that is, since atheists gave themselves to no supreme authority and no law and had no fear of eternal consequences, they were far more likely to disrupt society.<ref>{{cite book |last=Brown |first=Stuart |title=British Philosophy and the Age of Enlightenment: Routledge History of Philosophy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EoIafbj8pFgC&pg=PA256 |year=2003 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |page=256 |isbn=978-0-415-30877-9}}</ref> Bayle observed that, in his day, "prudent persons will always maintain an appearance of [religion]," and he believed that even atheists could hold concepts of honor and go beyond their own self-interest to create and interact in society.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bayle |first=Pierre |title=A general dictionary: historical and critical: in which a new and accurate translation of that of the celebrated Mr. Bayle, with the corrections and observations printed in the late edition at Paris, is included; and interspersed with several thousand lives never before published. The whole containing the history of the most illustrious persons of all ages and nations particularly those of Great Britain and Ireland, distinguished by their rank, actions, learning and other accomplishments. With reflections on such passages of Bayle, as seem to favor scepticism and the Manichee system |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qmNZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA778 |year=1741 |page=778}}</ref> Locke said that if there were no God and no divine law, the result would be moral anarchy: every individual "could have no law but his own will, no end but himself. He would be a god to himself, and the satisfaction of his own will the sole measure and end of all his actions."<ref name="Nuovo 2003">{{cite web |last1=Nuovo |first1=Victor |title=God, Locke and Equality: Christian Foundations of Locke's Political Thought |url=https://ndpr.nd.edu/reviews/god-locke-and-equality-christian-foundations-of-locke-s-political-thought/ |website=Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews |publisher=University of Notre Dame |access-date=15 April 2025 |date=4 May 2003 |type=book review}}</ref>

====Separation of church and state====
{{Main|Separation of church and state|Separation of church and state in the United States}}
The "Radical Enlightenment"{{sfn|Israel|2011|pp=11}}{{sfn|Israel|2010|p=19}} promoted the concept of separating church and state,{{sfn|Israel|2010|pp=vii–viii}} an idea that is often credited to Locke.<ref name=AFP>Feldman, Noah (2005). ''Divided by God.'' Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, p. 29 ("It took [[John Locke]] to translate the demand for liberty of conscience into a systematic argument for distinguishing the realm of government from the realm of religion.")</ref> According to his principle of the social contract, Locke said that the government lacked authority in the realm of individual conscience, as this was something rational people could not cede to the government for it or others to control. For Locke, this created a natural right in the liberty of conscience, which he said must therefore remain protected from any government authority.

These views on religious tolerance and the importance of individual conscience, along with the social contract, became particularly influential in the [[Thirteen Colonies|American colonies]] and the drafting of the United States Constitution.<ref>Feldman, Noah (2005). ''Divided by God.'' Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, p. 29</ref> In a letter to the Danbury Baptist Association in Connecticut, Thomas Jefferson calls for a "wall of separation between church and state" at the federal level. He previously had supported successful efforts to disestablish the [[Church of England]] in Virginia<ref>[[#Ferling2000|Ferling, 2000]], p. 158</ref> and authored the [[Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom]].<ref>[[#Mayer|Mayer, 1994]] p. 76</ref> Jefferson's political ideals were greatly influenced by the writings of Locke, Bacon, and Newton,<ref>[[#Kayes|Hayes, 2008]], p. 10</ref> whom he considered the three greatest men that ever lived.<ref>[[#Cogliano|Cogliano, 2003]], p. 14</ref>