Online Study Guide

Rococo: The French Taste :: The Enlightenment: Philosophy and Society :: The Enlightenment: Science and Technology :: Voltaire Versus Rousseau: Science Versus the Taste For the "Natural" :: The Revival of Interest in Classicism :: From Neoclassicism to Romanticism :: The Rise of Romanticism :: Imagination and Mood in Landscape Painting :: Various Revivalist Styles in Architecture :: The Beginnings of Photography

THE ENLIGHTENMENT: PHILOSOPHY AND SOCIETY

The Enlightenment expanded the boundaries of European knowledge. It offered a new way of thinking critically about the world and about humankind. The Enlightenment employed reason and empirical evidence, and promoted the scientific method.

The Doctrine of Empiricism :

The Doctrine of Empiricism, promoted by John Locke, argued that the mind is a blank tablet upon which our experience of the material world, acquired through the senses, is imprinted. Ideas are formed on the basis of this experience. Locke also believed that the law of Nature grants people the natural rights of life, liberty, and property, and that the purpose of government is to protect these rights.

The Doctrine of Progress :

The philosophies in France identified individuals and societies-at-large as part of physical nature and argued that through the application of reason and common sense the problems of society could be remedied. They believed that knowledge was the basis of freedom and that through knowledge societies could be systematically improved.

A compendium of knowledge:

The comprehensive compilation of articles and illustrations in the Encyclopédie provided access to all available knowledge. The Comte de Buffon's Natural History provided a kind of encyclopedia of the natural sciences.

Revolutionary change:

Advances in manufacturing technology, together with advances in heating, lighting, and transportation, produced the Industrial Revolution, which also led to an expansion in the growth of cities and of an urban working class. The increase in the demand for cheap labor and raw materials also promoted territorial expansion and colonial exploitation. The new state and direction of society gave rise to "modern" art, which, with a new awareness of history, responded to and addressed these changes.