The Enlightenment: Still Burning Bright

The speaker introduces the topic of the Enlightenment, a pivotal movement in 18th century Europe, emphasizing its lasting impact on modern concepts of freedom such as the right to choose one's career, religion, and to express opinions. They highlight the lack of these rights in pre-Enlightenment France, where a privileged clergy and nobility oppressed the common populace. Key to the Enlightenment was the introduction of Galileo's scientific method, emphasizing observation and reason over external authority, a revolutionary concept that challenged the status quo and the power of the Church.

The Enlightenment sought to apply scientific reasoning to improve society, leading to a movement of intellectuals known as the philosophes in France. The period emphasized the use of reason to overcome ignorance and aimed to improve the world, as exemplified by the Encyclopedia project which democratized knowledge. This effort faced opposition from the Church, particularly when religious beliefs were scrutinized by reason. Voltaire emerged as a key figure advocating for free thought, highlighting cases of injustice, such as that of Jean-François de la Barre, to criticize the powers of intolerance.

The Enlightenment extended to concepts of equality and societal structures, with thinkers like Rousseau questioning European superiority and the legitimacy of established privileges. The movement argued that societal constructs, such as noble privileges, were mutable and not divinely ordained. Despite some philosophers facing exile and imprisonment, their ideas proliferated, influencing open-minded elites and contributing to the American and French Revolutions. These revolutions resulted in legal reforms recognizing rights to liberty and equality, as articulated in documents like the French Declaration of the Rights of Man.