“Now was the time to start ‘enlightening’ the masses. This was to be the
basis for a better society. People thought that poverty and oppression were
the fault of ignorance and superstition. Great attention was therefore focused
on the education of children and of the people. It is no accident that the
science of pedagogy was founded during the Enlightenment.”
“So schools date from the Middle Ages, and pedagogy from the
Enlightenment.”
“You could say that. The greatest monument to the enlightenment
movement was characteristically enough a huge encyclopedia. I refer to the
Encyclopedia in 28 volumes published during the years from 1751 to 1772. All
the great philosophers and men of letters contributed to it. ‘Everything is to be
found here,’ it was said, ‘from the way needles are made to the way cannons
are founded.’ “
“The next point is cultural optimism,” Sophie said.
“Would you oblige me by putting that card away while I am talking?”
“Excuse me.”
“The Enlightenment philosophers thought that once reason and
knowledge became widespread, humanity would make great progress. It
could only be a question of time before irrationalism and ignorance would give
way to an ‘enlightened’ humanity. This thought was dominant in Western
Europe until the last couple of decades. Today we are no longer so convinced
that all ‘developments’ are to the good.
“But this criticism of ‘civilization’ was already being voiced by French
Enlightenment philosophers.”
“Maybe we should have listened to them.”
“For some, the new catchphrase was back to nature. But ‘nature’ to the
Enlightenment philosophers meant almost the same as ‘reason/ since human
reason was a gift of nature rather than of religion or of ‘civilization.’ It was
observed that the so-called primitive peoples were frequently both healthier
and happier than Europeans, and this, it was said, was because they had not
been ‘civilized.’ Rousseau proposed the catchphrase, ‘We should return to
nature.’ For nature is good, and man is ‘by nature’ good; it is civilization which
ruins him. Rousseau also believed that the child should be allowed to remain
in its ‘naturally’ innocent state as long as possible. It would not be wrong to
say that the idea of the intrinsic value of childhood dates from the
Enlightenment. Previously, childhood had been considered merely a
preparation for adult life. But we are all human beings—and we live our life on
this earth, even when we are children.”
“I should think so!”
“Religion, they thought, had to be made natural.”
“What exactly did they mean by that?”
“They meant that religion also had to be brought into harmony with
‘natural’ reason. There were many who fought for what one could call a
natural religion, and that is the sixth point on the list. At the time there were a
lot of confirmed materialists who did not believe in a God, and who professed
to atheism. But most of the Enlightenment philosophers thought it was
irrational to imagine a world without God. The world was far too rational for
that. Newton held the same view, for example. It was also considered rational
to believe in the immortality of the soul. Just as for Descartes, whether or not
man has an immortal soul was held to be more a question of reason than of