Enlightenment in the French Revolution - Essay Example

College: Enlightenment in the French Revolution In order to fully understand the topic in question, the meaning of theword enlightenment needs to be expounded on in order to understand it in the context of the times of the French Revolution. Kant (1974), argues that enlightenment means a man casting aside his self-caused immaturity. He claims that immaturity is the inability to use one’s intelligence without the assistance of another. He goes on to state that such immaturity can only be caused by self and not the lack of intelligence. He states that the motto of enlightenment is to dare to know, to have the courage to use one’s own intelligence. The French Revolution began as a result of several influences such as the scientific revolution which was rooted in gaining scientific knowledge and making major leaps in the field of science. That, using Kant’s interpretation is enlightenment. Therefore, we can conclude that enlightenment was seen as a significant influence on the French Revolution. Kant finds it problematic when an officer claims, “don’t argue, drill” or when a tax collector says, “don’t argue, pay.” He says that such is a restriction on our freedom to reason in all matters. Therefore, the French Revolution was more of a fulfillment rather than a betrayal of enlightenment ideals? Enlightenment in the context of the French Revolution is a convergence of many constituent aspects which comprise; skepticism, reason, progress and social reform, tolerance, natural rights and political reforms. Skepticism calls into question many aspects of the French society which were thought to be undoubted truths. Issues such as Deity were unquestionable since those were the days of significant Catholic power and influence. Marquise de Sade was an example of an atheist figure head. Although his views on morality and sexuality were at best unorthodox, he offers a good example of the beliefs that atheists back then held against the existence of God. Thomas Paine was and still is a well-known atheist who held radical views against the existence of God in the 18th century. Paine (1797), in “A letter to a Friend Regarding the Age of Reason”, questions the right that his friend had to call the bible the word of God. He points to the fact that as laws were made back in the 18th century, by councils shouting yeas and nays, so was the bible by the Popish Councils of Nice and Laodicea. These he claims were to be the books which make up the New Testament. He goes on to state that the books which today comprise the Old Testament were voted for by Pharisees of the second temple after the Jews returned from captivity in Babylon. He claims that this type of authority is no authority. He claims that since those who voted for the books which comprise the bible today made a living out of religion, they had an interest in the vote that they gave. He makes a legitimate claim that a man cannot see into another man’s mind in order to establish whether they were inspired by God while writing the biblical books. He finds it pretentious that men in the bible such as Moses claim to have spoken to God. He also states that men in the Koran such as Mohammed who are written to have spoken to God cannot be proven to done so. He goes on to point to scripture where God sends Samuel to spite Amalek, to destroy everything that they have, may it be women, infants, cattle, or donkeys. He goes on to harshly state that the depiction in the bible of God is not of God but rather of the devil who claims to be God. Craig (2007), states that Paine’s views are based on nothing other than what is true and what is false. He thinks it pretentious for a creator to create the world, and then condemn it to destruction by floods. All this based on the precept that man did evil while the bible itself, adjudged to be the very word of God, states that men are born evil and all men sin. Why, therefore, does the creator act surprised when men go all out to sin. Viewing religion critically, it is obvious to note that it has done a lot of good and a lot of bad. Religion does improve a person in terms of making them want to do good. However, it has wrought havoc on the world too. Bringing wars without end and causing disunity among mankind split across religious lines (Craig 125). It has gone as far as to cause people to kill other people for the cause of honor to God. How then is such religion worthwhile? Paine therefore, calls people unto reason to view deity as it is. He aims at making people enlightened into acting not because a book calls people to doing so rather because it is reasonable. He believes that education makes the difference. Another factor that stands out in the French revolution is political reform. Jean-­Jacques Rousseau (1763), believes that humanity was more harmonious, happy and equal in the raw state of nature before it was corrupted by civilization. He also notes that such a society once tainted by civilization, could not go back to its raw state of nature. Societies thus had to devise the best political structures that would see mankind enjoy the most of freedom, happiness and equality. Sieyès (1789), elevated the importance of the third estate in the French Revolution. This were commoners in society. They were the people who toiled for a living. Sieyès (1789), questions the importance of the privileged estates which consistent of people such as clergy and nobility. He claims that third estate is everything and that its position in the political order ought to reflect that. He supports scrapping off of the noble order and establishing a system of laws which would govern all those under the state. For what is a nation? He asks, a body of associates, living under a common law and represented by the same legislature. He finds it without cause that people from noble order have expenditures and privileges which they call rights. This are rights that are separate from those of the common man. He finds these an abominable model of society. In the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (1789), the representatives of the French people found that ignorance, contempt of the rights of man and neglect were the sole reasons for public calamities and the corruption of the government. The existence of document was in itself a great testament to the role of enlightenment in the French Revolution. The rights which were approved by the France general assembly were progressive allowing man rights to to his personal freedom (liberty), property, security and resistance to oppression. The rights call upon the third estate to ask questions such as those posed by the tax collector mentioned above. A great aspect of enlightenment in the French revolution is progress and social reform. One such champion of such reform is Olympe de Gouges who was a butcher’s daughter and who is considered to date, one of France’s most outspoken woman revolutionaries. Her attempts to push the idea of equality with men led to her subsequent arrest, trial (under a treason charge) and prosecution via guillotine in1993.This, within the very definition of the French Revolution, is what enlightenment consists. De Gouges is courageous and dares to reason. She thus casts aside her self-caused immaturity. In her “Declaration of the Rights of Women and the Female Citizen”, she rivals every right made unto man, setting a similar law for women. This was outrageous then. She claims that man, having become free, has become unjust to his companion. She calls on women to cease being blind and asks them what they have received from the revolution. She champions progressive social reforms and lays the foundation for the women’s rights that we have today. In the examples given above, the French Revolution is, therefore, a fulfillment rather than a betrayal of enlightenment ideals. It lays foundations for reform allowing French people to cast away regressive rules and laws which sought to serve only the highest class in society. It transferred power to the common man laying solid ground for what would become great constitutions centuries later. Works cited Craig, Nelson. Thomas Paine: Enlightenment, Revolution, and the Birth of Modern Nations Paperback. Penguin Books; Reprint edition,2007. Print. 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