The Enlightenment: Key Characteristics and Kantian Philosophy
General Characteristics of the Enlightenment
The Enlightenment was a period that followed the English Revolution (1688) and preceded the French Revolution (1789). Thinkers of this era emphasized reason, critical thinking, and the rejection of obscurantism, authority, tradition, and revelation. They had full faith in the new science, defending the autonomy of reason to achieve progress. Philosophy was regarded as an activity of critical reason.
Enlightenment thinkers were nonconformists and criticized absolutism and traditional religion. They demanded freedom and believed that human progress resulted from reason, leading to a strong interest in spreading education and culture. Education was considered the engine and necessary means to achieve the goals of the Enlightenment. Schools multiplied, teaching practical knowledge, and culture was highly valued.
A secularizing process began, seeking new values separate from religion. God was no longer the center, making way for an anthropocentric view, reflecting their faith in humanity. Rational religion did not support different gods for different religions, but rather a transcendent force or rational principle governing all things. Miracles and mysteries of religion were rejected.
There was a clear dominance of bourgeois values, although the equalization of women to men was generally rejected. Kant argued that power comes not from God but from an agreement between a monarch and the people. He believed that human beings are instinctively driven to cruelty, madness, and destruction. Reason, according to Kant, commands us to flee from this through the social contract, where individuals transfer part of their freedom to gain security and freedom as members of society. This is achieved by the state submitting to the law, which aims to ensure the rights of all through a civil constitution. Kant speaks of the division of powers, but he does not explicitly state that these powers cannot fall on one person. He maintains that freedom makes us human, and therefore, people should only obey laws that they have previously approved.
Enlightenment thinkers employed an empirical and critical rationalism, highlighting the autonomy of reason above all things. They believed that through reason, humanity could dominate nature and achieve happiness and material well-being, viewing history as a linear process of continuous improvement (progress). Freedom of thought and expression allows the public use of reason (critical and reasoned proposals of changes and reforms to the public), which leads to intellectual adulthood and emancipation, contributing to human progress.
Kantian Criticism: A General Approach
Kant’s entire philosophy is based on answering these questions:
What Can I Know?
All concepts are based on acquired experience, but understanding uses concepts (categories) that do not come from experience, although their valid application is within it. Kant begins by analyzing space and time, within which everything is given to us. Objects that are outside this framework (noumena) cannot be known by our categories (innate concepts). Metaphysical subjects, as noumena, are not science. Kant believes that humans impose these limits.
What Should I Do?
Kant addresses the ethical question (what humans should do and how to guide their behavior), distinguishing between two aspects: theoretical reason (the study of phenomena or science) and practical reason (action, ethics). Categorical imperatives are required, containing the following principle: Act as if you want the maxim that drives your actions to become a universal law.
What Can I Expect?
Kant defends natural religion, believing that the solution to the conflicts of his time lies within it. He believes that religion is rational and compatible with ethics, advocating for natural religion over revealed religion. He realizes that Christianity can become a natural religion through a rational interpretation: the role of Christian moral teaching is to encourage individuals to restrain themselves and follow moral norms. The religion of the Enlightenment (Deism) has no dogma, no specific rituals, and no church organization.