1. Philosophy of Enlightenment:
main features and outstanding figures of the era
2. Features of the Enlightenment in Ukraine
3. Grigory Skovoroda - philosopher-educator
Philosophy of the Enlightenment: main features and outstanding figures of the era
The spiritual heirs of the humanists of the Renaissance were the enlighteners of the 18th century. Most sharply criticizing and angrily ridiculing feudal orders and church dogmas, the enlighteners undermined the ideological foundation of the old society and created a new spiritual culture based on the principles of humanism, equality of people, emancipation of the human mind and harmonious development of the individual.
The Enlightenment is the political ideology, philosophy and culture of the era of the collapse of feudalism and the establishment of capitalist relations. The term "enlightenment" was introduced by Voltaire and Herder. German philosopher and Kant defined the Enlightenment as a necessary historical era of human development, the essence of which is the widespread use of human reason to realize social progress.
Prominent figures of the Enlightenment
English Enlightenment
Locke John(1632-1704) - materialist philosopher, one of the first to form many of the ideas of the Enlightenment, author of the theory of social contract and natural law.
Shaftesbury Anthony Ashley Cooper(1671-1713) - materialist philosopher, esthetician, representative of deism; Shaftesbury aestheticizes the world, affirming the aesthetic character of moral perfection, painting a majestic picture of the eternally created and creative cosmos with a single primary source of everything good and beautiful.
Toland John (1617-1722) - a materialist philosopher, close to the dialectical interpretation of the essence of the world (a guess about the self-motion of matter) in the book “Christianity without Mysteries”, spoke against the Christian religion and the church; On charges of attacks on religion and morality, the book was condemned to burning, and the author was sentenced to prison, but escaped. The main philosophical work is “Letters to Serena”.
Collins William Wilkie (1824-1889) - writer, in artistic form criticized not only the old feudal order, but also the bourgeois moral norms that were emerging.
French Enlightenment
Charles Louis Montesquieu (1689-1755) - philosopher, writer, historian. In the main work “On the Spirit of Laws” he substantiates the position of deism; founder of the geographical school in sociology, which studied the influence of natural factors on the course of history; developed the concept of the functional role of religion, necessary to maintain social order and preserve morality.
Voltaire (real name François Marie Aruz, 1694-1778) - philosopher, writer, publicist; in artistic form he criticized feudal relations, the despotic form of government, and the feudal-clerical worldview. In "Philosophical Letters", "Treatise on Metaphysics"; "Philosophical Dictionary" acted as a deist, at the same time expressing the idea of eternity and non-creation of matter, its objective existence and eternal motion. Very guilty of the French materialists of the 18th century.
Mably Gabriel Bonnot de (1709-1785) - political thinker, historian, utopian communist. He considered private property to be the source of social ills, saw the way to transform society in reducing property inequality by ending luxury and limiting needs (ascetic communism), and recognized the people as the bearer of supreme power. Mably's ideas contributed to the ideological preparation of the Great French Revolution.
Rousseau Jean Jacques (1712-1778) - philosopher, writer, esthetician, teacher, ideologist of the Great French Revolution. Rousseau's work "Emile, or On Education", published in 1762, was sentenced to burning for religious free-thinking, and the author immigrated to England for five years. In his views on nature, Rousseau is a deist. Rousseau's socio-political ideal was a republic; he defended the idea of illegitimate power that acts against the people, their vital interests, and substantiated the people's right to a revolutionary overthrow of such power. In his works “Did the revival of the sciences and arts contribute to the improvement of morals”, “Discourse on the origin and justification of inequality between people”, he insightfully described many contradictions of social and scientific and technological progress.
Condillac Etienne Bonnot de (1715-1780) - philosopher, logician, member of the French Academy; in his main philosophical work, “Treatise on Sensations,” he developed Locke’s sensualist theory of knowledge. In his work “The Language of Residues” he gave an interpretation of logic as a general grammar of all signs.
Enlightenment is considered a stage of development European culture late XVII - early XIX century. Rationalism, intelligence, science - these three concepts began to come to the fore. The basis of the Enlightenment ideology is faith in man. The eighteenth century is a time of man's great hopes for himself and his capabilities, a time of faith in the human mind and the high purpose of man. The enlighteners were convinced that healthy fantasy, imagination, and feeling must be formed. Books began to appear in which writers wanted to put as much information as possible about the world around people, to give them an idea of other countries and continents. Of course, one cannot help but remember such famous people like Voltaire, Diderot, Rousseau. A whole variety of genres, from the scientific encyclopedia to the educational novel, appeared during this period. In this regard, Voltaire said: “All genres are beautiful, except the boring.”
Voltaire(1694-1778)
Voltaire's creative legacy is enormous: fifty volumes of six hundred pages each. It was about him that Victor Hugo said that “this is not a person, this is an ERA.” Voltaire still has the fame of an outstanding scientist, philosopher, and poet. What can be found in Voltaire's Philosophical Letters? Principles of philosophy that are still relevant today: tolerance, the right to freely express one’s own thoughts. What about religion? This was also a hot topic. It turns out that the enlighteners, in particular Voltaire, did not reject the existence of God, but rejected the influence of God on the fate of man. It is known that the Russian Empress Catherine the Great corresponded with Voltaire. After the death of the philosopher, she wanted to buy his library along with their correspondence - however, the letters were bought and subsequently published by Pierre Augustin Beaumarchais, author of The Marriage of Figaro.
By the way, Voltaire’s working day lasted from 18 to 20 hours. At night he often got up, woke up his secretary and dictated to him, or wrote himself. He also drank up to 50 cups of coffee a day.
Jean Jacques Rousseau(1712 – 1778)
Just like Voltaire, he is a French philosopher, one of the most influential thinkers of the 18th century, the ideological predecessor of the French Revolution. In his first works, Rousseau expressed the tenets of his worldview. The foundations of civil life, division of labor, property, state and laws are only the source of inequality, unhappiness and depravity of people. Based on the idea that man is naturally endowed with an inclination towards goodness, Rousseau believed that the main task of pedagogy is the development of the good inclinations endowed in man by nature. From this point of view, Rousseau rebelled against any violent methods in education, and especially against cluttering the child's mind with unnecessary knowledge. Rousseau's ideas influenced the leaders of the French Revolution, they are written into the American Constitution, his educational theories still make themselves felt indirectly in almost every school throughout the world, and his influence on literature continues to this day. Rousseau developed his political ideas in a number of works, the pinnacle of which is the treatise “On the Social Contract” published in 1762. “Man is born to be free, and yet he is in chains everywhere.” These words, which begin the first chapter of the treatise, went around the whole world.
By the way, Jean Jacques Rousseau was the author of a musical dictionary and wrote the comic opera “The Village Sorcerer,” which became the founder of French vaudeville operas and lasted on the French opera stage for more than 60 years. As a result of his conflict with the church and government (early 1760s, after the publication of the book “Emile, or On Education”), the suspicion initially characteristic of Rousseau acquired extremely painful forms. He saw conspiracies everywhere. It was his “Social Contract” that inspired the fighters for the ideals of the Great French Revolution; Rousseau himself, paradoxically, was never a supporter of such radical measures.
Denis Diderot(1713-1784)
French philosopher-educator - foreign honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Founder and editor of the Encyclopedia, or Explanatory dictionary sciences, arts and crafts." In the philosophical works of Denis Diderot, being a supporter of the enlightened monarchy, he came out with an irreconcilable criticism of absolutism, the Christian religion and the church, and defended (based on sensationalism) materialist ideas. Diderot's literary works were written mainly in the tradition of the realistic everyday novel of the Enlightenment. If the bourgeoisie sought to destroy class barriers between itself and the privileged nobility, then Diderot destroyed class barriers in literary genres. From now on, the tragedy became more humanized. All classes could be represented in a dramatic work. At the same time, the rationalistic construction of characters gave way to a real depiction of living people. Like Voltaire, he did not trust the masses of the people, who, in his opinion, were incapable of sound judgment in “moral and political questions.” Diderot supported friendly relations with Dmitry Golitsyn. As an art critic, he wrote annual reviews of art exhibitions - "Salons". And from 1773 to 1774, Diderot, at the invitation of Catherine II, traveled to Russia and lived in St. Petersburg.
Montesquieu (1689-1755)
Full name: Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron La Brade et de Montesquieu. French writer, lawyer and philosopher, author of the novel “Persian Letters”, articles from the “Encyclopedia, or Explanatory Dictionary of Sciences, Arts and Crafts”, work “On the Spirit of Laws”, supporter of the naturalistic approach to the study of society. Developed the doctrine of separation of powers. Montesquieu led a simple solitary life and concentrated with full spiritual strength and deep seriousness on the task of an observer, a thinker and a seeker of norms. The post of President of the Parliament of Bordeaux, which went to Montesquieu in 1716, soon began to weigh heavily on him. In 1726 he resigned this position, but, as the owner of the castle of La Brede, he faithfully maintained the corporate beliefs of the parliamentary aristocracy.
He represented a type of French aristocrat, already rare at that time, who did not allow himself to be caught by the temptations of the court, and became a scientist in the spirit of noble independence. The great travels across Europe undertaken by Montesquieu in 1728-1731 were in the nature of serious research trips. Montesquieu actively visited literary salons and clubs and was acquainted with many writers, scientists, and diplomats. Among his interlocutors, for example, is the French researcher controversial issues international law Gabriel Mably.
The Age of Enlightenment occupies an exceptional place in the history of culture. The chronological framework of this era was defined by the German scientist W. Windelband as the century between the Glorious Revolution in England (1689) and the Great French Revolution (1789). It is necessary to note the priority of England in the formation of the ideology and culture of the European Enlightenment, and we should not forget about the specifics of the implementation of the ideas of the Enlightenment in the culture of different states.
The European Enlightenment is a very specific set of ideas that gave rise to a specific cultural system. Here we can already talk about changes in the consciousness of a huge mass of people who, according to I. Kant, emerged “from the state of their minority” and were captured by the flow of new ideas, which led to the birth of a new type of culture.
1. It is characterized by deism (a religious and philosophical doctrine that recognizes God as the creator of nature, but denies further intervention of God in the self-movement of nature and does not allow other ways of knowing God other than reason). Deism made it possible to oppose religious fanaticism, for freedom of conscience and the liberation of science and philosophy from church tutelage. Representatives of deism (Voltaire and Rousseau in France, J. Locke in England, etc.) contrasted reason with faith. In the Age of Enlightenment, the Christian idea loses its power, and the desire to free religion from blind faith and remove it from natural knowledge appears.
2. The worship of nature by the enlighteners led to cosmopolitanism, which was expressed in the condemnation of all nationalism and the recognition of equal opportunities for all nations. At the same time, the spread of cosmopolitanism led to a decline in the sense of patriotism, which is most clearly seen in the example of France. “From the very beginning, the French Revolution was distinguished by cosmopolitanism, it can hardly be called actually French... then the ideal was considered rather an abstract “man,” but by no means the Motherland” (E. Faguet). The idea of the unity of humanity and culture is increasingly being expressed.
Throughout the 18th century. In Europe as a whole, interest in the life, customs and culture of the countries of the East is growing unusually. So, in France at the end of the 17th century. A multi-volume publication "Oriental Library" appeared. At the beginning of the 18th century. translations from Arabic, Persian and other eastern languages appear. The publication of Tales of the Thousand and One Nights has had particular success, causing many imitations. However, even more important were attempts to theoretically comprehend the culture of different peoples, based on the idea of the unity of human nature and the universality of reason. The Italian enlightener Vico said: “In nature there is one mental language common to all peoples.” The German scientist I. G. Herder carefully studied folklore different countries and published the collection “Voices of Peoples in Their Songs”. Of course, it was impossible to capture all the richness of the world’s culture. But he dreamed about it, exclaiming enthusiastically: “What a work this would be about the human race, about the human spirit, about world culture!”
3. The culture of the Enlightenment is inherently “scientific.” By the beginning of the 18th century. Natural science was experiencing a true renaissance. Scientists of the mid-18th century. sought to explain all natural phenomena exclusively by natural causes. “These were not empiricists at all from a philosophical point of view, they were servants of science,” emphasizes V.I. Vernadsky, which finally entered the life of mankind on an equal footing with philosophy and religion.” What was previously the preserve of a few has now become common property, as exemplified by the famous French Encyclopedia. For the first time, an independent and integral scientific worldview appeared on the historical arena. During the Age of Enlightenment, the formation of modern science with its ideals and norms that determined the subsequent development of technogenic civilization.
4. The ideologists of the Enlightenment believed that it was with the help of reason that the truth about man and the surrounding nature would be found. It is not for nothing that the Enlightenment is called the Age of Reason. Reason was interpreted as the source and engine of knowledge, ethics and politics: a person can and should act reasonably; society can and should be organized rationally. The cult of reason in the 18th century. became the main doctrine of culture. Voltaire called his age the age of reason, which spread across Europe from St. Petersburg to Cadiz.
5. The defining feature of the culture of the Enlightenment is the idea of progress, which is closely intertwined with the idea of rationality. It was during the Enlightenment that the concept of “faith in progress through reason” was formulated, which determined the development of European civilization for a long time and brought a number of devastating consequences.
6. The culture of educators is characterized by an absolutization of the importance of education in the formation of a new person. It seemed to the leaders of the era that it was enough to create conditions for raising children - and within one or two generations all misfortunes would be eradicated. The bet was placed on a new person, free from the heritage of one or another philosophical, religious or literary tradition. Descartes developed a rationalistic method of cognition and put forward the concept of “innate ideas.” In contrast, Locke argued that there are no “innate ideas”, and therefore there are no “blue blood” people claiming special rights and advantages. " Experience about the human mind" - the philosophical treatise of John Locke - became a kind of manifesto of the Enlightenment era. The ideas it contained about the education of the human personality and the role of the social environment in this process formed the basis of the theories of most educators. Everyone was almost unanimous that if a person is shaped by experience, then it must be a rational experience, for reason is the main criterion of truth and
justice.
The French Enlightenment, generally directed against feudalism and absolutism, consisted of teachings of varying political and philosophical radicalism. Representatives of the older generation - S. L. Montesquieu and Voltaire - gravitated more towards the gradual reform of feudal society on the model of England, where it was established constitutional monarchy is a form of governmenta device in which the power of the monarch is limited toconstitution and strong parliament. They counted on a “reasonable combination” of the interests of the bourgeoisie and aristocrats. D. Diderot, J. O. La Mettrie, C. A. Helvetius, P. A. Golbach in principle denied feudal property and feudal privileges, rejected monarchical power, while advocating "enlightened monarchy", embodimentidealistic belief in the possibility of improving monarchical powerthrough active education of monarchs in the spirit of new ideas of the time as a compromise intermediate option.
Edition " Great Encyclopedia"collected all the disparate knowledge and aspirations of the enlighteners into one whole. The Encyclopedia rallied around itself the smartest people in France. A circle of philosophers was formed in Paris - encyclopedists, which declared itself in the early 50s as a public party. Encyclopedists - French educators, who took part, led by Denis Diderot, in the creation of the 35-volume "Encyclopedia, or Explanatory Dictionary of Sciences, Arts and Crafts" - proclaimed the purpose of the multi-volume publication to be to summarize the knowledge of mankind in various fields. The encyclopedia became the code of the French Enlightenment. It was not just a body of scientific knowledge, but also a form of struggle against social prejudices and was intended for the entire society. The first volume was published in 1751. The editor-in-chief and soul of the enterprise was Denis Diderot(1713-1784). In his philosophical works ("Thoughts on the Explanation of Nature", "Philosophical Principles of Matter and Motion", etc.) Diderot defended materialist ideas. In his literary work he strove for realism ("Ramo's Nephew", "Jacques the Fatalist", "The Nun").
The Enlightenment saw art as a means of popularizing moral and political ideas. To look at things philosophically meant to look rationally. The writers of the Enlightenment called themselves philosophers. Literature was based on public opinion, which was formed in circles and salons. The courtyard ceased to be the only center to which everyone strove. The philosophical salons of Paris, where Voltaire, Diderot, Rousseau, Helvetius, Hume, and Smith attended, became fashionable.
Voltaire (real name François Marie Arouet) (1694-1778) was the recognized leader of the enlighteners throughout Europe. In his work, the social thought of the century was expressed more fully and brightly than in anyone else. The entire rationalist movement is often identified with the activities of Voltaire and is called by a common name - Voltairianism. All the educated people of Europe flocked to the famous castle of Ferney, where he lived for the last 20 years, as if on a pilgrimage. From here Voltaire sent out philosophical and literary manifestos and led circles in Paris. Voltaire was a great writer; he knew how to present the most serious topic in a simple and accessible way. Voltaire wrote philosophical stories ("Candide, or Optimism", "The Simple-minded"), satirical poems ("The Virgin of Orleans"), philosophical treatises (" English letters"), plays ("Zaire", "Magomed"), feuilletons, articles. In contrast to some educators, he strongly emphasized the value of culture.
The largest representative of the French Enlightenment was Charles Louis Montesquieu (1689-1755). His main and last work is the result of many years of work - “The Spirit of Laws”. Montesquieu considered the legislation of peoples depending on the state of culture of society. Studying various forms of government (monarchy, republic, despotism), he developed a theory of the dependence of social relations on the degree of enlightenment of society, on the mental state of the people, on the general structure of civilization.
The democratic trend in the Enlightenment was called " Rousseauism" named after one of the most radical educators - Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778). Rousseau saw the cause of social inequality in private property ("Discourse on the beginning and foundations of inequality"). In his literary works verses, poems, novels, comedies - Rousseau idealized the “natural state” of humanity and glorified the cult of nature. Rousseau was the first to talk about the high cost of the progress of civilization. Rousseau contrasted the depravity and depravity of civilized nations with the ideal purity of morals in the life of society at the patriarchal stage of development. His slogan is "Back to nature!" reflects the dream of natural existence natural person in natural environment. Rousseau's pedagogical views are expressed in his famous novel-treatise "Emile, or On Education." His novel in letters “Julia, or the New Heloise” and “Confession” became reference books for many generations of educated people in Europe. In The Social Contract, Rousseau formulated a social democratic ideal based on the transfer of power from a few to all.
The image of a new hero, capable of surviving in any conditions thanks to knowledge and natural intelligence, received artistic embodiment in English literature. In the famous novel by Daniel Defoe (1661-1731) "Robinson Crusoe" it is clearly proven that a person endowed with knowledge can survive in any conditions. The author of the no less famous work "Gulliver's Travels" Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) looks at the world quite soberly. The handsome Doctor Gulliver also does not get lost under any circumstances; he finds a common language with both Lilliputians and giants. Enlightenment realism was most clearly expressed in the work of Henry Fielding (1707-1754), who is called a classic of Enlightenment literature. The novel “The Story of Tom Jones, a Foundling,” the comedy “The Trapped Judge,” and the satirical novel “Jonathan Wilde” provide a vivid picture of the era.
18th century art was in the process of revising all previously existing values. In it, several directions can be distinguished, differing from each other in ideological and ideological orientation. One of them is rococo- an artistic style that emerged in France in the second half of the 18th century. and reflecting the taste of the court of Louis XV and the aristocracy. Some researchers view it as degenerate baroque. This view is quite legitimate. Indeed, Rococo seems to translate the curvilinear constructions of Baroque into a new register of sound, more intimate, elegant and gentle. Rococo plays ornamental symphonies on the walls and ceilings of interiors and weaves lace patterns. At the same time, Rococo reaches the heights of virtuosity, grace and brilliance, but completely loses Baroque monumentality, solidity and strength. Naked nymphs and angels fill the space against a backdrop of pale pastel-colored landscapes. Rococo sphere - interior decoration. Rocaille painting and sculpture, closely related to the architectural design of the interior, had a purely decorative character. She avoided resorting to dramatic subjects and was frankly illusory and cloudless in nature. The plane of the wall was broken up by mirrors and decorative panels in an oval frame consisting of curls - not a single straight line, not a single right angle.
Rococo dresses up every item, covering it with garlands of curls, inlays, and patterns. The walls of the mansions of the nobility and the rich bourgeoisie, built in a classicist spirit with strict order forms, are divided inside with niches, richly decorated with silk wallpaper, paintings, and stucco. The unity of the interior was not disturbed by elaborate furniture with inlays. Porcelain trinkets, caskets, snuff boxes, and bottles went surprisingly well with the elegant tables and ottomans on thin curved legs. Porcelain and mother-of-pearl came into fashion. The Sèvres porcelain manufactory arose in France, and the no less famous Meissen manufactory in Germany. Works applied arts occupied an important place in Rococo culture. In this era, clothes, hairstyles, and a person’s appearance became works of art. The unnatural figures of the ladies in crinolines, hoops, and wigs acquired a silhouette unusual for the human body, and seemed like an elaborate toy in a fantastic interior.
The largest representative of Rococo in painting was Francois Boucher (1703-1770). A most skilled craftsman, he worked a lot in the field of decorative painting, making sketches of tapestries and paintings on porcelain. His mythological and pastoral compositions were very suitable for the decoration of rocaille apartments. Typical subjects are “The Triumph of Venus”, “The Toilet of Venus”, “Diana’s Bath”. In the works of Boucher, the mannerism and eroticism of the Rococo era were expressed with particular force. Enlightenment scholars justifiably reproached him for his lack of truth in life. The plots of Jean Honore Fragonard's works, on the contrary, are simple, everyday episodes (“A Stolen Kiss,” “The Happy Possibilities of a Swing”). They display realistic skill, subtle and careful elaboration of details, imperceptibly transforming the conventional rocaille genre into the everyday genre.
Enlightenmentists encouraged artists to start depicting the life of the third estate. Their calls were heeded by Jean Baptiste Simeon Chardin (1699-1779) and Jean Baptiste Greuze (1725-1805). It’s hard to believe that Chardin’s women (“Prayer Before Dinner,” “Laundress,” “Woman Washing Pots”) are contemporaries of Boucher’s models, but they were the ones who represented the true France of those years. Greuze's paintings are closer to the preaching of Rousseauist ideas about the patriarchal idyll, family virtues ("The Father of the Family Reading the Bible to His Children", "The Country Bride", "The Spoiled Child"). Diderot, in his critical articles, spoke of Chardin as the creator of a new art, and called Greza “truly his artist.”
The forerunner of critical realism in painting was the great English artist William Hogarth (1697-1764). Entire series of paintings (from 68 compositions), united by one plot ("Career of a spendthrift", "Fashionable marriage", "Diligence and laziness", "Parliamentary elections") were translated into engravings and became available to a wide range of people. More democratic and cheaper than painting, engraving became a propagandist of the ideas of the Enlightenment.
European sculpture of the 18th century. reflected the same change in public mood as painting. The most interesting sculptor of the era is Jean Antoine Houdon (1741-1828), the creator of an entire portrait gallery of his contemporaries, including a statue of a seated Voltaire.
The theater of the Enlightenment, both in drama and in stage techniques, reflected a new view of the world. Playwrights and actors in England, France, and Germany were united in the desire to present modern life as accurately as possible. The comedies "The Barber of Seville" and "Crazy Day, or the Marriage of Figaro" by Pierre Augustin Beaumarchais (1732-1799) very accurately reflect the balance of social forces. Figaro acts as a representative of the entire third estate. Figaro is a symbol of the commoner, who is the future. King Louis XVI, having read "Mad Day", declared that the Bastille would sooner fall than this play would be staged. And indeed, the Bastille fell five years after the premiere of this sharp, accusatory comedy.
Progressive ideas in music were embodied in the work of the Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791). Together with Franz Joseph Haydn he represented the Vienna classical school. Mozart changed traditional operatic forms and introduced psychological individuality into the genre types of symphonies. He wrote about 20 operas (The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, The Magic Flute), 50 symphony concerts, numerous sonatas, variations, masses, the famous Requiem, and choral works. Mozart's multifaceted creativity is organically connected with the general pathos of the Enlightenment.
In the 18th century The picture of the world was first presented in everyday images. It was during the Enlightenment, when man and his mind were declared the main value, that the word “culture” itself first became a generally recognized term, the meaning of which was discussed not only by the thinkers of the century, but also by the common public. Following the philosophers, representatives of various currents of social thought and artistic creativity began to associate the development of culture with reason, moral and ethical principles. For this alone, one can highly appreciate the Age of Enlightenment, despite the many errors and misconceptions inherent in it.
In Russia, the Age of Enlightenment occupies mainly the second half of the 18th century, when the government actively promoted the development of sciences and arts. During this period, the first Russian universities, libraries, theater, public museums and a relatively independent press emerged. The greatest contribution to the Russian Enlightenment belongs to Catherine the Great, who, like other enlightened monarchs, played a key role in supporting the arts, sciences and education. Although in Russia, as in other European countries, significant changes took place during this era, the difference between Russia and the Western Enlightenment is that here not only did there not be a shift in public opinion towards the development of liberal ideas, but on the contrary, they were met with extreme caution . The Russian nobility in particular resisted attacks on serfdom. Nevertheless, Pugachev's uprising and the Great French Revolution gave rise to illusions of impending political change and had a significant impact on the intellectual development of Russian society. Russia's place in the world in this era was actively discussed by Denis Fonvizin, Mikhail Shcherbatov, Andrei Bolotov, Ivan Boltin and Alexander Radishchev. Subsequently, these discussions gave rise to a split in Russian society into Westerners and Slavophiles. (cm. )
Peter I. The ideas of the Enlightenment were initially adopted by the famous reformer Tsar Peter I and his associates. These ideas inspired the sermons of Feofan Prokopovich, the satires of Antiochus Cantemir and the historiography of Vasily Tatishchev. (cm. , )
At the beginning of the reign of Peter the Great, schools in Russia were intended to educate clergy. He made efforts to organize Western-style schools in Russia. One of the first was the navigation school in Moscow, created in 1701 to train personnel for the newly built Russian fleet. In 1715, a maritime academy was opened in St. Petersburg for the same purpose. In 1707, a medical school appeared in Moscow at a military hospital, in 1715 - an engineering school, and in the same year - an artillery school in St. Petersburg. In the 1720s in Russia there were up to fifty schools in provincial towns, most of them elementary, in which graduates of the Moscow Navigation School taught “tsifir sciences.”
The School of Mathematical and Navigational Sciences was opened in Moscow in 1701. This was the first real school in Europe. Another real educational institution, opened in 1708 in Halle (Germany), called the “Mathematical, Mechanical and Economic Real School,” was private, had few students (12 people) and lasted only a few years.
The Moscow school, which operated during the first half of the 18th century, was a state school, with at least 200, and sometimes up to 500, students studying annually. A large number of The students belonged to the “lower” classes (children of clerks, clerks, townspeople and soldiers) who were interested in obtaining an education and a technical specialty.
During the reign of Peter I, artillery schools were opened in St. Petersburg, Moscow and others major cities, navigation schools - in port cities, as well as surgical, engineering and “multilingual” schools in Moscow.
In 1721, the first mining school was created in the Urals under the leadership of the Russian scientist and statesman V.N. Tatishchev, who at that time managed the Ural mining factories. Later, arithmetic schools were opened at all Ural state factories, at some - mining schools, and in Yekaterinburg - the Central School, which led all arithmetic and mining schools in the Urals.
At the beginning of the 18th century, an attempt was made to create state comprehensive schools. In 1714, a decree was sent to all church dioceses on the opening of digital schools for teaching literacy, writing and arithmetic, as well as basic information in algebra, geometry and trigonometry. In 1718, 42 numerical schools were opened; in them, as well as in the school of mathematical and navigational sciences, children of all classes, with the exception of serfs, were enrolled not only voluntarily, but also forcibly.
Along with the organization of secular schools, a reform of theological education was carried out: primary bishops' schools and theological seminaries were created, which had a fairly broad general education program. Sometimes children of the tax-paying population also studied there. The serf peasantry was deprived of the opportunity to receive education in public schools. Only rare individuals from among the people learned church literacy from sextons and home teachers.
Despite their class limitations, the reforms had a great influence on the development of education and schools.
Peter I introduced a new civil alphabet, the writing of the letters of which became similar to the Latin one. They published Geometry and other secular textbooks, as well as the famous An honest mirror of youth, or an indication for everyday life, a manual on secular behavior for young nobles translated from German, which went through three editions during Peter’s lifetime alone.
While in Europe, the tsar invited many scientists to his new capital, from whom he formed the Academy of Sciences. Under her, after his death, two educational institutions were opened: a gymnasium and a university with three faculties and teaching mathematics, physics, anatomy, philosophy, history and law. The second Russian university was Moscow University, which opened in 1755. In addition to it Faculty of Medicine and the already mentioned Moscow Hospital School in St. Petersburg, there were also medical schools at hospitals, which in 1786 were united into the Main Medical School. In 1798, the health care system and medical education was supplemented by the creation of the Moscow Medical-Surgical Academy. For the highest nobility, the Gentry Cadet Corps was established in 1731, and in 1752 the Naval Cadet Corps. The program of the Noble Corps included logic, mathematics, physics, rhetoric, history, geography, Latin and French, ethics, law, economics, navigation, artillery and fortification, fencing, music, dancing, architecture, drawing and sculpture. In the second half of the 18th century, private boarding schools and home education also became widespread. Russian nobles usually invited the French to act as tutors.
A significant impetus for development scientific research was given by the establishment of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, where many famous European scientists were invited. Among them was Gerhard Miller, the second Russian historian, author of the “Description of the Siberian Kingdom” (1750) and the Norman hypothesis of the origin of Rus'. The geography and flora of Siberia were studied by academicians Stepan Krasheninnikov, Ivan Lepekhin and Peter Pallas. The famous mathematician Leonhard Euler, who not only wrote textbooks in Russian, but also became the author of many scientific works in St. Petersburg, including “Mechanics, or the science of motion, in an analytical presentation” (1736) was also a Russian academician almost all his life. ) and "General Spherical Trigonometry" (1779), the first complete exposition of the entire system of spherical trigonometry.
M.V. Lomonosov. Academician Mikhail Lomonosov made a great contribution to the development of Russian science. He laid the foundations of modern physical chemistry, the molecular kinetic theory of heat, manufactured telescopes of his own design, with the help of which he discovered the atmosphere of the planet Venus, and was also a gifted poet and one of the creators of the modern Russian language. Among the Russian naturalists of the Enlightenment, the chemist Tovius Lowitz, naturalists and ethnographers Johann Georgi and Johann Güldenstedt, botanist and geographer Johann Falk, geographers N. Ya. Ozeretskovsky and P. I. Rychkov are also known. (cm. )
During the reign of Peter's daughter Empress Elizabeth, the idea of enlightened absolutism was taken up by her favorite Ivan Shuvalov. He was an ideal enlightened courtier, contributed to the founding of Moscow University and the Imperial Academy of Arts, which concentrated the intellectual life of many artists in the last quarter of the 18th century. Shuvalov also patronized the greatest Russian scientist of that time, Mikhail Lomonosov, who did a lot in various fields of natural science, as well as in poetry, religious philosophy and fine arts.
The amazing, versatile activities of the great son of the Russian people, M.V. Lomonosov, were inspired by his passionate patriotic desire to make his beloved homeland powerful, rich and enlightened.
Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov (1711-1765), the son of a Pomor peasant, first studied in his village near Kholmogory with home teachers using the textbooks of Smotritsky and Magnitsky. At the age of nineteen, he came to Moscow on foot and, hiding his peasant origin, entered the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy, from where he was sent as one of the best students to the academic gymnasium in St. Petersburg. In 1736 he was sent abroad to continue his education, where he studied with leading scientists.
In 1741, Lomonosov became an adjunct of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, then in 1745 - a professor of chemistry, and later - an academician. His activities were extremely versatile and effective; he created a number of new branches of science. “Combining extraordinary willpower with the extraordinary power of concept, Lomonosov embraced all branches of education... Historian, Rhetorian, Mechanic, Chemist, Mineralogist, Artist and Poetmaker - he experienced everything and penetrated everything,” wrote A. S. Pushkin.
Lomonosov was the creator of Russian classical philosophy, the founder of philosophical materialism and scientific natural science. He discovered the universal law of nature - the law of conservation of matter and motion, which underlies natural science. The name of Lomonosov is associated with the creation of Russian grammar and the formation of a literary language in Russia, which was of great importance for the further development of literature, poetry, and art. Lomonosov enriched the vocabulary of the Russian language with scientific terms; he was the first academician to lecture on physics and write scientific works in Russian.
Lomonosov waged an irreconcilable struggle against those reactionary scientists who hindered the development of Russian science and the training of “scientific Russians,” using the support of court ignoramuses who acted for selfish purposes. He spoke with indignation about the fact that peasants were being denied access to educational institutions, and tried his best to organize a classless school in Russia. In Lomonosov’s patriotic struggle for the development of Russian science, his teaching activities at the university and gymnasium at the Academy of Sciences occupied a large place.
Heading these educational institutions since 1758, Lomonosov determined the general rules for the work of the gymnasium and the university, developed the curriculum of the gymnasium and the schedule of educational work of the university, established the principles and methods of teaching in these educational institutions. In the “Regulations of the Academic Gymnasium”, which he compiled in 1758, Lomonosov defended the idea of a general educational and classless nature of the secondary school.
He created a number of textbooks for the gymnasium and university. In 1748 he wrote “Rhetoric”, in 1755 - “Russian Grammar”, which for 50 years were the best educational manuals of the Russian secondary school. Lomonosov's advanced teaching on language and literature, which, in his opinion, reflects the real relations of reality, found its application in them. Lomonosov wrote a book on history. In the textbook “Experimental Physics” he translated, natural phenomena were explained in the spirit of philosophical materialism. In this book, for the first time, not a dogmatic presentation of physical laws was given, but a description of physical experiments that lead students to an understanding of the laws of physics. Lomonosov took an active part in the creation of Moscow University.
Catherine II. As in the rest of Europe, the Russian Enlightenment was strongly influenced by the Enlightenment of France. This influence was strongest during the reign of Catherine II. Catherine is usually considered the model of an enlightened despot. As is known, she maintained friendly correspondence with Voltaire and Diderot, founded one of the largest museums in the world - the Hermitage, the Free Economic Society and the Russian National Library in St. Petersburg, three institutions that were important for the subsequent spread of education and enlightenment in Russia. Famous foreigners from European countries flocked to Catherine's court: Denis Diderot, Leonhard Euler, Peter Pallas and Alessandro Cagliostro. When is it published in France? Encyclopedia was banned, Catherine suggested that Diderot finish his work in Russia. (cm. , )
The country needed competent, educated personnel. Therefore, in 1786, the “Charter for public schools in Russian Empire“, according to which four-year public schools were opened in every provincial city, and small public schools operating under unified state programs in district cities.
In 1768, a network of city schools was created, based on a class-lesson system. Schools began to open actively. Under Catherine, special attention was paid to the development of women's education; in 1764, the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens and the Educational Society for Noble Maidens were opened. The Academy of Sciences has become one of the leading scientific bases in Europe. An observatory, a physics laboratory, an anatomical theater, a botanical garden, instrumental workshops, a printing house, a library, and an archive were founded. On October 11, 1783, the Russian Academy was founded.
In May 1764, the first educational institution for girls in Russia was founded - the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens. Next, the Novodevichy Institute was opened for the education of bourgeois girls. Soon Catherine II drew attention to the Land Noble Corps, and in 1766 its new charter was adopted. By developing the Decree “Institutions for the management of the provinces of the All-Russian Empire” in 1775, Catherine II actively began to resolve problems in education. She assigned the responsibility to open schools at the provincial and district levels to the orders of public charity.
The inadequacy of government measures was the subject of criticism not only from Novikov and Radishchev. Prominent publicist and historian Mikhail Shcherbatov, whose ideas about freedom were greatly influenced by the work of Rousseau, believed that Russia needed truly mass education. Ivan Betskoy also advocated for reform of the educational system. His proposals were partly embodied in the organization of the Smolny Institute, the first in Russia educational institution for women of noble birth. This project was, in turn, a practical embodiment of the ideas of the French educator Francois Fenelon, who believed that female education was the key to changing public morality as a whole. The famous director of the Imperial Academy of Sciences and Arts, Ekaterina Dashkova, is often considered one of the founders of suffragism. She, in particular, reformed the Russian Academy on the model of the French one. Even the Russian Orthodox Church was partly influenced by the ideas of the Enlightenment. Moscow Metropolitan Platon (Levshin) called for reform of spiritual education and religious tolerance.
Although Orthodoxy still remained the state religion, Catherine, following the advice of her enlightened friends, carried out a number of reforms, in particular the secularization of most Russian monasteries. An Order was drawn up for the commission, which contained many ideas of government, the authorship of which belongs to Cesare Beccaria and Montesquieu. Although the Order did not have any practical consequences for limiting the regime of autocracy, legislative activity served as some incentive for the spread of liberal ideas; its culmination was the appearance of Radishchev’s book “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow” (1790).
However, Catherine's enthusiasm for the French Encyclopedias and the ideas of its creators did not in any way affect the regime of its own absolute power, and when after the American and French revolutions it turned out that the Enlightenment had a strong influence on political life, Nikolai Novikov was imprisoned for freethinking, Radishchev was exiled to hard labor, and his the works, like those of Voltaire, were burned and banned. The Constitution of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth of May 3, 1791 by Catherine was regarded as Jacobin and dangerous in its influence on Russia and its own influence in Poland. As a result, the Russian-Polish War broke out in 1792, followed by the partitions of Poland. This turn from the Enlightenment policy was called counter-enlightenment.
N.I. Novikov. The famous educator and teacher of the second half of the 18th century, Nikolai Ivanovich Novikov (1744-1818), was educated at Moscow University, where his worldview was formed and then his educational activities began. Novikov led a social movement to organize public schools independent of the tsarist government, directing public initiative to create schools for the unprivileged population. He sought to help home teachers teach children correctly and published a lot of educational literature: alphabet books, primers, textbooks on various subjects. Novikov was the creator and editor of the first in Russia children's magazine « Children's reading for the heart and mind,” the publication of which was then handed over to the famous historian and writer N.M. Karamzin. V. G. Belinsky subsequently spoke very positively about this magazine. In his satirical magazines “Truten”, “Zhivopiets” and other publications, Novikov published articles on pedagogical topics, attracting public attention to issues of education. (cm. )
Novikov saw education as the main means of resolving social issues. Novikov called for the moral improvement of people, believing that they would become virtuous if they were enlightened and educated, sought to reconcile science with religion and saw religious education as an integral part of the moral education of children and youth.
The purpose of education, in his opinion, is to form an active, virtuous personality who directs his activities to benefit the fatherland and his fellow citizens. Every person is more useful to the state the more enlightened his mind is, and Novikov insisted on giving children a broad and diverse mental education. Guided by the idea of national education, which occupies a large place in all its pedagogical system, Novikov believed that children need to first of all study native language and literature, history and geography of their country. In the content of his studies he included the “elementary foundations” of both the humanities and the exact sciences, as well as knowledge about nature.
Novikov believed that children need to study the world of plants and animals, get acquainted with the work activities of people and labor processes. While in noble Russia the younger generation was instilled with contempt for ordinary people, engaged in manual labor, he openly called on educators to instill in children respect for workers.
In the field of moral education, Novikov also made many valuable proposals. He considered it necessary to love and respect children, raise them with positive examples, force them to think about the motives of their actions, and constantly practice moral actions. Novikov strongly opposed physical punishment. It is very important to instill in children a love of truth and a firm intention to defend the truth, and to accustom children to useful work from an early age.
In the magazine “Addition to the Moscow Gazette” Novikov published a wonderful article “On the upbringing and guidance of children. For the dissemination of generally useful knowledge and general well-being.” This is the most important pedagogical work of its time, which addresses issues of physical, moral and mental education. The author called for the development of pedagogy as a theory of education, argued that there is already “enough material for this science, which can be called pedagogy,” and sought to acquaint a wide range of readers of his publications, parents and educators with information already available in pedagogy about how children should be raised. Novikov’s activities and views had a great influence on the formation of the worldview of leading people in Russia, in particular A. N. Radishchev.
A.N. Radishchev. The largest representative of progressive pedagogical thought in Russia in the second half of the 18th century is the founder of the Russian revolutionary movement, Alexander Nikolaevich Radishchev (1749-1802).
He relied on the scientific discoveries of Lomonosov, whom he admired, considering his views to be the pinnacle of scientific thought of the 18th century. He developed the advanced provisions of Russian philosophical materialism in his views on nature, the origin of man and his consciousness. Radishchev recognized the existence of the external world, its materiality, knowability, and called the official church ideology and Masonic teachings mystical nonsense, reminiscent of old times scholastics. (cm. )
The pedagogical views of A. N. Radishchev reflect strong and weak sides his materialism and revolutionary educational views. He viewed man as a material being - a part of nature.
Radishchev considered the main task of education to be the formation of a person with civic consciousness, high moral qualities, who loves his fatherland most of all. Unlike many thinkers of his time, he believed that only a person capable of actively fighting the autocracy for the benefit of the oppressed people could be a true patriot. He outlined these sublime thoughts in his wonderful essay “A Conversation about Being a Son of the Fatherland.”
In his main work, “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow,” he painted a difficult picture of the suffering to which landowners subjected peasant children. He pointed out that the serfdom system impedes the spiritual development of peasant children, suppresses their natural abilities, dulls their intelligence, demanded education for all children, regardless of their class status, and believed that one of the greatest points of the state constitution is education, both public and private. The state is obliged to ensure that the younger generations receive proper education, which would help develop the strength of the child and make him a true patriot, a true son of the Fatherland.
Radishchev opposed the blind submission of children to the will of their parents. He pointed out that the relationship between parents and children is not their private, but a deeply public matter. Together with all the leading people of his time, he resolutely insisted that the native language become the language of science and education. He saw this as a necessary condition for ensuring the development of science in Russia, as well as the democratization of education. He put forward an extensive educational program, which should have included knowledge about society and nature.
Radishchev highly appreciated the views of the French enlighteners, but at the same time subjected to thorough criticism of their theories about the relationship between man and society. He considered man a social being that develops in society, draws its strength from a social union, and needs communication with people for its formation.
Radishchev criticized Rousseau's individualistic concept of education, caustically ridiculed his admirers, pointed out the incongruity of their educational means and methods, Emile-like ideas about forests, meadows and fields, and objected to the idealization of children's nature. At the same time, he called for taking into account the natural characteristics of children.
The main thing in the formation of a person, according to Radishchev, is not his natural data, but the circumstances of life, all those social factors that surround a person.
Criticizing closed educational institutions isolated from the surrounding life, Radishchev pointed out the need for an organization of education that would help “incline a person towards society.” He believed that in conditions of upbringing isolated from society it is impossible to form a person with social aspirations, interests and inclinations. In his works “The Life of Fyodor Vasilyevich Ushakov”, “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow”, he noted that in the formation of “true sons of the Fatherland” their daily participation in the fight against despotism, violence, and injustice plays a huge role.
Radishchev stood among the best thinkers of his time. He had an undoubted influence on foreign social thought of the 18th century. A bust of Radishchev was exhibited in Paris during the French bourgeois revolution. His “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow” was distributed in handwritten form among the leaders of the French Convention. This book was translated into German in Leipzig. But Radishchev’s influence on the development of revolutionary democratic thought in Russia was especially great.
DI. Fonvizin. Denis Ivanovich Fonvizin (3(13/04/1745 - 1(11/11/1792)) - writer, playwright. Born and raised in Moscow in a wealthy noble family. Fonvizin is the largest Russian playwright of the 18th century, the creator of Russian social comedy. He also contributed to the formation of Russian literary prose. Fonvizin spent the first ten years with his family. Here he learned to read and write. The opening of the first Russian university in 1755 changed the fate of Fonvizin. Fonvizin was enrolled in the Latin school of the noble gymnasium, which prepared him for admission to the university. After graduating from the gymnasium in the spring of 1762, he was promoted to student. (cm. )
During his high school years, Fonvizin began to study literary translations. “My inclination towards writing appeared in infancy,” the writer recalled, “and I, practicing translations into Russian language, reached adolescence." “Exercises in translations” were carried out under the guidance of Professor Reichel (he taught general history and German). In 1762, some translations were published in the university journal “Collection of the best works for the dissemination of knowledge and for the production of pleasure”: “Mr. Menander’s research on ancient mirrors ", "Bargaining of the Seven Muses". The beginning of work on the translation of Voltaire’s tragedy “Alzira” dates back to the same time.
The translation of Golberg's fables prepared by Fonvizin is a book of small moralizing and satirical stories, imbued with the humane idea of deep respect for man, filled with educational contempt for class arrogance. Already here the peculiarity of the stylistic manner of the future satirist manifested itself - the laconicism of the narrative, the love of aphoristically clear phrases and formulas.
Fonvizin is widely known as the author of the comedy “The Minor”, as a brave and brilliant satirist. But the creator of “The Minor” was not only a major and talented playwright of the 18th century. He is one of the founders of Russian prose, a wonderful political writer, a truly great Russian educator, who fearlessly fought against the autocracy of Catherine II for a quarter of a century. This side of Fonvizin’s creative activity has not been sufficiently studied, and therefore, first of all, all of Fonvizin’s original and translated works have not yet been collected and published. Thus, the militant-educational nature of his artistic works and their place in the social life of Russia on the eve of the appearance of Radishchev’s revolutionary book “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow” (1790) are not fully clarified.
On March 7, 1782, Fonvizin submitted a petition to Catherine to be “dismissed from service.” Three days later, the empress signed a decree of resignation. Fonvizin pointedly refused to serve Catherine, deciding to devote all his energy to literary activity. After writing “The Minor,” his attention was increasingly attracted by prose. He wants to write small-sized satirical prose works. It would be best to publish them in a periodical. This is how the idea of owning a satirical magazine arises. Unexpected circumstances that provided the opportunity to take part in a newly opened magazine in the capital forced us to temporarily postpone the plan of organizing our own magazine.
In May 1783, the magazine “Interlocutor of Lovers of the Russian Word” began to be published. Its official editor was Princess E. R. Dashkova. Behind the scenes, Catherine herself was involved in the magazine, publishing her lengthy historical and satirical works in it. Fonvizin decided to take part in the magazine and publish several satirical works in it anonymously. The writer gave battle to the empress on her own bridgehead.
Fonvizin stands at the beginning of that period of Russian literature when it was able to see and discover the poetry of reality. Classicism, having played its historical role, has already exhausted itself. He argued that “art is an imitation of nature, but that nature should appear decorated and ennobled in art. As a result of this view, naturalness and freedom were expelled from art, and therefore truth and life, which gave way to monstrous artificiality, compulsion, lies and deadness.”
In Fonvizin’s works, dramatic and prosaic, life began to appear “as if in shame, in all its nakedness, in all its terrifying ugliness and in all its triumphant beauty.”
Emperor Paul I, who replaced Catherine on the Russian throne in 1796, although he ruled no less autocratically, freed the freethinkers Novikov and Radishchev from prison. During his short reign, Ivan Krylov became the emperor's favorite among writers, whose fables became fashionable as examples of allegorical speech on a politically dangerous topic.
The next emperor, Alexander I, who again came to power as a result of a coup d'etat, realized the danger of confrontation between the liberal-minded nobility and the regime of his absolute power. The Secret Committee, which he first convened in 1801, like the Statutory Commission of 1767, was supposed to develop a program of political reforms. In 1801--1803 a series of decrees allowed state peasants, merchants and other subjects of the non-noble classes to buy land, transfer it to landowners and enslave state peasants were prohibited, a mechanism was even established for the peasants to buy out personal freedom, which, however, only the most enterprising part of the peasantry was able to take advantage of. After the abolition of serfdom in Germany and the Austrian Empire, Russia still remained the only European country where medieval serfdom prevailed. However, the Grand Duchy of Finland, newly annexed to the empire, became autonomous; its laws could not be changed without the consent of the local Diet. After the War of 1812, serfdom was abolished in the Baltic states, and in 1815 the Kingdom of Poland received a constitution. In 1810, a new governing body was established, the State Council, the office of which, on the recommendation of one of the members of the Secret Committee, was headed by the prominent reformer M. M. Speransky, who continued his activities even in the era of political reaction that came with the accession of Nicholas I. Reform program was largely implemented only under Alexander II.
At the end of the 17th century, the Age of Enlightenment began, which covered the entire subsequent 18th century. The key features of this time were freethinking and rationalism. The culture of the Enlightenment took shape, which gave the world
Philosophy
The entire culture of the Enlightenment was based on new philosophical ideas formulated by thinkers of that time. The main rulers of thought were John Locke, Voltaire, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Goethe, Kant and some others. It was they who determined the spiritual appearance XVIII century(also called the Age of Reason).
The Enlightenment believed in several key ideas. One of them is that all people are equal by nature, each person has his own interests and needs. To satisfy them, it is necessary to create a hostel that is comfortable for everyone. Personality is not born on its own - it is formed over time due to the fact that people have physical and spiritual strength, as well as intelligence. Equality must first and foremost consist in the equality of all before the law.
The culture of the Enlightenment is a culture of knowledge accessible to all. Leading thinkers believed that only through the spread of education could social unrest be ended. This is rationalism - the recognition of reason as the basis of human behavior and cognition.
During the Enlightenment, debates about religion continued. The dissociation of society from the inert and conservative church (primarily the Catholic one) grew. Among educated believers, the idea of God as a kind of absolute mechanic who brought order to the originally existing world spread. Thanks to numerous scientific discoveries, the point of view has spread that humanity can reveal all the secrets of the universe, and mysteries and miracles are a thing of the past.
Art movements
In addition to philosophy, there was also the artistic culture of the Enlightenment. At this time, the art of the Old World included two main directions. The first was classicism. It is embodied in literature, music, and fine arts. This direction implied following ancient Roman and Greek principles. Such art was distinguished by symmetry, rationality, purposefulness and strict compliance with form.
Within the framework of romanticism, the artistic culture of the Enlightenment responded to other requests: emotionality, imagination, creative improvisation of the artist. It often happened that in one work these two opposing approaches were combined. For example, the form could correspond to classicism, and the content - to romanticism.
Experimental styles also appeared. Sentimentalism became an important phenomenon. It did not have its own stylistic form, but it was with its help that the then ideas about human kindness and purity, which is given to people by nature, were reflected. Russian artistic culture in the Age of Enlightenment, just like European culture, had its own vibrant works that belonged to the movement of sentimentalism. This was the story of Nikolai Karamzin “Poor Liza”.
Cult of nature
It was the sentimentalists who created the cult of nature characteristic of the Enlightenment. Thinkers of the 18th century looked for in it an example of the beautiful and good that humanity should strive for. Incarnation better world turned out to be parks and gardens that were actively appearing in Europe at that time. They were created as a perfect environment for perfect people. Their composition included art galleries, libraries, museums, temples, and theaters.
The Enlightenmentists believed that the new "natural man" must return to his natural state - that is, nature. According to this idea, Russian artistic culture during the Enlightenment (or rather, architecture) gave Peterhof to its contemporaries. The famous architects Leblon, Zemtsov, Usov, Quarenghi worked on its construction. Thanks to their efforts, a unique ensemble appeared on the shores of the Gulf of Finland, which included a unique park, magnificent palaces and fountains.
Painting
In painting, the artistic culture of Enlightenment Europe developed in the direction of greater secularism. The religious principle was losing ground even in those countries where it had previously felt quite confident: Austria, Italy, Germany. Landscape painting replaced the mood landscape, and the intimate portrait replaced the formal portrait.
In the first half of the 18th century, French culture of the Enlightenment gave birth to the Rococo style. Such art was built on asymmetry, it was mocking, playful and pretentious. The favorite characters of the artists of this movement were bacchantes, nymphs, Venus, Diana and other figures of ancient mythology, and the main subjects were love ones.
A striking example of French Rococo is the work of Francois Boucher, who was also called “the first artist of the king.” He painted theatrical scenery, illustrations for books, and paintings for rich houses and palaces. His most famous paintings: “Toilet of Venus”, “Triumph of Venus”, etc.
Antoine Watteau, on the contrary, turned more to modern life. Under his influence, the style of the greatest English portrait painter, Thomas Gainsborough, developed. His images were distinguished by their spirituality, spiritual sophistication and poetry.
The main Italian painter of the 18th century was Giovanni Tiepolo. This master of engravings and frescoes is considered by art historians to be the last great representative of the Venetian school. The capital of the famous trading republic also gave rise to the veduta - the everyday cityscape. The most famous creators in this genre were Francesco Guardi and Antonio Canaletto. These cultural figures of the Enlightenment left behind a huge number of impressive paintings.
Theater
The 18th century is the golden age of theatre. During the Age of Enlightenment, this art form reached the height of its popularity and prevalence. In England, the greatest playwright was Richard Sheridan. His most famous works, “The Trip to Scarborough,” “The School for Scandal,” and “The Rivals,” satirized the immorality of the bourgeoisie.
The theatrical culture of Europe during the Enlightenment developed most dynamically in Venice, where 7 theaters operated at once. The traditional annual city carnival attracted guests from all over the Old World. The author of the famous “Tavern”, Carlo Goldoni, worked in Venice. This playwright, who wrote a total of 267 works, was respected and appreciated by Voltaire.
The most famous comedy of the 18th century was The Marriage of Figaro, written by the great Frenchman Beaumarchais. This play embodied the mood of society, which had a negative attitude towards the absolute monarchy of the Bourbons. A few years after the publication and first performances of the comedy, a revolution occurred in France that overthrew the old regime.
European culture during the Enlightenment was not homogeneous. In some countries, their own national characteristics arose in art. For example, German playwrights (Schiller, Goethe, Lessing) wrote their most outstanding works in the genre of tragedy. Moreover, the theater of the Enlightenment in Germany appeared several decades later than in France or England.
Johann Goethe was not only a wonderful poet and playwright. It is not without reason that he is called a “universal genius” - an art connoisseur and theorist, scientist, novelist and specialist in many other fields. His key works are the tragedy "Faust" and the play "Egmont". Another outstanding figure of the German Enlightenment, not only wrote "Cunning and Love" and "Robbers", but also left behind scientific and historical works.
Fiction
The main literary genre of the 18th century was the novel. It was thanks to the new books that the triumph of bourgeois culture came, replacing the old feudal ideology. The works of not only artistic writers, but also sociologists, philosophers, and economists were actively published.
The novel, as a genre, grew out of educational journalism. With its help, thinkers of the 18th century found a new form for expressing their social and philosophical ideas. Jonathan Swift, who wrote Gulliver's Travels, put into his work many allusions to the vices of his contemporary society. He also wrote “The Tale of the Butterfly.” In this pamphlet, Swift ridiculed the then church orders and strife.
The development of culture during the Enlightenment can be traced by the emergence of new literary genres. At this time, the epistolary novel (a novel in letters) arose. This was, for example, Johann Goethe’s sentimental work “The Sorrows of Young Werther,” in which the main character committed suicide, as well as Montesquieu’s “Persian Letters.” Documentary novels appeared in the genre travel notes or travel descriptions (“Travels in France and Italy” by Tobias Smollett).
In literature, the culture of the Enlightenment in Russia followed the precepts of classicism. In the 18th century, the poets Alexander Sumarokov, Vasily Trediakovsky, and Antioch Cantemir worked. The first shoots of sentimentalism appeared (the already mentioned Karamzin with “Poor Liza” and “Natalia, the Boyar’s Daughter”). The culture of the Enlightenment in Russia created all the prerequisites for Russian literature, led by Pushkin, Lermontov and Gogol, to experience its golden age already at the beginning of the new 19th century.
Music
It was during the Enlightenment that the modern musical language emerged. Johann Bach is considered its founder. This great composer wrote works in all genres (opera was the exception). Bach is still considered an unrivaled master of polyphony today. Another German composer, George Handel, wrote more than 40 operas, as well as numerous sonatas and suites. He, like Bach, drew inspiration from biblical stories (characteristic titles of the works: “Israel in Egypt,” “Saul,” “Messiah”).
Another important musical phenomenon of that time was the Viennese school. The works of its representatives continue to be performed by academic orchestras today, thanks to which modern people can touch the heritage left by the culture of the Age of Enlightenment. The 18th century is associated with the names of such geniuses as Wolfgang Mozart, Joseph Haydn, Ludwig Van Beethoven. It was these Viennese composers who rethought previous musical forms and genres.
Haydn is considered the father of the classical symphony (he wrote more than a hundred of them). Many of these works were based on folk dances and songs. The pinnacle of Haydn's work is the cycle of London symphonies, written by him during his trips to England. The culture of the Enlightenment, or any other period of human history, has rarely produced such prolific artists. In addition to symphonies, Haydn wrote 83 quartets, 13 masses, 20 operas and 52 keyboard sonatas.
Mozart not only wrote music. He played the harpsichord and violin unsurpassedly, mastering these instruments in the most early childhood. His operas and concerts are distinguished by a wide variety of moods (from poetic lyrics to fun). Mozart's main works are considered to be his three symphonies, written in the same year, 1788 (number 39, 40, 41).
Another great classic, Beethoven, was fond of heroic subjects, which was reflected in the overtures “Egmont”, “Coriolanus” and the opera “Fidelio”. As a performer, he amazed his contemporaries by playing the piano. Beethoven wrote 32 sonatas for this instrument. The composer created most of his works in Vienna. He also owns 10 sonatas for violin and piano (the Kreutzer Sonata is the most famous).
Beethoven suffered from severe hearing loss. The composer was inclined towards suicide and in despair wrote his legendary “Moon” sonata. However, even a terrible illness did not break the artist’s will. Having overcome his own apathy, Beethoven wrote many more symphonic works.
English Enlightenment
England was the birthplace of the European Enlightenment. In this country, earlier than others, back in the 17th century, a bourgeois revolution took place, which gave impetus to cultural development. England has become a clear example of social progress. Philosopher John Locke was one of the first and main theorists of the liberal idea. Under the influence of his writings, the most important political document of the Enlightenment era was written - the American Declaration of Independence. Locke believed that human knowledge is determined by sensory perception and experience, which refuted the previously popular philosophy of Descartes.
Another important British thinker of the 18th century was David Hume. This philosopher, economist, historian, diplomat and publicist updated the science of morality. His contemporary Adam Smith became the founder of modern economic theory. The culture of the Age of Enlightenment, in short, preceded many modern concepts and ideas. Smith's work was exactly like that. He was the first to equate the importance of the market with the importance of the state.
Thinkers of France
French philosophers of the 18th century worked in opposition to the then existing social and political system. Rousseau, Diderot, Montesquieu - they all protested against the domestic order. Criticism could take a variety of forms: atheism, idealization of the past (the republican traditions of antiquity were praised), etc.
The 35-volume Encyclopedia became a unique phenomenon of the culture of the Enlightenment. It was composed of the main thinkers of the “Age of Reason”. The inspirer and editor-in-chief of this epoch-making publication was Julien La Mettrie, Claude Helvetius and other outstanding intellectuals of the 18th century who contributed to individual volumes.
Montesquieu sharply criticized the arbitrariness and despotism of the authorities. Today he is rightly considered the founder of bourgeois liberalism. Voltaire became an example of outstanding wit and talent. He was the author of satirical poems, philosophical novels, and political treatises. Twice the thinker went to prison, and even more times he had to go on the run. It was Voltaire who created the fashion for freethinking and skepticism.
German Enlightenment
German culture of the 18th century existed in conditions of political fragmentation of the country. Progressive minds advocated the rejection of feudal remnants and national unity. Unlike French philosophers, German thinkers were cautious about issues related to the church.
Like the Russian culture of the Enlightenment, Prussian culture was formed with the direct participation of an autocratic monarch (in Russia it was Catherine II, in Prussia it was Frederick the Great). The head of state strongly supported the progressive ideals of his time, although he did not renounce his unlimited power. This system was called “enlightened absolutism.”
The main Enlightenment figure in Germany in the 18th century was Immanuel Kant. In 1781 he published the fundamental work “Critique of Pure Reason”. The philosopher developed a new theory of knowledge and studied the capabilities of human intelligence. It was he who substantiated the methods of struggle and legal forms of changing the social and state system, excluding gross violence. Kant made a significant contribution to the creation of the theory of the rule of law.