The Enlightenment and the Birth of Social Science
Notes: Page 1 of 2
Know then thyself, presume not God to scan
The proper study of Mankind is Man.
Alexander Pope (1688-1744), An Essay on Man.The ideas of the 18th century enlightenment philosophes were crucial in the development of social scientific understandings of modernity, building on the work of thinkers such as Francis Bacon (1561-1626), John Locke (1632–1704) and Isaac Newton (1642–1727). Significant philosophes include Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755), Voltaire (1694-1788), David Hume (1711-76) and Adam Ferguson (1723-1816). Their ideas carried into the 19th century, shaping the "classical" sociology of figures such as Auguste Comte (1798-1857).
Such modern understandings enabled people to conceive of society as:
* something over and above the individual
* sui generis (Emile Durkheim - 1858-1917), i.e. unique, irreducible to anything else
* an entity that can be transformed"...the Comtean project of a positive sociology is the Enlightenment's continuation. It prepared the way for the emergence of a professionalized discipline of sociology..." (p.20)
"...the Enlightenment as an era which saw the emergence of a secular intelligentsia large enough and powerful enough for the first time to challenge the clergy..." (Porter, 1990, p.73)
1st generation philosophes: Montesquieu (1689-1755), Voltaire (1694-1788)
2nd generation philosophes: Hume (1711-76), Rousseau (1712-78), Diderot (1713-48)
3rd generation philosophes: Kant (1724-1804), Adam Smith (1723-90)Kant: sapere aude ('dare to know), "...the slogan of the Enlightenment." (p.25) But was the 18th century, as some philosophes asserted, an "age of Enlightenment"? -- nah! Probably philosophes represented a trend towards critical inquiry, a trend which arguably contributed to the demise of the ancien regime and the French and American Revolutions of 1776 and 1789, although the relationship between Enlightenment and these revolutions remains an issue of contention.
Except UK/Spain, French language central pillar of mid-eighteenth century European educated elite. Encyclopédie: general encyclopaedia first published in France in 1751, followed by numerous later editions, supplements, revisions, derivatives and translations, its purpose summarised by Kant's definition of enlightenment, 'man realising his potential through the use of his mind'. The Encyclopédie was highly systematic in its organization, put humanity at its centre, and aimed to be universal in its scope of knowledges (although in practice it was inevitably Eurocentric). It also indicated the existence of new middle class groups sceptical of clerical authority and hungry for new ideas.
Yet despite much banter about science, progress, reason and questioning of (Christian) traditions, many social issues evaded the concern of our Enlightenment thinkers, including economic and gender justice. Most philosophes were members of wealthy elites writing for their peers, although some rulers did consider their views a threat to the established order. However, it wasn't until the late 18th century that Enlightenment ideas began to be developed and popularised by members of the unpropertied classes who had less of a vested interest in maintaining the status quo.
References
Hamilton, P. (1993) 'The Enlightenment and the Birth of Social Sciences', in S. Hall and B. Gieben [Eds] (1993) Formations of Modernity (Cambridge: Polity)
Alexander Pope (1734/2008) An Essay on Man, in The Major Works (OUP Oxford)
Roy Porter (1990) The Enlightenment (London: MacMillan)
