The orderliness of nature. Philosophers of the Enlightenment believed that
nature is vast and complex but well ordered. The English poet Alexander Pope
described nature as "a mighty maze, but not without plan." The philosophers of
the period felt that everything in the universe behaves according to a few simple
laws, which can be explained mathematically. Their favorite example of such a
law was Newton's law of gravity.
Human nature, the philosophers believed, is as well ordered as the physical
universe. In The Spirit of the Laws (1748), the French philosopher Montesquieu
wrote: "The material world has its laws, the intelligences superior to man have
their laws, the beasts their laws, and man his laws." Montesquieu thought that a
science of human nature was possible, and he became one of the first
philosophers to try to formulate the basic uniformities of all human behavior.
Montesquieu believed that climate has an important influence on temperament
and thus on conduct. According to Montesquieu, different kinds of government
are appropriate for peoples who are living in different parts of the world. The
best government for each nation could be planned, he felt, by considering the
country's climate. Montesquieu thought, for example, that free governments are
possible in northern latitudes. "People are more vigorous in cold climates," he
wrote, and they have a "greater share of frankness and sincerity." But,
Montesquieu said, the only workable form of government in a hot climate is
despotism (rule by a dictator). Although his conclusions were discarded as mere
speculation, they are typical of the Enlightenment's faith in reason.
Literature in the Enlightenment questioned accepted thinking. Writers portrayed
human life as changeable and human understanding as partial. Much of the
literature was written with self-consciousness and irony. It called attention to
conventions and provoked skeptical awareness. The period reached its peak with
works such as Pierre de Laclos' Dangerous Liaisons (1782) and the Marquis de
Sade's Philosophy in the Bedroom (1795). In these novels, rational thought goes
as far as possible toward separating the thinking individual from conventional
influences and limitations.
Deism. The philosophers of the Enlightenment were convinced that the universe
can be understood by the human mind. This is not an accident, the philosophers
emphasized, because God could have created a universe too complex to be
grasped by human beings. Instead, God created a universe ideally adjusted to
the reasoning powers of people.
Most of the philosophers believed that after God had created the universe, He
left it strictly alone. This theory, called deism, rules out the possibility of miracles
or other special acts by God. According to deism, God regulated nature so that it
proceeds mechanically. Future events are therefore fully predictable on the basis
of earlier events. The philosophers liked to think of the universe as a clock that
keeps perfect time because it was designed by a superior clockmaker. See
Deism.