A Time Of Change Essay, Research Paper
Robert Chaplin
History 112
Dr. Farrell
12 April 2000
A Time of Change
The enlightenment was a great time of change in both Europe and
America. Some of the biggest changes, however, happened in the minds of
many and in the writings of many philosophers. These included some of
the beliefs of David Hume, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Immanuel Kant, and
Francois Voltaire. Writers during this time focused on optimism, which
is the opinion to do everything for the best (Chaney 119), and the best
for these philosophers was to stretch the minds of the ordinary.
David Hume was Scottish and was born on April 26, 1711 and died
in 1776. He states that he was not born into a rich family and was born
into the Calvinist Presbyterian Church. However, after being influenced
by the works of Isaac Newton and John Locke he began to draw back from
the Church. He writes in Enquiry, “The idea of God, as meaning an
infinitely intelligent, wise and good Being, arises from reflecting on
the operations of our own mind, and augmenting, without limit, those
qualities of goodness and wisdom.” (Pomerleau 214) The questions he
brought up against religion were that concrete experiences must lead us
and that we must think about the quality of the stories that were handed
down to us. He wanted everyone to only believe the actions that one
experienced, there has to be proof. He also believed that there were
four basic problems to the stories that we hear. First of all, the
facts to the stories are never the same to everyone. Second, we stretch
the truth to make everything interesting. Third, people who do not
understand these stories tend to make things up. Finally, not all of the
religions agree. Therefore, the stories conflicted each other leaving a
person to not know what to believe. He believes that “Our most holy
religion is founded on Faith, not on reason; and it is a sure method of
exposing it to put it to such a trial as it is, by no means, fitted to
endure.” (215)
Hume also believed in the social contract. This is that kings
are in power because of luck and citizens should have control over their
own power. During Hume’s lifetime a representative government was not
something that countries thrived on. He also thought that the duties of
men were to love children and to pity those that are less fortunate. He
also thought that one should respect other’s properties and keep our
promises. Hume argued that we are born into our family with the
knowledge passed on to us, from this point Hume says that government is
only an interference in the lives of people. He uses the example of
American Tribes where no one needs a government to keep peace within the
group (Pomerleau 222).
These are the two main points that Hume tried to make. They are
the basis of what got people to think about their lives and decide that
what they have now might not be the best thing that their life can
accomplish. From his points of view, we can move on to another
influential philosopher, Jean Jacques Rousseau.
Jean Jacques Rousseau was born in Geneva in 1712. His first
years in his life were very hard because his mother died shortly after
birth and he was sent to live with his aunt. However, his life turned
around and he married and began his life as a philosopher. Rousseau was
involved with the social contract like Hume. His book, however, did not
become popular until after the French Revolution because these were the
conditions that the revolution was based on (Chambers 669). His ideal
government would contain a small state, prevention of overpowering
businesses, and equality in rank and fortune (Castell 419). He
distrusted the aristocrats because he believed they were drawing away
from traditions that were once held very high (”The Enlightenment,”
http). To him kings are just concerned with themselves and when one
dies, another one is needed. None of these people ever take in to
consideration the less fortunate. Everyone has to move to the beliefs
of one man. Rousseau felt that the government should be in the hands of
many, not just one. Ideally, everyone in a society needs to be in
agreement with one another. Another belief that Rousseau represented
was deism, which is that god created the universe and then allowed it to
run according to natural law and not interfering with it anymore.
Again, these questions began to be disputed and the people began
to realize that their lives could mean more than just what the higher
officials might say. They began to think about what life and the world
is really about. This brings us to the next philosopher, Immanuel Kant.
Immanuel Kant was born on April 22, 1724. Kant studied both
Hume and Rousseau and rethought his aspects of science and shifted a
little towards philosophy. In addition to his thinking, he also spent a
lot of time lecturing at Konigsberg, Martin Knutzen. His two main
scientific questions dealt with how far can the scientific method be
applied to everything and how to explain scientific knowledge. He
realizes that both of these cause the mind to start with some given
information and an answer is then given for humans to understand (Stumpf
302). Kant was firm in his belief on a priori knowledge, which is the
knowledge that is prior to experiences, but he also states that not
everything can be based on experiences since we cannot experience
everything. From these beliefs, he also believed in two realities,
phenomenal and noumena. Phenomena, derived from a Greek word meaning
“that which appears,” (Castell 599) is the world as we experience it and
noumena is intelligible or nonsensual reality. In the world we only
experience phenomena because noumena is present but it is external from
us and only appears as it is organized by us (Stumpf 312).
From a social standpoint, Kant believed that as long as a man
could support himself and owned property he should be qualified as a
citizen. He states that if everyone is required to pay for public
welfare then everyone should have his or her freedom guaranteed. If
this if present then there is no need for a rebellion, which will lead
to a stronger government. Kant feels that this is hard to obtain
because people need a political balance but at the same time they need
to be able to keep their freedom. A type of freedom that he feels
should be held by all is the freedom that everyone is punished the same
and the death penalty should only be carried out only when an individual
is proven guilty (Stumpf 316).
Kant believed in God because he felt that if one would deny all
existence that did not support any logic, then nothing at all would
exist to anyone. He also states that “it is morally necessary to assume
the existence of God.” (Stumpf 319) From this he also realizes that one
does not necessarily need to believe in God, but one needs to respect
the beliefs “for duty’s sake.” When thinking about God, according to
Kant, it is an experience that we can not experience.
Kant takes us to the last of the four major philosophers on the
enlightenment period, Francois Voltaire. He based a lot of his thoughts
on the three previous philosophers but did not speak to them directly.
His writings are fewer but more radical that the others.
Francois Voltaire lived from 1694-1778. To most he was known as
the most vigorous antireligious debater. He was the philosopher that
was favoring deism the most. He wished that everyone would stop
Christianity and follow his beliefs. One reason that he felt this was
because from his experiences, bad things came from religion (Chambers
660). Voltaire, unlike Rousseau, favored the aristocracy and was often
invited to their parties to talk about some of his ideas. From this
Voltaire, unlike many of the philosophers of his day, was often left to
think about things on his own (”The Enlightenment,” http) and another
reason for this is because for twenty eight years he was held in
succession from Paris for some of his extreme writings. One of the most
disturbing things in Voltaire’s life was from the earthquake in Lisbon
on Nobember1, 1755. This was one thing that Voltaire could not
understand and thought about forever. He did not want to turn to God as
everyone else did, nor did he want to be on the side of the atheist. He
was stuck in the middle and only left with the thought of the innocent
people that were killed (Gay 52).
For most of the philosophers during the time of the
Enlightenment, things were bad. Most of them had to publish their books
in secrecy and still had to deal with them getting burned as officials
found out. This would be a very big disappointment, but they later
prove that some of their beliefs are right when people begin to rebel
because of the dramatic messages that they sent to people. Whether
philosophy, religion, or politics were the basis of one’s reading they
were generally flipped around. It is said that educated people have the
power to do anything, and during the Enlightenment this source of power
is obvious and is carried out. Whether the readers believed the
philosophers or not, it got the reader thinking and he talked to his
friends and the revolts began. The Enlightenment was a time of change
but it was also a time that dealt with the “unreality” that some thought
could be but never were because some were so extreme or contradicted
each other from philosopher to philosopher.