Editing Age of Enlightenment (section)

===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>