Philosophes

The philosophes (French parti Philosophique ) were initially a group of French intellectuals of the Enlightenment. The term was later extended to other protagonists of the Enlightenment origins, its exact definition, also with regard to the delimitation of the group of philosophers, however, is controversial.

Term

The term philosophe was first used in France in the 18th century by the intellectuals resident to describe themselves. The areas which were dedicated to the philosophes were extremely versatile, but often had in common that they were limited to solving practical problems. Jean -Jacques Rousseau wrote about on topics such as politics, education, and about the relationship between theater and the values ​​of the society. However, he also wrote a novel, an opera, and his autobiography. The works of the philosophes were aimed at a wide audience of educated people and enjoyed great demand, even if the nobility and clergy tried to prevent the spread of these plants.

Between 1740 and 1789, the term of the Enlightenment spread even further, and although the reconnaissance authorities were skeptical about, they found even in their ranks some followers. The dissemination of the concept of Enlightenment was also responsible for the dissemination of the concept of the philosophes. The philosophes regarded themselves simply as belonging to the res publica literaria, which was not bound by the limits of national territories. Immanuel Kant wrote in 1784 in his answer to the question: What is Enlightenment, that all those people are due to the movement of the Enlightenment who were able to free themselves from their self-imposed immaturity? .

The philosophes were directed against diverse forms of religious and political dogmatism. Denis Diderot remarked about: " People will never be free until you do not have strangled the last king with the entrails of the last priest " Furthermore, the philosophes saw the reason in the center of progress.. They deemed critical, informed and scientific thinking as the most sensible way to solve the problems of society. Therefore, they saw the freedom to acquire and disseminate knowledge to as natural law.

Whether the concept of philosophes now on all thinkers of the Age of Enlightenment is to be applied in the Western world of states or only to those of France, from today's perspective controversial. Peter Gay about the term applies to all thinkers of the Enlightenment " from Edinburgh to Naples, Paris and Berlin, Boston and Philadelphia ." Neil Postman, however, takes a demarcation of content nature. While the group of philosophers those people attributes that are dedicated to mainly in search of universal and timeless truths, he belongs to the group of philosophes those people who engage only in political and social affairs to change existing conditions and educate other people.

Representative

The list of the philosophes as the term itself is controversial. In a narrower sense are counted among others, the following persons to the philosophes:

  • The group of Encyclopaedists
  • Pierre Bayle
  • Georges- Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon
  • Marquis de Condorcet
  • René Descartes
  • Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle
  • Jean -François de La Pérouse

In a broader sense, among others the following persons be counted among the philosophes:

Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon
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