Sander's Reflexions

“And if there is a man among the younger generation
That never strives for vacancy nor seeks an occupation
Who sets his mind on science and shows a thirst for knowledge
Or God himself fills him with inspiration
To creativity in art,
They scream: «Disaster! Fire!» and acknowledge
The man to be a dreamer and dangerous at that.”
Gore ot Uma from Griboyedov

I wanted to make a short remark on Enlightenment. Before I posted it I checked some resources. That was two weeks ago. The little remark grew… Last Saturday during my monthly course on philosophy I read this quote from Gore Griboyedov. I found the links to my remark on Enlightenment in Russian literature. Curious, isn’t it? Yes, because Russia was not really involved in the Age of Enlightenment. That’s what makes the quote so interesting. It contains Enlightenment (“Who sets his mind on science and shows a thirst for knowledge”) and Romanticism (“with inspiration to creativity in art”). Enlightenment and Romanticism, the sisters that need each other in strife. Ratio and emotion.

Age of Enlightenment? The name given to the 18th century with thinkers like Voltaire, Newton, Spinoza, Locke, Hume and Rousseau. But is there a philosophy of this enlightenment? In philosophical treatises I could not find a movement of enlightened philosophy. It’s not one movement. It’s a period of divergence! The first movement is Rationalism, started by Descartes. It emphasises reason. With systematic reasoning one gets knowledge. It is very idealistic. Through thinking we can discover the idea, the truth. The second movement is Empiricism, with Locke, Hume and Berkeley. They emphasise that we learn through experience.
Rousseau is also often mentioned among the philosophers of the Enlightenment. But he was the beginning of the Romantic philosophy, the third movement. Romanticists belief that men are good by nature and damaged by culture. Romanticism encourages people to follow there impulses and be primitive. Knowledge is innate.

Although Romanticism is quite different, I like to include it in the overall development of Enlightenment in the Western world, because all the movements I mentioned above have one very common characteristic. They abandon tradition. The sophisticated culture of people wearing wigs is attacked by revolutions. They also abandon the old religious dogma’s. Society and church are no longer considered to be the major forces directing our lives. Since the Enlightenment the individual is directing himself.


First remark
Now the remark I wanted to make. It’s a short statement to open the discussion (please comment). I’ll try to elaborate it in some future postings. My first remark is that since the enlightenment we think that we are individuals directed by (low level) physical impulses and (high level) rational thoughts. We simply ignore the enormous impact of the social environment. We do and say many things that the people around us do and say. We want to be accepted. We are reflections of our social environment.


It is interesting to read Kant’s explanation of Enlightenment:
„Aufklärung ist der Ausgang des Menschen aus seiner selbst verschuldeten Unmündigkeit. Unmündigkeit ist das Unvermögen, sich seines Verstandes ohne Leitung eines anderen zu bedienen. Selbstverschuldet ist diese Unmündigkeit, wenn die Ursache derselben nicht am Mangel des Verstandes, sondern der Entschließung und des Mutes liegt, sich seiner ohne Leitung eines anderen zu bedienen. Sapere aude! Habe Mut dich deines eigenen Verstandes zu bedienen! ist also der Wahlspruch der Aufklärung.“
KANT: (1783) Beantwortung der Frage: Was ist Aufklärung? (An Answer To The Question: 'What Is Enlightenment?')

I like to introduce a metaphor. The physical level can be located in the lower part of the belly. The rational thoughts are located in the head. The social level is located just in between, in the heart. Kant says that we do not lack intelligence (head). We need determination (will, belly) and courage (heart). So enlightenment is not just a thing of the head.


Second remark: are we enlightened?
In a eastern or mystical meaning of the word, being enlightened means to have insight. To Know. Some characteristics of enlightenment are peacefulness, contentment, wonderment.
In a Buddhist description:
“Enlightenment is sometimes described as complete and perfect sanity, or awareness of the true nature of the universe. At this moment, all greed (lobha), aversion (dosa), delusion (moha), ignorance (avijjā), craving (tanha) and ego-centered consciousness (attā) are extinguished.”


Looking at our society I see materialism and stress. Did we have an Age of Enlightenment?


Some more links:
Encarta on the Age of Enlightenment.
Wikipedia on the Age of Enlightenment.
Wikipedia on Enlightenment.