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"The public use of a man's reason must be free at all times, and this alone can bring enlightenment among men..."


The Enlightenment was born some time in the late 17th century and is the ancestor of many, many ideologies. They are a broad ideology used to represent ideas of the Age of Enlightenment. Although their biggest contribution to the world was to give birth to Republicanism and Classical Liberalism, they also caused the separation of church and state and went against tyranny. Their ideas promoted individual liberty, progress, fraternity, and tolerance.

Enlightenment parented Classical Liberalism in the early 18th century, as the concept of the invisible hand and free-market ideas were created. Classical Liberalism was then the parent of most free-market ideologies.

Enlightenment also gave birth to the modern republican ideals who led to the creation of the Society of the Friends of the Constitution, from which originated Jacobinism, the predominant political force in the French revolution. Jacobinism later would form the basic blocks of Socialism.

Ingsoc, at some point, travelled back in time and had a child with Enlightenment. This created Illuminatism.

They also had a child with Agrarianism called Physiocracy, who would in turn become the parent of Georgism.

And, for last, at the start of the 20th century, they had a child with Austrian School, Neo-Enlightenment.

History

Variants

Kantianism

Epistemology and Metaphysics

Kant's Epistemology and Metaphysics are infamously complex, so this will be a brief overview. Kant made the claim that there are three main categories through which we experience the world, Intuition, Understanding, and Reason. Intuition is sensory impressions that are given to us by objects outside our understanding. Reason is what allows us to make logical destination's based of these sensory impressions. Understanding is the facility that allows us to comprehend things without having to infer them from intuition.

According to Kant, there are certain intuitions like time and space which are indispensable to how we experience the world. They must exist a priori, or before we experience anything. But all intuitions must exist from empirical experience. Therefore, Kant argues that what we experience in the world is not the world it's self, but merely an impression of it. Therefore, what we experience Kant be the world as it is in and of it's self. Kant calls the world as it is in and of its self "Numina" and the world as we experience it "Phenomena." So then what is this "Numina" like? Who the hell knows. This leads Kant to his view of Transcendental Idealism, basically the view that, although all are ideas stem from reality, the world as it is in and of it's self remains unknowable.

Ethics

The basis of Kant's ethics is that we should always act in such a way that could be made a universal law. From this, he derives that we should never use people as an means, but always as an ends in themselves. For Kant, this goes even if using someone as an ends will help prevent a greater harm to even more people.

Political Philosophy

Kant argued that in order to maintain human freedom, we must all seek a society in which it is possible to live free and rational lives. He called this state a Rechtsstaat, or a Republic governed by law. The sole purpose of this state was to maximize the possibility of human autonomy.

Mathematics

According to Kant, mathematics possesses objective validity because it expresses the necessary conditions of possible experience. Arithmetic, as an example, is grounded in the necessary conditions of possible experience and provides a priori cognition of objects with regard to their form. Kant believes that mathematics is a suitable tool for describing nature, but it encounters certain philosophical challenges. One such challenge arises from the notion that if something is composite, there must also exist something simple. This contradicts the concept of infinite divisibility of space, as it suggests that there are indivisible elements (atoms or monads) that constitute the universe. Kant addresses this issue by proposing that appearances are not things in themselves and that philosophical reasoning based solely on concepts would not be valid for appearances.

Another issue Kant discusses is the question of infinitely small magnitudes in mathematics. While some philosophers argue for the existence of atoms or monads, Kant separates the concepts of infinite divisibility and infinitely small magnitudes. He considers infinitely small magnitudes as necessary ideas to express changes caused by fundamental forces and the construction of intuition. Regarding the method of mathematics, Kant argues that it differs from the method of philosophy. Mathematics is capable of producing definitions in a strict sense and is considered a paradigm of synthetic cognition a priori. It uses concepts in concreto, starting with definitions and containing few unprovable propositions. Philosophy, on the other hand, analyzes data and deals with concepts in abstracto.

Kant illustrates the distinction between mathematics and philosophy through the discussion of the definition of a circle. The standard definition, which states that a circle is a figure with each point equidistant from a given center, does not prove its possibility. Kant proposes a genetic definition that demonstrates the constructability of a circle. According to Kant, mastering a mathematical concept means understanding the rule of construction of the object of the concept.

Cartesianism

Cartesianism represents the ideas of the 17th century French philosopher and mathematician Rene Descartes. It has been called "the father of modern philosophy" due to it's innovative methodological doubt. A form of Rationalism, Cartesianism upholds a Metaphysical Dualism of two finite substances, mind and matter, called Mind-Body Dualism.

Mind-Body Dualism

Descartes, inspired by automatons he saw, explored how the mind and body interact. His dualism, influenced by theology and physics, suggests the mind and body are distinct but closely linked. Cartesian dualism, as it's called, has been very influential. Descartes believed that substances, like mind and body, can exist independently. He used the example of a piece of wax to illustrate this. Descartes' view of the universe also challenged the traditional idea that everything in nature has a purpose. Instead, he argued that the mind and body are separate, with the mind being the more important part. This dualism led to questions about how the mind and body are connected. Descartes also believed in innate ideas, but this idea was later opposed by empiricists like John Locke, who argued that all knowledge comes from experience.

Physiology and Psychology

In "The Passions of the Soul," published in 1649, Descartes discussed how people thought the body had fast-moving fluids called animal spirits that influenced our emotions. He identified six main emotions, like wonder and joy, which he believed were controlled by these spirits. Descartes thought these spirits came from the pineal gland in the brain, where he said the soul connected to the body. He thought God controlled these motions and that humans needed to control their emotions to avoid confusion.

Descartes also talked about how our body automatically reacts to things, like moving our hand away from something hot without thinking. This idea influenced reflex theory later on. He was one of the first scientists to study the soul scientifically, which was controversial at the time. But his work laid the foundation for understanding emotions and how the brain works. He thought of the brain as a machine that could be understood with math and mechanics. In the 20th century, scientists like Alan Turing used Descartes' ideas to develop computer science based on biology. Even today, Descartes' ideas about reflexes are important in physiology, and Ivan Pavlov, a famous physiologist, admired him.

Animals

Descartes believed animals lacked reason or intelligence because they didn't have a soul like humans. While animals could sense and perceive things, he thought their actions were purely mechanical. According to him, animals couldn't feel pain or anxiety because they lacked a soul. If they seemed distressed, it was just a bodily response to avoid harm, not a result of suffering like humans. Descartes' ideas gained traction in Europe and North America, leading to the mistreatment of animals. This view persisted until the mid-19th century, when Charles Darwin's work challenged it. Darwin argued that the similarities between humans and other animals suggested that animals could indeed suffer.

Ethics

Descartes saw ethics as the highest science, rooted in metaphysics. He believed reason could guide individuals to seek goods and virtue, but this depended on their knowledge and mental state. He argued that a complete moral philosophy should also study the body. In his work "The Passions of the Soul," he explored psychosomatic processes and emotions, which influenced later philosophers and ideas about literature and art.

Descartes and Zeno both linked sovereign goods with virtue. While Epicurus viewed pleasure as the highest good, Descartes believed virtue produced a superior spiritual pleasure. He acknowledged Aristotle's view that happiness depended on moral virtue and some fortune, but noted that one's mind, within their control, played a significant role. Descartes' moral writings came later in his life, and in his "Discourse on the Method," he outlined three maxims, known as his "Provisional Morals," to guide action while questioning his ideas.

Religion

Descartes presents proofs of a benevolent God in his third and fifth Meditations, using the trademark and ontological arguments respectively. He believes his senses are reliable because he trusts that God wouldn't deceive him. From this, he argues for knowledge based on deduction and perception. Descartes contributes foundationalist ideas to epistemology, suggesting reason as a reliable method for knowledge acquisition, while also acknowledging the need for experimentation.

In his trademark argument, Descartes uses the causal adequacy principle to assert that our idea of perfection points to a perfect origin, or God. In the ontological argument, he posits that the idea of a supremely perfect being implies its existence. Despite being a devout Catholic, Descartes faced opposition for trying to ground theological beliefs on reason. His response to skepticism involves arguing for the existence of an external world and explaining the nature of substances, particularly the mind as a thinking substance.

Descartes avoided theological questions, focusing on demonstrating the compatibility between his metaphysics and theological orthodoxy, without trying to prove theological dogmas metaphysically. He emphasized that some matters depend on the free will of God, beyond the power of human reason to settle.

Mathematics

Descartes introduced the convention of using x, y, and z for unknowns and a, b, and c for knowns in equations. He also pioneered the use of superscripts, like the 2 in x^2 to indicate squared values. One of Descartes' major contributions was the development of Cartesian or analytic geometry, which combines algebra and geometry. He emphasized the importance of algebra in reasoning about abstract quantities. While many mathematicians previously saw geometry as more fundamental, Descartes showed how algebra could represent geometric concepts. Descartes' ideas influenced Isaac Newton, particularly through the expanded Latin edition of his work by Frans van Schooten. Newton built upon Descartes' work on cubic equations, leading to modern treatments of variables. Descartes' work laid the foundation for calculus, developed later by Leibniz and Newton. His rule of signs is still used today to determine the number of positive and negative roots of a polynomial.

Mechanics

Descartes was influenced by Isaac Beeckman, a pioneer of mechanical philosophy, which focuses on understanding nature through mathematics and physics. Beeckman introduced Descartes to Galileo's ideas, and they collaborated on various topics like free fall and fluid statics. Descartes discussed concepts similar to modern physics, such as the idea that doing work involves both weight and distance. He also proposed the conservation of motion, suggesting that the total motion in the universe remains constant over time. Descartes formulated early laws of motion, similar to Newton's, and described motion in straight lines rather than circles. However, his ideas didn't include mass as we understand it today, and he focused on speed rather than velocity. Descartes' theory of planetary motion, based on vortexes, was later disproved by Newton's law of universal gravitation. Newton's Principia includes a detailed critique of Descartes' theory.

Diderotianism

Diderotianism is a set of theories developed by the French philosopher and writer of the Enlightenment era Denis Diderot. He is best known for being a co-founder of the first encyclopedia along with Jean-Baptiste le Rond d'Alembert

Like his other contemporaries, Diderot promoted antitheism and materialism. He also developed proto-evolutionary ideas and it could be said he was the predecessor of Darwin.

D’Hupayism

Fichtean Idealism

Fichtean Idealism is the philosophy of Johann Gottlieb Fichte, a German philosopher who played a crucial role in shaping German idealism during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Fichtean Idealism emerged as a distinctive philosophical system that was built upon the foundations laid by Immanuel Kant.

Foundations of Natural Right

Fichte believed that self-awareness relies on interaction with other rational beings. Each person's awareness of themselves is shaped by others, who call or summon them into consciousness as individuals. This mutual recognition among rational individuals is essential for each person's sense of self.

According to Fichte, self-consciousness arises from encountering resistance from something external. This resistance, or check, isn't tied to a specific sensory perception but still affects self-awareness. Fichte later incorporated this idea into his system, emphasizing the importance of both original feeling and the summons from others in shaping selfhood. The self, for Fichte, posits its own existence and identity. This self-identity isn't just a psychological fact but an action of the self. The self can only understand itself as limited, and this limitation arises from an original impulse or resistance encountered in its activity. This limitation is crucial for the self to become aware of itself and others.

The concept of Anstoss, or resistance, plays a key role in Fichte's philosophy. It serves as the initial impetus that sets in motion the self's awareness of itself and its surroundings. Unlike Kant's idea of the thing in itself, Anstoss isn't something external to the self but an encounter with the self's own limitations. Fichte's philosophy moves beyond a simple theory of consciousness by recognizing that the self has prior awareness of itself before any reflective thought. This original insight suggests that the self's consciousness isn't solely dependent on reflective processes but also on a deeper, pre-existing self-awareness.

Nationalism

Between December 1807 and March 1808, Fichte gave lectures about the "German nation," aiming to revive its spirit after being defeated by France. Initially supporting France, he grew disillusioned as Napoleon's armies took over German lands. He believed Germany could carry forward the ideals of the French Revolution. These lectures, called Addresses to the German Nation, came during a time of reform in Prussia. Fichte focused on language and culture as tools for human growth, drawing from Johann Gottfried Herder's ideas. He saw the German nation as a force for spiritual and rational progress, opposing brute force domination. Fichte's nationalism, like Herder's, emphasized culture and moral principles.

Unfortunately, Fichte's nationalist ideas were later adopted by the Nazi Party in Germany. While some of Fichte's writings contained anti-Semitic views, he also advocated for Jewish religious freedom and protested against the mistreatment of Jewish students. Despite recent efforts to separate Fichte's nationalism from its Nazi use, the association remains a stain on his legacy. However, Fichte explicitly condemned genocide and crimes against humanity in his later works.

Economics

In his 1800 work "The Closed Commercial State," Fichte advocated for strict guild-like regulation of industry, which had a big impact on German Romantic economic thought. He believed that the ideal state should tightly control what its citizens produce, ensuring they are skilled and certified. This idea was driven by the German middle class's desire to protect themselves from big capital. Fichte opposed free trade and unchecked capitalist growth, seeing it leading to conflict and injustice. To counter this, he proposed breaking up the global market into self-sufficient states, each regulating its own economy. Fichte argued that government control was needed to ensure industries served the interests of society, stating that limits on industries would benefit the workers involved.

Women

Fichte thought that women should not have rights like citizenship, freedom, or property ownership. He believed their role was to obey their fathers and husbands completely.

Hegelianism

Hegelianism is a philosophical movement based on the ideas of the German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel.

Metaphysics

Hegel claimed that everything that exists is in the process of becoming something else. He believed history itself was in the process of change, through a dialectical processes of opposing ideas, through which would emerge the new synthesis of a single idea, making the old binary distinction irreverent. He thought this process would continue, until finally we arrive at the point when all subjects would realize that only one thing exists, the mind itself.

Hegel was an idealist, meaning he though that everything that exists is actually was actually an none physical entity.

Hegelian Dialectic

In Part I of his Encyclopaedia of Philosophical Sciences, also known as the Encyclopaedia Logic, Hegel presents his dialectical method. According to Hegel, logic has three moments or sides: understanding, dialectical, and speculative. The understanding is the moment of fixity where concepts have stable definitions. The dialectical moment is one of instability and self-sublation, where concepts pass into their opposites. The speculative moment grasps the unity of the first two moments and produces a more comprehensive and universal concept. Hegel's dialectics differ from Plato's arbitrary dialectics in several ways. The movement to new determinations in Hegel's dialectics is driven by the nature of earlier determinations, not by the introduction of new ideas. The transition to new determinations grows out of the process itself and is not dependent on external factors. Later determinations both replace and preserve earlier determinations, and they determine and surpass the limits of the earlier determinations. The dialectical process leads to increasingly comprehensive and universal concepts, ultimately driving towards the Absolute, the all-encompassing concept or form. The Absolute represents the highest level of universality and completes the dialectical process. When taken together, the Absolute concepts for different subject matters form Hegel's entire philosophical system, which is characterized as a "circle of circles." Hegel considers his dialectical method to be truly scientific because it is driven by the subject matter itself and exhibits coherence and necessity.

Consciousness

Hegel's philosophical perspective focuses on the stages of consciousness development. He begins with sense-certainty, which is limited because it provides only basic factual information without deeper insights. Perception is introduced as an active form of consciousness that recognizes the interconnectedness and relational nature of objects. However, the process of negation erodes specific characteristics, leading to doubt and a return to sense-certainty. Understanding is presented as the most complete form of consciousness, merging sense-certainty and perception. Hegel introduces the concept of force, which operates both in the observable world and as a pure notion. Understanding seeks to uncover the underlying principles and laws governing the actions and reactions of forces. Hegel discusses the existence of two realms, one governed by laws and another where phenomena remain unexplained. He acknowledges that earlier stages of consciousness may not have been aware of these perspectives, while he and his readers understand them as observers.

Self-Consciousness

Self-consciousness arises when the mind recognizes its own thinking and existence in relation to an external world. It seeks validation and self-assertion by acknowledging the same self-consciousness in others, leading to the emergence of collective human consciousness or spirit. Hegel emphasizes that true understanding comes from collective efforts rather than isolated individuals. The process involves mutual recognition and gradual development. The paradox of dominance and servitude reveals that the servant achieves true self-consciousness through discipline and obedience, while the lord depends on recognition but denies equality. Stoicism and skepticism are explored as stages of development, with skepticism questioning true knowledge but ultimately being incoherent. The Unhappy Consciousness seeks unity with the unchangeable through surrender and mediation, leading to the next phase of reason. Hegel incorporates Christian and philosophical concepts to discuss the ascent of human consciousness, highlighting its broader relevance beyond Christianity.

Reason

Reason, for Hegel, involves actively shaping our perception of reality by discerning essential qualities and implicit laws. Observational reason, however, falls short in providing a comprehensive understanding of the world. Hegel introduces rational self-consciousness, combining reason with self-awareness in a social context. True fulfillment and individuality, he argues, are achieved when individuals align themselves with the existing social order. Individuality and self-interest play a role in human action, which exposes intentions and reveals true character. Hegel sees work as a moral imperative for self-realization and emphasizes reason operating within collective consciousness and societal laws.

Spirit

Spirit, in Hegel's view, is the collective consciousness and morality that connects all humans. The ethical order, represented by societal laws and norms, embodies the true spirit and reflects both human and divine aspects. The family represents the natural ethical community, while the government embodies the implementation of human law. Human actions often create a conflict between divine and human law, leading to a society characterized by individualism and the erosion of ethical customs. Hegel also discusses the Enlightenment and its impact on the division between culture and faith, with one pole emphasizing divine law and the other emphasizing human utilitarianism.

Religion

In his exploration of the progress of spirit, Hegel identifies the concept of the "absolute" or divine being. He suggests that the absolute is fully revealed in the current stage of development. Hegel traces the previous appearances of the absolute, highlighting how religion plays a crucial role in achieving self-consciousness. Religion evolves through stages such as natural religion, perceiving spirituality in nature, and the stage of art, where religion becomes an expression of ethics detached from nature. Hegel focuses on the development of religion as art, particularly referencing ancient Greek religions. He discusses the transition from abstract statues to the humanization of gods in epics. Hegel introduces the idea of revealed religion, exemplified by Christianity, where God becomes incarnate. He emphasizes the significance of God's presence in the physical world and the shared experience of Christ's existence. Hegel views religion's development through visual imagery, with each stage representing a different aspect of human self-consciousness. He argues that evil stems from the same impulse as good and is a result of self-consciousness. Ultimately, Hegel asserts that spirit finds its culmination in the human conscience, where God is internalized.

Absolute Knowing

Hegel argues that revealed religions, including Christianity, rely on symbolic representations rather than achieving genuine self-consciousness. He revisits the progression of human spirit from sense-certainty to religion, asserting that spirit must surpass religion and manifest its principles in human actions. Hegel terms this stage as systematic science, a pure understanding of the self attained through struggle and development. He emphasizes that systematic science must observe the development of spirit within specific contexts, making it a work of history.

Science of Logic

Hegel believed that logic is the form taken by the science of thinking and that existing approaches to logic needed a radical reformulation. He criticized the separation between the content and form of cognition, which created a gap between subject and object. Hegel aimed to bridge this gap by integrating content and form within the science of logic itself. He believed that he had achieved this integration in his work, the Phenomenology of Spirit, through the concept of Absolute Knowing, where subject and object are united, and truth is equated with certainty. Hegel referred to this Post-Dualist form of consciousness as "Begriff," representing the self-contained nature of thought. His goal in the Science of Logic was to overcome the separation between subject and object, providing a comprehensive framework for understanding rational thought and truth. By integrating these elements, Hegel sought to establish a self-contained system reflecting the eternal essence of God before the creation of nature and finite minds.

Philosophy of the Real

Hegel emphasizes that philosophy comes after the completion of actuality and serves to reconstruct and grasp the real world in its intellectual realm. He uses the metaphor of "gray in gray" to illustrate that philosophy recognizes and interprets an already existing shape of life that has aged and cannot be rejuvenated. Philosophy is not meant to dictate how the world should be but to comprehend it as it is. Hegel's concept of actuality suggests that reality is a continuous process, always in a state of preparedness rather than being definitively completed. The relationship between the logical and real-philosophical parts of his system is that philosophy, as the thought and knowledge of the substantial spirit of its time, makes that spirit its object. Hegel's aim is to uncover the systematically coherent logical form within the material of nature and history, presenting it in a scientific manner.

Unfolding of Species

Hegel presents a sequential development from inanimate objects to animate creatures and ultimately to human beings. While this progression has been compared to the Darwinian theory of evolution, Hegel's perspective differs in that he believed organisms possess agency and actively participate in the process. In contrast to Darwin's view of natural selection, Hegel saw organisms as making choices and collaborating with others to advance along this developmental path. According to Hegel, this progression follows a predetermined trajectory, leading towards a teleological end that represents the ultimate purpose and destiny of this natural development.

Politics

Hegel thought that the state could transcend the limits of the individual mind to form a higher mode of being, based in the national spirit, and a nations constitution.

Montesquieuanism

Montesquieuanism or Montesquieu Thought is a collection of theories made by the Enlightenment era French philosopher Charles Louis Montesquieu (18 January 1689 – 10 February 1755). He is most famous for his political theories where he states the 3 systems of goverment power: legislature, executive and judiciary. Montesquieu claims 3 types of goverment:

Separation of Powers

Montesquieu believed that in every state there are three main powers, the law-giving one (legislative), the law-enforcing (executive) and the law-speaking one (judicative).

He advocated for a system in which these three powers would be kept seperate from each other in a system of checks and balances to prevent either of these powers to dominate the other and establish a despotic government.

Rousseauism

“I prefer liberty with danger than peace with slavery.”


Rousseauism or Rousseauianism thought is the political philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a swiss philosopher from the 18th century. It believes that humans in their natural state are good, and equality is perfect. He thinks the perfect system would be one closest to this natural state.

Natural state

Rousseau suggests that the idea of owning land and excluding others from it was the beginning of society. He imagines a time when people lived without property or conflict, with little envy or distrust. Rousseau believes humans share traits with animals, like self-preservation and empathy, but can also be vain and care only about their status. He thinks humans can change and improve through choice, unlike animals. This ability to improve, along with freedom, allows for historical progress, but there's no guarantee it will always be positive.

Human Development

Rousseau believed that the early stage of human development, which he called the "savage" state, was the best. He thought this stage was better than being like animals or living in corrupt civilizations. He argued that as people became more dependent on each other, society led to a loss of freedom and the rise of inequality. Rousseau also talked about how humans develop ways of thinking and interacting with others, like having a sense of self and feeling empathy. He said that when people first came together, there was a brief period of prosperity. However, as they developed things like agriculture and private property, inequality and conflict grew. This led to people comparing themselves to others and forming social hierarchies, which Rousseau saw as corrupting. He believed that competition over property led to conflicts and the rich using politics to keep their power.

Education

“We should not teach children the sciences; but give them a taste for them.”


Rousseau's philosophy of education focuses on shaping a child's character and moral sense rather than just teaching facts. He believed in raising children in a natural environment like the countryside, guided by a tutor who arranges learning experiences to teach through natural consequences instead of punishment. Rousseau divided childhood into stages, emphasizing the importance of hands-on skills like carpentry for young adults. He promoted a patriarchal family structure, where women were expected to be submissive and take care of the home. Feminists criticized Rousseau for confining women to domestic roles. Despite criticisms, Rousseau's ideas influenced child-centered education, with educators like Pestalozzi and Montessori sharing similar views.

Political Beliefs

Rousseau believed that governments like monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy all emerged due to varying levels of inequality in societies. However, over time, these governments would become more unequal, leading to revolutions and even more unjust leaders. He thought that humans could improve themselves, and better political systems could solve their problems. In "The Social Contract," Rousseau proposed a new political system to regain human freedom. He argued that society began as a state without laws or morals, and people joined together for cooperation's benefits. As societies grew, laws became necessary, but they also led to competition and dependence, threatening freedom. Rousseau suggested that by forming a social contract, individuals could preserve themselves and remain free. He believed sovereignty should belong to the people, but there should be a distinction between the sovereign and the government. Rousseau opposed representative assemblies, preferring direct democracy like in city-states. He emphasized the importance of the general will to protect individuals from oppression. Rousseau's work was characterized by logical rigor, derived from his mathematical training.

Sadism

Sadism is a philosophy based on Marquis de Sade. Sade was an atheist, and believed that ethics and morals are nothing but a lie made by ruling classes to fool the ruled classes, which would allow the ruling classes to dominate all the pleasures themselves. The reasoning goes, that since the ruling classes are the one whose advocating and enforcing ethics to the ruled classes, yet the ruling classes doesn't actually even believe and act according to the ethics, it would be rather convincing to think that the ethics never existed in the first place. Sade also believed that the ONLY thing that is worth following is pleasure. It's also worth noting that Sade self-proclaimed to be a democrat during French Revolution and had opposed the Reign of Terror along with death penalty.

The philosophy of Sade revolves around the idea of total freedom and individual pleasure without moral constraints. Sade advocated for the pursuit of personal pleasure, even at the expense of others, without concern for social or moral norms. He believed in absolute freedom to satisfy sexual desires and cruelty without limits, challenging the moral conventions of his time. His literary work explores these ideas through characters who exercise unrestricted power over others to fulfill their own pleasure. Sade believed that crime was a natural law, and that murder, rape, theft, and incest were natural aspects of humanity.

File:FrenchEnlightenment.png Radical republicanism

In "Frenchmen, Some More Effort If You Wish To Become Republicans," included in the Marquis de Sade's "Philosophy in the Boudoir," is a provocative discourse that calls for the radical extension of the French Revolution's principles. Sade argues that traditional religious and moral institutions are oppressive forces that must be dismantled to achieve true freedom and equality. He critiques religion as a tool of submission and promotes atheism as a means to greater liberation for individuals and society. Sade advocates for complete sexual freedom, viewing the repression of natural desires as a form of social control. He calls for the destruction of all hierarchical structures, including the church and the monarchy, to eliminate oppression. Sade believes the French Revolution did not go far enough and urges the French to make a further effort to abolish all forms of inequality, envisioning a republic where individuals can fully express and satisfy their desires without societal restrictions.

Spinozism

Theory of Substance

For Spinoza, Substance underlies our experience, but it can also be known by its various attributes. He does not specify how many attributes substance has, but he says that human beings, at least, can conceive of two — namely, the attribute of extension (physicality) and the attribute of thought (mentality). For this reason, Spinoza is also known as an “attribute dualist”, and he claims that these two attributes cannot be explained by each other, and so must be included in any complete account of the world.

Panentheism

Spinoza’s theory is often referred to as a form of panentheism — the belief that God is everything (and beyond), and that everything (and beyond) is God. In Spinoza’s system, the world is not a mass of material and mental stuff — rather, the world of material things is a form of God as conceived under the attribute of extension, and the world of mental things is that same form of God as conceived under the attribute of thought.

Spinoza, influenced by René Descartes, accepted the ontological argument. He set out on rationalism and said that God is the most perfect being. Spinoza saw God as infinite and thought that there was no other being that could be absolutely infinite.

In his book Ethics, he adopted theory of substance to the philosophy of religion. Spinoza argued that, God has the same qualities as the substance that provides existence of universe. Knowledge of nature, which is necessary and non-contingent, was given as a method for understanding God's creation.

Voltairianism

Voltaire perceived the French bourgeoisie to be too small and ineffective, the aristocracy to be parasitic and corrupt, the commoners as ignorant and superstitious, and the Church as a static and oppressive force useful only on occasion as a counterbalance to the rapacity of kings, although all too often, even more rapacious itself. Voltaire distrusted democracy, which he saw as propagating the idiocy of the masses. Voltaire long thought only an enlightened monarch could bring about change, given the social structures of the time and the extremely high rates of illiteracy, and that it was in the king's rational interest to improve the education and welfare of his subjects. But his disappointments and disillusions with Frederick the Great changed his philosophy somewhat, and soon gave birth to one of his most enduring works, his novella Candide, ou l'Optimisme (Candide, or Optimism, 1759), which ends with a new conclusion of quietism: "It is up to us to cultivate our garden." His most polemical and ferocious attacks on intolerance and religious persecutions indeed began to appear a few years later. Candide was also burned, and Voltaire jokingly claimed the actual author was a certain 'Demad' in a letter, where he reaffirmed the main polemical stances of the text.

Voltairianism is the philosophical belief of the central figure of the Enlightenment Philosophy, François Marie Arouet, better known as Voltaire. Voltaire promoted secularism and was highly critical of slavery and all religions except Hinduism and Confucianism.

Voltaire, like other Enlightenment thinkers, believed in a supreme, intelligent being but questioned traditional faith. He argued that belief in God should be based on reason, not blind faith. In 1763, he wrote an essay supporting tolerance for all religions and ethnicities, advocating for the idea that all people are brothers under the same God. Additionally, Voltaire strongly criticized priests of various religions, accusing them of hypocrisy and mocking their rituals.

Christianity

Historians criticize Voltaire's portrayal of Christianity as "propagandistic." He spread myths about the early Church having fifty gospels before choosing four, and he wrongly claimed that the New Testament canon was decided at the First Council of Nicaea. He also mistakenly attributed the expression "Credo quia absurdum" to Church Fathers. Additionally, Voltaire falsely accused Christians of murdering Hypatia, a female philosopher in ancient Alexandria. He criticized Christianity harshly, calling it ridiculous, absurd, and bloody. Voltaire encouraged people to question religious teachings and read the Bible independently. Despite acknowledging Christian acts of charity, his disdain for religion grew over time, leading him to attack Scripture, Church dogmas, and even Jesus Christ. Voltaire's famous quote, "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities," reflects his skeptical view of religion.

Judaism

According to Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, Voltaire showed significant hostility towards Judaism during the Enlightenment. In his Philosophical Dictionary, Voltaire wrote negatively about Jews, calling them ignorant, barbarous, and greedy. Telushkin argues that Voltaire's attacks on Judaism went beyond criticizing its Christian connections, showing a general disdain for Jews.

However, Peter Gay, an authority on the Enlightenment, suggests that Voltaire's criticism of Jews was aimed at Christianity. Gay points out instances where Voltaire acknowledged Jewish tolerance compared to Christians. Yet, Arthur Hertzberg, another Rabbi, disagrees, stating that Voltaire's anti-Semitism stemmed from personal grievances, not just criticism of Christianity.

Some argue that Voltaire's anti-Judaism was part of his wider philosophy of history. Although he had a Jewish friend whom he admired, Voltaire's negative views about Jews influenced later thinkers like Ernest Renan.

Voltaire did condemn the persecution of Jews and acknowledged their positive qualities like simplicity and industry. However, after personal financial issues and conflicts with Jewish financiers, he became strongly anti-Semitic. Despite initially agreeing to revise anti-Semitic passages in his works, he failed to do so.

Islam

Voltaire had mostly negative views about Islam. He criticized its holy book, the Quran, saying it lacked understanding of basic physics. In a letter to Frederick II of Prussia, he harshly condemned Muhammad's actions, calling him a brutal leader who spread his religion through violence and deception.

In another essay, "On the Quran and on Mohammed," Voltaire described Muhammad as a "sublime charlatan" and criticized the Quran for its contradictions and absurdities. He acknowledged that Islam removed idolatry from Asia but condemned its use of deception and violence.

In his historical work, "Essay on the Manners and Spirit of Nations," Voltaire explored Islam's influence on Europe and Asia. He acknowledged Muhammad's impact as a legislator but criticized his methods. However, as Voltaire learned more about Islam, his opinion became more positive, and his play "Mahomet" inspired other writers, like Goethe, to explore the theme of Islam in their works.

Hinduism

Voltaire praised the Vedas, sacred texts of Hindus, as a valuable contribution from the East to the West. He admired Hindus, considering them peaceful and innocent, incapable of harm or self-defense. Voltaire supported animal rights and was a vegetarian himself. He contrasted Hinduism's ancient teachings on animal treatment with the immorality of European imperialists, using it to criticize the Bible's claims.

Confucianism

Jesuit missionaries in China translated works by Confucius into European languages. Matteo Ricci was one of the first to share Confucius's teachings, and Father Prospero Intorcetta wrote about his life and works in Latin in 1687.

These translations influenced European thinkers, especially during the Enlightenment, who aimed to improve European morals and institutions by adopting Eastern teachings. Voltaire was among those who hoped Confucian rationalism could replace Christian beliefs. He admired Confucius's ethics and politics, viewing China's sociopolitical structure as a model for Europe.

Voltaire praised Confucius for his honesty and lack of pretense, saying he didn't claim to be a prophet or inspire a new religion. With the introduction of Confucian ideas, Western intellectuals embraced the concept of meritocracy as an alternative to Europe's traditional systems. Voltaire even suggested adopting a Chinese-style economic and political system.

Race and Slavery

Voltaire rejected the biblical story of Adam and Eve and believed in polygenism, suggesting that each race had separate origins. Some say he thought Black Africans weren't fully human like white Europeans, while others think his support for polygenism stemmed from his investments in colonial enterprises.

In Candide, Voltaire criticized the slave trade, highlighting the cruelty and hypocrisy involved. He endorsed Montesquieu's criticism of slavery, acknowledging its moral wrongs in his Philosophical Dictionary.

Despite his flaws, some scholars see Voltaire as an early advocate for liberal pluralism. He defended non-European cultures like the Chinese, Persians, and Native Americans, criticizing European prejudice and ignorance. In his writings, he called for respect and understanding toward all nations and cultures.

James Harrington Thought

WIP

Louvertureanism

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Radishchevism

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Yun Chi-ho Thought

WIP

Personality and Behaviour

Enlightenment within the comics is usually portrayed as a stereotypical enlightened thinker.

How to Draw

An Enlightenment wig is an encouraged accessory

Candle Design

Flag of Enlightenment (Candle design)
  1. Draw a ball with eyes
  2. Draw a candle handle
  3. Draw a candle which is glowing on the handle

And you're done

Color Name HEX RGB
White #FFFFFF 255, 255, 255
Yellow #FFF200 255, 242, 0
Red #ED131F 237, 19, 31
Black #141414 20, 20, 20
Grey #5A5A5A 90, 90, 90
Light Grey #C4C4C4 196, 196, 196


Relationships

Illuminated

Gray Area

  • Neo-Enlightenment - Listen, I like your dedication to my values and ideas but stop acting like you're the same as me.
  • Revolutionary Progressivism - Calm down a little buddy.
  • Illuminatism - Goddamn oligarch totalitarian, you're everything we set out to destroy. W-W-Weishaupt?
  • State Liberalism - ...what the hell ARE you?! Progress is good but you're even more insane than him and that's saying something.
  • Traditionalism - You aren't that bad but you have to embrace more empiricism and rationalism instead of past dogmatism.
  • Conservatism - You need to stick less to tradition.
  • Classical Conservatism - Father of above, an old rival but you're more tolerable and reasonable than compared other anti-illuminists especially nowadays .
  • Paleoconservatism - American version of above, we both like the foundation of his country but he sometimes can become a reactard lolcow.
  • National Conservatism - I like that you embrace people's sovereignty and nation-state but you need to calm down sometimes.
  • Reactionary Liberalism, Reactionary Libertarianism, Hoppeanism & Korwinism - WTFkkkkkkkkkkkkkk? Unless I can still work with them, plus Thermidorians are good.
  • Neoreactionaryism - I don't know what to think of you. You call yourself a reactionary, but you still support my children .
  • Feuillantism - Nice try but too tame and slavery is horrible.
  • Posadism - Destroying all old things with explosives around the globe for better future? Well... Good luck with that.

Left in the dark

  • Counter-Enlightenment - OW, you darkness, you dark, midnight, evil motherf***er, OW, dark ages, darkness! You're all darkness, you're f***ing delirious motherf***er, OW!
  • Reactionaryism - You're not getting rid of my ideas that easily.
  • Reactionary Modernism - WHAT, NO! WHY! Nooooo technology and reactionary thought are incompatible!!! You also need to see the light in a literal way.
  • Feudalism - Lol feudalism is no more.
  • Mercantilism - Same for you except for your modern version which is my great-great-grandson?
  • Absolute Monarchism - One of my biggest enemies.
  • Frankfurt School - Oh come on! I am not a totalitarian!
  • Carlism - Bites the dust! Oh wait...
  • Black Hundredism - Another one bites the dust! Oh wait again...
  • Integralism - Get real, dude, your time is over.
    • Every day the society of today gets worse for the average man, the closer you are to death. Cease peddling false light.
  • Ilminism - Illuminism, not Ilminism!
    • Hey, it's not my fault that my name is Ilminism in English!

Further Information

References

  1. ↑ Rousseau, although at first it seems like he overlooks the female sex, is not ignoring it but rather defining its role in society as a mere companion to the human being who should possess all rights: man.
    He asserts that the public sphere belongs to men, while the natural territory for women is the domestic space. The intrinsic inequality between the sexes, he concludes, has been given by nature and not by a whim of men, nor by education or customs. He resorts to the idea of "sexual complementarity" to justify the intrinsic inequality between men and women. The sexes are not equal but complementary. The public sphere corresponds to men, and women's fulfillment should unfold in the private sphere governed by selfless love that makes them accept their destiny of obedience, submission, and sacrifice as wives and mothers.
  2. ↑ “Since no man has a natural authority over his fellow, and force creates no right, we must conclude that conventions form the basis of all legitimate authority among men.” Jean-Jacques Rousseau. On The Social Contract. pp. 18
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 “Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains. One thinks himself the master of others, and still remains a greater slave than they. How did this change come about? I do not know. What can make it legitimate? That question I think I can answer.” Jean-Jacques Rousseau. On The Social Contract. pp. 14

Notes

  1. ↑ Around the time Sade left prison, all titles of nobility were abolished.

Wikipedia

Literature

  • Pierre Gassendi and the Birth of Early Modern Philosophy by Pierre Gassendi (1655)
  • Maxims by François de La Rochefoucauld (1662)
  • Pensees by Blaise Pascal (1670)
  • Some Considerations of the Consequences of the Lowering of Interest and the Raising the Value of Money by John Locke (1691)
  • Discourses Concerning Government by Algernon Sidney (1698)
  • The Fable of the Bees; Or, Private Vices, Public Benefits by Bernard Mandeville (1714)
  • Philosophical Selections by Nicolas Malebranche (1715)
  • Cato's Letters by John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon (1720)
  • The New Science by Giambattista Vico (1725)
  • An Inquiry into the Original of Our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue by Francis Hutcheson (1725)
  • An Essay on the Nature and Conduct of the Passions and Affections, with Illustrations on the Moral Sense by Francis Hutcheson (1728)
  • Letters Concerning the English by Voltaire (1734)
  • Machine Man and Other Writings by Julien Offray de La Mettrie (1747)
  • The Spirit of the Laws by Baron de Montesquieu (1748)
  • The Law of Nations Treated According to the Scientific Method by Christian Wolff (1754)
  • A System of Moral Philosophy by Francis Hutcheson (1755)
  • An Essay on Economic Theory: Essay on the Nature of Trade in General by Richard Cantillon (1755)
  • A Review of the Principal Questions in Morals by Richard Price (1758)
  • De L'esprit, Or, Essays On the Mind, and Its Several Faculties by Claude Adrien Helvétius (1758)
  • Essays: Moral, Political and Literary by David Hume (1758)
  • Christianity Unveiled by Baron d'Holbach (1761)
  • Lectures on Justice, Police, Revenue and Arms by Adam Smith (1763)
  • Classical Republican in Eighteenth-Century France by Gabriel Bonnot de Mably (1763)
  • Philosophical Dictionary by Voltaire (1764)
  • On Crimes and Punishments by Cesare Beccaria (1764)
  • An Essay on the History of Civil Society by Adam Ferguson (1767)
  • An Essay on the First Principles of Government, and on the Nature of Political, Civil, and Religious Liberty by Joseph Priestley (1768)
  • The Sacred Contagion: The Natural History of Superstition by Baron d'Holbach (1768)
  • System of Nature by Baron d'Holbach (1770)
  • Good Sense Without God: The Revolutionary Treatise on Free Thought by Baron d'Holbach (1772)
  • Encyclopedic Liberty by Denis Diderot, Henry C. Clark, and Jean le Rond d'Alembert (1751-1772)
  • Commerce and Government: Considered in Their Mutual Relationship by Étienne Bonnot de Condillac (1776)
  • A Treatise Concerning Civil Government by Josiah Tucker (1781)
  • Dangerous Liaisons by Pierre Choderlos De Laclos (1782)
  • Political Writings by Denis Diderot (1784)
  • Aline and Valcour, Vol. 1: or, the Philosophical Novel by Marquis de Sade (1788)
  • Aline and Valcour, Vol. 2: or, the Philosophical Novel by Marquis de Sade (1788)
  • Aline and Valcour, Vol. 3: or, the Philosophical Novel by Marquis de Sade (1788)
  • Mary Wollstonecraft Philosophical and Political Writings Collection by Mary Wollstonecraft (1797)
  • Condorcet: Political Writings by Nicolas de Condorcet (1788-1794)
  • Answering the Question: What Is Enlightenment? by Immanuel Kant (1784)
  • Logic by Immanuel Kant and Gottlob Benjamin Jäsche (1800)
  • Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime and Other Writings by Immanuel Kant (1764)
  • Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View by Immanuel Kant (1798)
  • Lectures and Drafts on Political Philosophy by Immanuel Kant (1799)
  • Kant’s Critical Philosophy: The Doctrine of the Faculties by Gilles Deleuze (1967)
  • Kant and Political Philosophy: The Contemporary Legacy by Ronald Beiner and William James Booth (1993)
  • Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment by Alan Charles Kors (1815)

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