Key Concepts in Modern Philosophy and the Enlightenment

Philosophical Perspectives on Knowledge and Reality

We generally perceive limitations in our understanding. The universality of language or the contents of the mind alone may not suffice.

Critique of Metaphysics

Metaphysics, which studies subjects like God, humanity, and the world of ideas, often remains outside the scope of verifiable knowledge. This is primarily due to a lack of empirical experience. Discarding all dogma, however, can lead to problems in treating empirical and historical knowledge. If so, all knowledge becomes provisional. Mathematics is often considered the only source of completely certain knowledge.

Ethics, Politics, and Religion

Philosophers are interested in problems related to ethics, politics, and religion, attempting to classify them through critical analysis of reason. Concepts like good, bad, beautiful, and ugly are not derived from empirical experience. While we can perceive the physical qualities of things, aesthetic and moral qualities cannot be detected empirically. Therefore, judgments of good or bad, beautiful or ugly, do not indicate cognitive or knowledge-based moral or aesthetic value.

Modern Philosophy and the Rise of Science

It is clear that modern philosophers have proposed various philosophical systems. What they all share, however, is a particular distinction they emphasize. Of course, this distinction was made even before modern philosophers, and to some extent, we make similar discriminations in our daily lives. Nevertheless, what is the novelty of this contribution to modern philosophy? It is that the distinction, in the modern philosophical sense, is intrinsically linked to the development of science.

The Enlightenment: A New Era of Thought

Illustration 2.3: Key Characteristics

The term "Illustration" (or "Enlightenment") refers to a general philosophical, political, and religious trend that developed particularly in France, England, and Germany between the English Revolution (1688) and the French Revolution (1789). The characteristics of this trend are based on principles that advocate for the reorganization of human society, driven by optimism and the power of reason. The application of these principles to all areas of natural and social reality was believed to lead humanity towards happiness, peace, and progress. Using the metaphor of light – a concept that, from Plato to Augustine, suggested reason "reveals" the world – the eighteenth century is also known as the "Enlightenment."

The Enlightenment was the final step in a process of change that began in the Renaissance. This process aimed to break dependence on faith and established order, establishing reason as a new foundation. This development was driven by bourgeois interests in science-based knowledge and techniques applicable to industry, as well as new bourgeois values, including:

• Personal effort
• The dignity of the individual over established powers
• The priority of reasoning over privileges
• The value of work

The astronomers involved in the Scientific Revolution, such as Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, and Newton, especially encouraged this intellectual shift.