In his most recent book, Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress
This “Dare,” dates back to the 1784 essay by Immanuel Kant who was a major force within the evolution of a period historians refer to as The Age of Enlightenment.
The Age of Enlightenment has come to mean many different things to many different people and often used to argue completely opposite positions. (See Avi Lifschiftz’ article in History Today: The Enlightenment: Those Who Dare to Know.)
Historians will disagree on how best to date the era, but to give some general perspective it is helpful to me to accept the range of 1685 to 1810, in essence giving credit to a enlarged 18th century.
For Americans perhaps the greatest fruit of the age may be found in the words of the Declaration of Independence. “We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_men_are_created_equal
The key thought was that the rights are of the Individual and not the King or Church. This was a departure, and a profound one that may be somewhat lost in appreciation today. It is also part of the classic differences between Republicans and Democrats, pitting the individual against the group. The relevant distinction is that in the current case – the group is not an authority but rather coalition, but this is an aside.
300 years ago, wealth and power were held by very few – the secular nobility and the Church. 97%+ of all people worldwide were dirt poor with no prospects outside of plunder or the priesthood to advance. The average man and women believed in spirits, demons, omens, magic, curses and divine intervention. The world, while no longer universally seen as flat, was heliocentric. Blood letting was cutting edge medicine.
The Nobility relied on their God given right to rule and Church in return on the Nobility’s arms (as well as their own in some cases.) And everyone else was beholden to the Word of God as interpreted by those in authority.
French philosophers of the Age of Enlightenment, such as Voltaire, Rousseau and Montesquieu advocated that men were born free and equal and clearly set the stage for Jefferson’s declaration.
During this era many new ideas were developed based on Daring to Understand the world around us and how it worked. But daring to do so met opposition.
Copernicus dispelled the Ptolemaic concept of the Earth circling the sun, but Galileo was declared a heretic for believing so.
James Hutton (the Father of Geology) dared to use his keen observation. In the 1750’s he formulated a theory on the Great Age of the Earth based on his observations in Scotland of layers in the cliffs and reasoned how and why they formed over the ages. Ages far in excess of the prevailing concept of the Earth’s age of around a then incomprehensible 6000 years. Which was based on backdating the Bible.
Hutton’s findings influenced Darwin, who later developed his theory of evolution.
Adam Smith invented not only the concept of Capitalism, but more fundamentally a theory on the creation of wealth. No longer just gold, silver and precious gems, but the fruits of cooperative action by and between specialist who enhanced each others efforts to in essence create 1 + 1 = 3.
These innovations turned on its head the dogma’s of the day, based on daring to understand the world around them and how it worked. And pointedly, not accepting at face values articles of faith.
But what is clear, is that The Age of Enlightenment set off a tremendous change in the world at large, one that continues to this day, although Pinker cites many challenges from thought leaders on both the right and the left throughout the book.
We will explore in some detail, evidence that this Age of Enlightenment has and continues to bring the world many benefits, and that those benefits continue to accumulate, but not without challenges.
We hope to change the focus of faith in various stripes of political fiction and recenter that debate on the worthy principles that sprung out of the era and still remain vibrant today and will into the future.