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IdentificationWith the Age of Enlightenment in the 18th century, a new epoch of intellectual history was introduced in Europe, according to which science and reason combined with observations and experiments were adduced as the basis for secular cognition of the world. It became a serious challenge to the old cultural basis, namely Christianity. During the Age of Enlightenment, the dominance of religious philosophy was challenged with regard to cognition or rather: God was sought in empirically ascertainable regularities.
In terms of intellectual history, John Locke (1632-1704), and Ludvig Holberg (1684-1754) constitute the portals to the Enlightenment in England, France and Denmark, respectively. As enlightenment writers, they saw it as their principal objective to disseminate the idea of reason, freedom and tolerance. Holberg’s Niels Klim from 1741 is thus a philosophical argument for tolerance. The book contains a number of descriptions of different forms of government that Klim encounters during his journey. Each society has its own absurd rules that are assigned divine validity and are enforced with barbarous zeal. By experiencing the grotesque arbitrariness of the laws and especially the ruthless persecution that dissidents are exposed to, Klim’s eyes are opened to his own prejudices and he changes his philosophy of life. However, there is one ideal in this universe, namely the principality of Potu, where legislation is a realisation of natural law that is based on the idea that man according to his nature must possess certain innate rights. The focal point of the French Enlightenment was a huge universal dictionary, which was published in 17 volumes between 1751 and 1772. The objective was to bring together and present, in an easily comprehensive form, the knowledge and opinions of the time, and to use the dictionary as an armoury in the fight against the church in particular. The philosophers of the Enlightenment did not turn against Christianity as such, but against the Christian belief in revelation. They sincerely believed that enlightenment would have an ennobling effect on man and set humanity free from old prejudices and superstition. In the Age of Enlightenment, the fight for freedom of conscience, freedom of religion and tolerance raised the key questions: Could a political and educational system be established that was not embedded in religion? And where would politics and education find legitimacy if not in Christianity? By way of answer, the philosophers of the Enlightenment referred to nature, natural law, and to the establishment of a social contract. However, there was no agreement on which parties should conclude the contract. In his book Leviathan from 1651, Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) argued for a social contract under which the people would surrender all power to one institution, for example an absolute monarch, whereas John Locke in his book Two Treatises of Government from 1689 advocated a social contract, under which sovereignty would remain with the people. Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)1778), who was an extremely influential political and educational philosopher in the 18th century, developed Lockes understanding of natural law in his books The Social Contract and Émile from 1762. Today, the two books are classics in terms of social philosophy and the history of educational theory. They deal with the establishment of a democratic social contract and the education of a free individual, respectively.
“Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-imposed immaturity. Immaturity is the inability to use one’s
understanding without guidance from another. This immaturity is self-imposed when its cause lies not in lack
of understanding, but in lack of resolve and courage to use it without guidance from another. Sapere Aude!
‘Have courage to use your own understanding!’ – that is the motto of enlightenment.”
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This page is part of the electronic publication "The Danish Democracy Canon"