Influence of the Enlightenment. The thinkers of the Enlightenment
formulated ideals of human dignity and worth. In France, unjust social and
political conditions were criticized by a group of philosophers known as the
philosophes. This group, which included Diderot, Rousseau, and Voltaire, greatly
influenced leaders of the French Revolution. The philosophes and, more
importantly, Locke also influenced the leaders of the Revolutionary War in
America.
Philosophers of the Enlightenment sometimes disagreed on minor matters, but
they all accepted the idea of the English philosopher Francis Bacon that
"knowledge is power." Because they aimed, in Bacon's phrase, at "the
improvement of man's estate," they concentrated their efforts on the
advancement of knowledge. Their action explains why so many scientific
institutes, including the famous Royal Society in England, were founded during
the Enlightenment.
The urge to advance knowledge also explains why great effort was made to
organize and circulate the results of the scientific research of the time. Many
scholars gathered, organized, and published this knowledge. In fact, the
Enlightenment could be called the "age of the encyclopedia." The most famous
reference work was the French Encyclopedie, edited by Diderot and Jean
d'Alembert, and completed between 1751 and 1772.
To the philosophers of the Enlightenment, progress in human affairs seemed
assured. It was only a question of time, they believed, until people learned to let
reason—not ignorance, emotion, or superstition—guide them. When people did
so, they would be happy. Condorcet expressed this optimism in his Sketch for a
Historical Picture of the Progress of the Human Mind (1793-1794).
Philosophes, «FIHL uh ZOFS», were a group of French philosophers during the
Enlightenment, a historical period that extended from the late 1600's to the late
1700's. This period is sometimes called the Age of Reason. The philosophes
included such great philosophers as the Marquis de Condorcet, Denis Diderot,
Claude Helvetius, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Voltaire.
Generally, the philosophes believed in the ideal of progress. They wished to
apply science's emphasis on reason to the study of people's moral and social life.
The philosophes believed that knowledge could be acquired through experience.
They wanted to separate moral doctrines from religious considerations, because
they believed that moral problems could be solved independently. The
philosophes were generally anti-Christian, claiming that Christianity was basically
unreasonable and superstitious. Generally, they opposed the political system in
France and argued for reforms. Thus, they became forerunners of, and in some
cases participants in, the French Revolution—which lasted from 1789 to 1799
(see French Revolution).