IV. The Enlightenment

Historical Background. The history of England in the second half of the 17^th century and during all of the 18^th century was marked by British colonial expansion and the struggle for the leading role in commerce. The most active sections of the population at the time were the commercial classes, that is the middle classes. They hated prejudice and lived by common sense; it was a sound-thinking and rational age.

The writers and philosophers of this age, reflecting the ideology of the middle class, protested against the survivals of feudalism, in which they saw the main evils of the time. They could not yet see the contradictions that were to arise within the capitalist system. Man, they thought, was virtuous by nature and vice was due to ignorance only; so they started a public movement for enlightening the people. The enlighteners wanted to bring knowledge, that is "light" to the people. To their understanding this would do away with all the evils of society, and social harmony would be achieved. This movement was called the Enlightenment. Since the enlighteners believed in the power of reason, the period was also called the Age of Reason.

The movement of the Enlightenment spread later to the Continent. The characteristic features of this movement all over Europe were much the same:

a) a deep hatred of feudalism and its survivals; the enlighteners rejected Church dogmas and caste distinctions;

b) a love of freedom, a desire for systematic education for all, a firm belief in human virtue and reason;

c) a concern for the fate of the common people and of the peasants in particular.

Notwithstanding these common features there was a difference between the ideas expressed by the English enlighteners and those expressed by the French. The French Enlightenment was more progressive than the English: the French enlighteners were political leaders and set forth sharp political problems which prepared the French people for the coming revolution; whereas the English Enlightenment had no revolutionary aims in view; the English Bourgeois Revolution was over long before the Enlightenment spread in England. Hence its restricted character.