the age of enlightenment v2.0
The Age Of Enlightenment (also known as the age of reason) is a period in history covering the whole of the eighteenth century. It was a time of intellectual and philosophical innovation, using science and reason in the pursuit of human betterment. It is summed up by the German philosopher Immanuel Kant as: Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-incurred immaturity.
‘Dare to know! Have the courage to use your reason!’
Jean-Jacque Rousseau was an Enlightenment philosopher, born in 1712. One of his central ideas is that we humans are naturally good, and that it is society that corrupts us. He saw that the real problems were the political systems and social conventions which were designed to restrict freedoms (including the freedom of thought), and to preserve the structures which were the cause of inequity within society. Nearly three hundred years later and that same social structure that is weighted in favour of the privileged hasn’t changed, other than the extent to which that inequity now exists between the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’.
Human behaviour reflects the influences we each receive, meaning that, as a species, we currently don’t embody the general concept of being ‘good.’ Rousseau was right in asserting that society corrupts us, and his belief that we are ‘naturally’ good – if not for society’s injustices and exploitative values – is supported by the nature of our evolution. Our large brains developed specifically to support attributes often considered virtuous: generosity, hospitality, empathy, reason, egalitarianism, compassion, imagination, and altruism. It’s clear that we could become better versions of ourselves if society’s values and influences were intentionally designed to nurture these qualities – traits that evolved to aid and sustain our survival. It’s clear that we cannot do so without them.
The need for us to become better is not merely a well-meaning ideal – it is essential for our survival. However, we cannot simply choose to improve, to do the right thing, or to appropriately address the mistakes of our past; we must be made better. At present, we embody the errors of our history, our thoughts and values being the very reasons why we find ourselves at this critical point in our social evolution. To move forward, we must fundamentally change how we think, what we value, and how we perceive both ourselves and our role within the bigger picture.
One key mindset that requires reexamination is our acceptance of ownership and the injustices and exploitation it levies on the less privileged. Rousseau recognised this corruption, and offered the following summation:
The first man, having enclosed a piece of ground and saying, “This is mine”, and having found people naive enough to believe him, was the real founder of civil* society. From how many crimes, wars, and murders, from how many horrors and injustices might someone have saved mankind, by pulling up the fence posts and crying to his fellows, “Beware of listening to this impostor; you are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and the earth itself to nobody.”
*’Civil’ in this context, does not mean civilised, but refers to the protectionist foundation of society’s legal framework that preserves the rights of the privileged – those who own land, and property – to not only exploit the poor and vulnerable, but also all other species and the natural world with impunity.
April 2024