famous enlighteners. Enlightenment figures of the era of the struggle for independence. Years of the Age of Enlightenment

Features of Enlightenment in Ukraine.

Grigory Skovoroda is a philosopher-educator.

1.Philosophy of Enlightenment:

Main features and prominent figures of the era

The spiritual heirs of the Renaissance humanists were the Enlighteners of the 18th century. By betraying the sharpest criticism and angry ridicule of the feudal order and church dogma, 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.

Education- this 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 into cultural circulation by Voltaire and Herder. The German philosopher I. Kant defined Enlightenment as a necessary historical era in the development of mankind, the essence of which is the widespread use of the human mind for the implementation of social progress.

Prominent figures of the Enlightenment

English Enlightenment

Locke John(1632-1704) - a materialist philosopher, one of the first to express many ideas of the Enlightenment, the 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, asserting the aesthetic nature of moral perfection, drawing a majestic picture of the eternally created and creative cosmos with a single primary source of the true, 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-movement of matter); in the book "Christianity without secrets" opposed the Christian religion and the church; on charges of attacks on religion and morality, the book was sentenced to be burned, and the author was sentenced to prison, but escaped. The main philosophical work is “Letters to Serena”.

Collins William Wilkie(1824-1889) - writer, criticized not only the old feudal order, but also the emerging bourgeois mores in an artistic form.

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, studying the influence of natural factors on the course of history; developed the concept of the functional role of religion, necessary to maintain public order and preserve morality.

Voltaire ( real name Francois Marie Arouet, 1694-1778) - philosopher, writer, publicist; in artistic form he criticized feudal relations, despotic form of government, feudal-clerical worldview. In "Philosophical Letters", "Treatise on Metaphysics"; "Philosophical Dictionary" acted as a deist, at the same time expressed the idea of ​​eternity and uncreated matter, its objective existence and perpetual motion. He had a great influence on 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 of transforming society in reducing property inequality by suppressing luxury and limiting needs (ascetic communism); recognizing the people as the bearer of supreme power. Mably's ideas contributed to the ideological preparation of the French Revolution.

Rousseau Jean Jacques(1712-1778) - philosopher, writer, esthetician, teacher, ideologist of the Great French Revolution. Published in 1762, Rousseau's work "Emile, or On Education" was sentenced to be burned for religious free-thinking, and the author immigrated to England for 5 years. Rousseau is a deist in his views on truth. Rousseau's socio-political ideal was a republic; he defended the idea of ​​an illegitimate power that takes up arms against the people, their vital interests, and justified the people's right to the revolutionary overthrow of such power. In the works “Did the revival of sciences and arts contribute to the improvement of morals”, “Discourse on the origin and justifications of inequality between people”, he presciently 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 sensationalist theory of knowledge. In the work "Language of Calculus" he gave an interpretation of logic as a general grammar of all signs.

German Enlightenment

Wolf Christian(1679-1754) - rationalist philosopher, ideologist of the early Enlightenment, sought to build a comprehensive system of philosophical knowledge; his study guides became the backbone of German university education. In ethics, he considers the principles of natural morality to be objective norms arising from the very structure of being and independent of the will of God. In political doctrine, Wolf is a supporter of the theory of natural law and an exponent of the ideas of enlightened absolutism.

Lessing Gotthold Ephraim(1729-1781) - philosopher, esthetician, writer, critic. Overcomes the limitations of Wolfian rationalism; in the theses "Education of the human race" approaches the idea of ​​organic development and the progressive movement of mankind towards perfection; in aesthetics, he substantiated the principles of a realistic artistic image, gave a well-known classification of art.

Herder Johann Gottfried(1744-1803) - philosopher, cultural theorist, public figure, the main inspirer of the Storm and Onslaught movement - an educational literary movement that broke with the normative aesthetics of classicism, with an exaggerated cult of reason and developed the aesthetics of democratic original art depicting bright and strong passions. In the work “Ideas of the Philosophy of the History of Mankind”, he carries out the idea of ​​the formation and development of the world as an organic whole, and concludes with an outline of the history of human culture. He had a great influence on the work of Goethe.

Goethe Johann Wolfgang(1749-1832) - poet, scientist, philosopher, strove for the universalism of knowledge and worldview; his poetry and science (osteology, mineralogy, botany, physics, color studies) complemented each other. At the heart of his philosophy is a dialectical picture of the world, where the world is drawn as a set of living forms, as a continuous metamorphosis of forms. In "Faust", a work of art unique in construction, on which Goethe worked all his life, scientific, historical, philosophical, moral problems are reflected in poetic form.

Russian Enlightenment

Lomonosov Mikhail Vasilievich(1711-1765) - an outstanding natural scientist and materialist thinker, poet; developing the ideas of modern science about a single universe with natural patterns accessible to knowledge; (developed "corpuscular" philosophy) as an initial concept for explaining physical and chemical phenomena. Lomonosov associated social progress with the development of education, enlightenment and crafts; in the spirit of the Enlightenment, he developed projects for the economic and social development of the country. The main theme of Lomonosov's poetry is the Universe, nature and man. On the initiative of Lomonosov, Moscow University was established in 1755, which became the center of Russian science and culture.

Kozelsky Yakov Pavlovich(about 1728 - about 1794) - Russian educator, materialist philosopher, developed the ideas of a just social order, opposed serfdom and religious morality.

Anichkov Dmitry Sergeevich(1733-1788) - deist philosopher, professor at Moscow University; his dissertation on the origin of religion was condemned for atheism and all its copies were burned at the Execution Ground in Moscow.

Novikov Nikolay Ivanovich(1744-1818) - educator, writer, journalist, publisher, organizer of printing houses, libraries, schools in Moscow, bookstores in 16 cities of Russia; opposed serfdom, by order of Catherine II was imprisoned in the Shlisselburg fortress.

Radishchev Alexander Nikolaevich(1749-1802) - writer, materialist philosopher, founder of the revolutionary tradition in Russia. Developing the ideas of the French Enlighteners, he gave a revolutionary interpretation of the theory of natural law, condemned autocracy as a state most contrary to human nature. For the essay "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow" Radishchev was sentenced to death, replaced by exile in Siberia. In exile, he wrote a philosophical treatise “On Man, His Death and Immortality”, where he developed a materialistic worldview.

Chaadaev Petr Yakovlevich(1794-1856) - idealist philosopher, publicist. In the “Philosophical Letters”, the philosopher hopes for the fulfillment of the earthly aspirations of the people as a superintelligent whole, overcoming egoism and individualism as inconsistent with the universal purpose of man to be the engine of the Universe under the guidance of the supreme mind and world will. After the publication of the "Philosophical Letters" Chaadaev was declared insane by the "High Command". Later, the thinker wrote "Apology of a Madman", where, in response to accusations of a lack of patriotism, he spoke about the special historical fate of Russia.

From the whole variety of views of enlighteners, various theories and their interpretations, we single out the central ideas of the ideology and philosophy of the Enlightenment.

1. Anti-scholastic, anti-religious orientation of ideas Enlightenment. The goal of the Enlightenment as a broad ideological movement was to criticize the foundations of feudal ideology, religious superstitions and prejudices, to fight for religious tolerance, for freedom of scientific and philosophical thought, for reason against faith, for science against ignorance and mysticism, for freedom of research against its suppression by authority, for criticism against apologetics. Within the framework of the Enlightenment, both an atheistic worldview and deism developed, whose representatives allowed God to be a spiritual force as the first impulse, the root cause of the world, and “natural religion” as a social regulator of the historical process.

2. All-pervading mind. The main slogan of the Enlightenment is “Science and progress!”. Reason among the enlighteners is the main means of transforming society. a person must correspond to the reasonable harmony of the natural world, and therefore he must be enlightened, educated. The enlighteners set the task of wide dissemination of science and education not only theoretically and not for future generations, but they themselves did a lot for its practical implementation. Many educators place their hopes not on revolutions, but on the gradual, evolutionary transformation of society on the principles of reason and justice through the moral, political and aesthetic education of citizens. Hence the idea of ​​an “enlightened monarchy”, according to which the ruler, a “philosopher on the throne”, having adopted the principles of enlightenment, can establish a fair social order through “good legislation”.

3. Historical optimism Enlighteners is based on the idea of ​​“natural man”, according to which man is by nature good, and the cause of evil in him is the infringement of his natural, natural principle by civilization. Requests, desires, aspirations and goals of such a person were declared reasonable. Enlighteners believed in man, his mind and a bright future, considered him the creator of history. The theories of "Natural Law" and "Social Contract" are based on these ideas. In contrast to the doctrine of the divine origin of power, its unrestricted supporters of the "Social Contract" theory are based on the doctrine of natural law and the idea of ​​popular sovereignty. According to which the people are the source and ultimate owner of all power, they argued that the state, formed by the will of free and independent individuals (social contract), is obliged to ensure the observance of their inalienable (natural rights - the right to life, liberty and private property). Rousseau, in his book On the Social Contract, argued that since the state arises on the basis of a contract, citizens have the right to terminate the contract in case of abuse of power.

The ideology and philosophy of the Enlightenment had a great influence on all spheres of society; the ideas of enlightenment are still alive today in the pursuit of mankind for universal humanistic values; and the leaders of the Enlightenment remain an example of selfless struggle for new ideals. The Spirit of Enlightenment and the enlightener are figuratively expressed in the following description that M. Gorky gave to Voltaire: “... Voltaire, a man with the face of the devil, all his life, like a titan, fought against vulgarity. Strong was the poison of his wise laughter! Even the priests, who ate thousands of books without spoiling their stomachs, were sent to their death by one page of Voltaire, even kings, defenders of lies, he forced to respect the truth.

In order for you to feel the originality of the spirit and style of the philosophy of enlightenment, read small fragments of texts and compare the formulation and solution of philosophical and ideological problems by different philosophers.

Option 1.

After reading the two passages of text, answer the questions:

What are the philosophical problems here?

what are the similarities and differences in their interpretation by various representatives of the philosophy of the Enlightenment.

(one). Gotthold Lessing

“After all, to exercise the mind, with such self-interest of the human heart, only on what is connected with our physical needs, would mean not sharpening, but dulling it. In order for the understanding to achieve complete clarity and create that purity of heart, which instills in us the ability to love virtue for its own sake, it must be trained in the comprehension of spiritual objects ...

No, it will come, it will surely come, at this time of perfection, when a man, as his mind becomes more and more confident in a better ... future ... he will do good for the sake of good itself, and not for the sake of the reward that prepared by someone's arbitrariness ... ".

Lessing G. E. Education of the human race // Man. Thinkers of the past and present about his life, death and immortality. - M .: IPL, 1991. - P. 385).

"Mephistopheles"

“... I'm embarrassed to talk about planets,

I will tell you how people fight, toiling.

God of the universe, man is

As it has been since time immemorial.

It would be better if he lived a little, do not light up

His you are a divine spark from within.

He calls this spark of reason

And with this spark, cattle live by cattle.

I beg your pardon, but according to your methods

It looks like some kind of insect.

Half flying, half jumping

He whistles like a locust.

Oh, if he were sitting in the mowing grass

And I wouldn’t poke my nose into all the squabbles!”

(Goethe I.V. Faust // Selected works in 2 volumes - M .: Pravda, 1985. - T. II. - P. 135).

Option 2.

Compare the formulation and solution of philosophical problems by the enlighteners of the 18th century according to the proposed fragments of the text.

(one). Jean Jacques Rousseau

“Like the body, the spirit has its needs. The bodily needs are the foundation of society, while the spiritual ones adorn it. While government and laws guard the public safety and welfare of fellow citizens, the sciences, literature and arts - less despotic, but perhaps more powerful - wrap garlands of flowers around the iron chains that bind people, drown out in them the natural feelings of freedom for which they seemed to be born, make them love their slavery and create the so-called civilized peoples. Necessity erected thrones, the sciences and arts established them. Powerful of this world, love talents and patronize their owners.

(Rousseau J. J. Discourses on sciences and arts... // Anthology of world philosophy. - K., 1991. - V.1. - Part 2. - P.152)

(2) Johann Gottfried Herder

“There is no doubt that in general everything that has not yet happened on earth will happen in the future; for the unfading rights of man and the powers placed in him by God are indestructible... The Divine helps us only through our diligence, our mind, our own strengths. After it created the earth and all creatures devoid of reason, it created man and said to him: “Be my likeness, a god on earth! Rule and dominate! Produce all that is noble and beautiful that you can create from your nature; I cannot help you with miracles, because I have placed your human destiny in your human hands; but all the sacred, eternal laws of nature will help you.”

Herder I. G. Another experience of the philosophy of history for the education of mankind // fav. Op. - M., L., 1959. - S.273

Option 3.

After reading two passages of text, answer the following questions:

ü what is the concept here?

ü which of the philosophers of modern times it was first formulated?

ü What are the similarities and differences between the interpretations of this problem in the presented texts?

(1) Charles Montesquieu

“As a physical being, man, like all other bodies, is governed by immutable laws, as a being endowed with the mind, he freely violates the laws established by God, and changes those that he himself established. He must guide himself, and, however, he is a limited being, like any mortal rational being, he becomes a victim of ignorance and delusion and often loses those weak knowledge that he has already managed to acquire, but as a sentient being, he is in the power of a thousand passions. . Such a creature is able to forget its creator every minute - and God reminds of himself in the precepts of religion; such a creature is capable of forgetting itself every minute - and philosophers guide it with the laws of morality; created for life in society, he is able to forget his neighbors - and the legislators call him to the performance of his duties through political and civil laws.

Montesquieu C. - L. About the spirit of laws // Anthology of world philosophy. - K., 1991. - V.1 - Part 2. - p.111

(2) Jean Jacques Rousseau

“The transition from the natural state to the civil state produces a very noticeable change in a person, replacing instinct with justice in his actions and giving his actions a moral principle that they previously lacked ... Although in a social state a person loses many of the advantages that he possessed in a natural condition, but on the other hand he acquires a much greater advantage: his ability to exercise and develop, his thought expands, his feelings are ennobled, and his whole soul rises to such an extent that, if the abuses of new conditions of life did not often reduce him to a lower state, than the one from which he emerged, he would have to constantly bless the happy moment ... which turned him from a dull, limited animal into a thinking being - into a man.

Rousseau J. J. Discourse on the sciences and arts // Anthology of world philosophy. - K., 1991. - T.1. - Part 2. - P.160-161.

Once again, refer to the thoughts of philosophers - enlighteners in search of an answer to the question: what virtues were revered in this era? And again, let's return to our table "Virtue in the history of culture" and fill in the last column: the culture of the modern era. The table is full. Conduct a comparative analysis of the epochs. Has the idea of ​​the moral ideal of man changed significantly? What conclusions follow from the answer to this question.

In the philosophy of enlightenment, the problem of the moral nature of man was clearly posed. Some philosophers argued that man is by nature good, and civilization makes him evil, greedy, envious. Others argued that a person is initially one-sided and imperfect, and only the right upbringing in society can make him a Human. What position do you join? Why? What life conclusions follow from your position?

Introduction

Conclusion

Introduction

The Age of Enlightenment is one of the key eras in the history of European culture, associated with the development of scientific, philosophical and social thought. This intellectual movement was based on rationalism and freethinking. Starting in England, this movement spread to France, Germany, Russia and other European countries. Especially influential were the French Enlighteners, who became "rulers of thoughts". The principles of the Enlightenment were the basis of the American Declaration of Independence and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. The intellectual and philosophical movement of this era had a great influence on subsequent changes in the ethics and social life of Europe and America, the struggle for the national independence of the American colonies of European countries, the abolition of slavery, and the formation of human rights. In addition, it shook the authority of the aristocracy and the influence of the church on social, intellectual and cultural life.

Actually, the term enlightenment came into the Russian language, as well as into English (The Enlightenment) and German (Zeitalter der Aufklärung ) from French ( siecle des lumieres ) and mainly refers to the philosophical current of the XVIII century. At the same time, it is not the name of a certain philosophical school, since the views of the philosophers of the Enlightenment often differed significantly from each other and contradicted each other. Therefore, enlightenment is considered not so much a complex of ideas as a certain direction of philosophical thought. The philosophy of the Enlightenment was based on criticism of the traditional institutions, customs and morals that existed at that time.

There is no consensus regarding the dating of this worldview era. Some historians attribute its beginning to the end of the 17th century, others to the middle of the 18th century. In the 17th century The foundations of rationalism were laid by Descartes in his Discourse on Method (1637). The end of the Enlightenment is often associated with the death of Voltaire (1778) or with the start of the Napoleonic Wars (1800-1815). At the same time, there is an opinion that the borders of the Enlightenment are tied to two revolutions: the Glorious Revolution in England (1688) and the Great French Revolution (1789).

1. The development of science and technology in the Age of Enlightenment

Science in the Age of Enlightenment, developed within the framework of rationalism and empiricism. It took a leading position in the formation of a picture of the world, began to be regarded as the highest cultural value that carries the light of reason, the antithesis of the vices of social reality and the way to transform it.

Scientists of the Enlightenment era are characterized by an encyclopedic breadth of interests, the development of fundamental scientific problems along with practical ones. Rationalists (R. Descartes, G. Leibniz, B. Spinoza) considered the idea of ​​reason, empiricism (ci) sta (F. Bacon, J. Locke, J. Berkeley, D. Diderot, J. La Mettrie, D. . Hume) - experience. Organists (Leibniz, Spinoza) considered nature as a whole and its elements as living organisms, in which the whole determines the properties of its parts.

Bacon did not consider the deductive method, which dominated earlier, to be a satisfactory tool for understanding the world. In his opinion, a new instrument of thinking ("new organon") was needed to build a system of knowledge, knowledge of the world and the development of science on a more reliable basis. He saw such a tool in induction - the collection of facts and their confirmation by experiment.

Descartes proposed his own method of solving problems that can be solved with the help of the human mind and the facts available - skepticism. Sensory experience is not capable of giving reliable knowledge, because a person often encounters illusions and hallucinations; the world perceived by him with the help of the senses may turn out to be a dream. Reasoning is also unreliable: no one is free from errors; reasoning is the derivation of conclusions from premises; as long as there are no reliable premises, one cannot count on the reliability of the conclusions. Descartes believed that reliable knowledge is contained in the mind. Rationalism and empiricism also argued on the question of methods for obtaining true knowledge. The central place in the system of knowledge was given to the exact and natural sciences (mathematics, physics, astronomy, chemistry, biology, etc.).I. Newton and Leibniz, who identified the relationship between empiricism and rationalism through the prism of mathematics and physics, came to the development of differential and integral equations in various ways. The main merit of Newton, who based his work on the discoveries of I. Kepler (the foundations of the motion of the planets, the invention of the telescope), was the creation of the mechanics of celestial and terrestrial bodies and the discovery of the law of universal gravitation. Leibniz developed the doctrine of the relativity of space, time and motion.

The ideas of Newton and Leibniz determined the path of development of natural science in the 18th century. The system of concepts developed by them turned out to be an excellent tool for research search. Mathematical physics developed rapidly, the highest point of its development was "Analytical Mechanics" by Zh.L. Lagrange (1787). During the Enlightenment, natural science was inextricably linked with philosophy. This union is known as natural philosophy. In the phenomena of social life (religion, law, morality), scientists were looking for natural principles. Locke argued that ethics can be as exact a science as mathematics. It was believed that physics (as a science that enlightens the mind and frees from superstitions, delusions and fears that come from a false concept of things) develops not only the mind, but also morality. In the knowledge of nature, scientists saw the way to the well-being of mankind.

The advances in mechanics predetermined the formation of a mechanistic picture of the world (L. Euler, P. Laplace, and others). Philosophical doctrines about the nature of man, about society and the state were sections of the doctrine of a single world mechanism (Descartes, the ideas of J. Buffon on the unity of the plan for the structure of the organic world, the concept of a man-machine by J. La Mettrie, etc.). Nature consists of machines-mechanisms of varying complexity (an example of such machines is mechanical watches), and these machines are made up of parts-elements; their combination determines the properties of the whole

With the transition to the policy of protectionism and mercantilism, scientific research became more systematized and consistent, applied science and technology developed (iron smelting on coke, fumigation with chlorine as a method of disinfection, the works of A. Parmentier on potato growing and C. Bourgela on veterinary medicine, etc.). During the Enlightenment, a network of academies of sciences (Paris, 1666, etc.) and branch scientific institutions (academies of surgery, mining, etc.), scientific societies, natural history classrooms, laboratories, apothecary and botanical gardens developed; a system for the exchange of scientific information (correspondence, scientific journals) was established. The best scientific forces consolidated around the publication of the "Encyclopedia, or Explanatory Dictionary of Sciences, Arts and Crafts" (see article Encyclopedists). Education has become fashionable. The refined public turned to scientific literature, and public lectures became widespread.

The desire, characteristic of that time, not only to cognize the world rationally or mystically, but also to try to create one's own rationally arranged world, acting as the Creator, was reflected in the phenomenon of the estate. The reverse side of the problem of "culture and nature", reflected in the gardening art of the 18th century, was the problem of "technology and nature".

Scientific discoveries and the development of industry, along with socio-historical optimism, gave rise to a technicalization of the view of the world around us, the structure of nature and man, one of the expressions of which was the love for mechanical devices, automatic puppets.

It was believed that by creating creations perfect for that time with the help of the correct method, a person became like God, who created him in his own image and likeness.

science technology enlightenment achievement

2. Achievements of scientists in the Age of Enlightenment

In the 18th century the historical process of transition from feudalism to capitalism is developing with increasing force. In the first half of the century in France there was a tense struggle of the "third estate" against the nobility and the clergy. The ideologists of the third estate - the French enlighteners and materialists - carried out the ideological preparation of the revolution. Science played a special role in the activities of French enlighteners and philosophers. The laws of science, rationalism, formed the basis of their theoretical concepts. In 1751-1780. The famous "Encyclopedia, or Explanatory Dictionary of the Sciences of Arts and Crafts" was published under the editorship of Diderot and D'Alembert. The employees of the "Encyclopedia" were F. Voltaire, C. Montesquieu, G. Mably, K. Helvetius, P. Holbach, J. Buffon. "Encyclopedia" has become a powerful means of disseminating science. The influence of the French enlighteners went far beyond the borders of France. The high appreciation of the role of reason and science, characteristic of the French Enlightenment, led to the fact that the 18th century. entered the history of science and culture under the name "age of reason". However, in the same 18th c. there is an idealistic reaction to the successes of science, expressed in the subjective idealism of George Berkeley (1684-1753), the skepticism of David Hume (1711-1776), the doctrine of unknowable "things in themselves" by Immanuel Kant (1724-1804).

In the 18th century the economic industrial revolution is taking place. The process of capitalist industrialization began in England. This was facilitated by the invention of the first spinning machine by John Wyatt (1700-1766) and its practical use by the entrepreneur Richard Arkwright (1732-1792), who built the first spinning mill in 1771, equipped with machines patented by him. James Watt (1736-1819) invents a universal steam (rather than steam-atmospheric) engine with separation of the condenser from the working cylinder and continuous action. The first steamboats (1807, Robert Fulton) and steam locomotives appear.

In Russia, scientists of encyclopedic scale in the 18th century. was Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov (1711-1765). He is the first Russian professor of chemistry (1745), the founder of the first Russian chemical laboratory (1748), the author of the world's first course in physical chemistry. In the field of physics, Lomonosov left a number of important works on the kinetic theory of gases and the theory of heat, on optics, electricity, gravitation, and atmospheric physics. He was engaged in astronomy, geography, metallurgy, history, linguistics, wrote poetry, created mosaic paintings, organized a factory for the production of colored glasses. To this must be added the energetic public and organizational activity of Lomonosov. He is an active member of the academic chancellery, publisher of academic journals, organizer of the university, head of a number of departments of the academy. A.S. Pushkin called Lomonosov "the first Russian university", emphasizing his role as a scientist and educator. However, Lomonosov did not have many completed and published works on physics and chemistry, most of which remained in the form of notes, fragments, unfinished compositions and sketches.

Lomonosov believed that the basis of chemical phenomena is the movement of particles - "corpuscles". In his unfinished dissertation "Elements of Mathematical Chemistry" he formulated the main idea of ​​the "corpuscular theory", in which, in particular, he indicated that the "corpuscle" is a "collection of elements" (that is, atoms). Lomonosov believed that all the properties of matter can be fully explained using the concept of various purely mechanical movements of corpuscles, which in turn consist of atoms. However, atomistics as a whole acted for him as a natural-philosophical doctrine. He was the first to speak about physical chemistry as a science that explains chemical phenomena on the basis of the laws of physics and uses physical experiment in the study of these phenomena.

As a theoretical physicist, he categorically opposed the concept of caloric as the cause that determines body temperature. He came to the assumption that heat is due to the rotational motions of the particles of matter. In physics, the concept of caloric dominated for a century after the publication of Lomonosov's classical work Reflections on the Cause of Heat and Cold (1750).

In Lomonosov's scientific system an important place is occupied by the "universal law" of conservation. He first formulated it in a letter to Leonhard Euler on July 5, 1748. Here he writes: "All changes occurring in nature occur in such a way that if something is added to something, then it is taken away from something else. So, how much matter is added to to any body, the same amount is lost in another. Since this is a universal law of nature, it spreads and directs movements: a body that, by its impetus, induces another to move, loses as much from its movement as it communicates movements to another, moved by it " . The printed publication of the law followed in 1760, in the dissertation "Discourse on the hardness and liquid of bodies." Lomonosov took an important step by introducing scales to quantitatively characterize chemical reactions. Thus, Lomonosov rightfully holds the first place in the history of the law of conservation of energy and mass.

Lomonosov was a pioneer in many fields of science. He discovered the atmosphere of Venus and painted a vivid picture of fiery shafts and vortices on the Sun. He made a correct guess about the vertical currents in the atmosphere, correctly pointed out the electrical nature of the northern lights and estimated their height. He tried to develop an ethereal theory of electrical phenomena and thought about the connection between electricity and light, which he wanted to discover experimentally. In the era of dominance of the corpuscular theory of light, he openly supported the wave theory of "Hugenius" (Huygens) and developed an original theory of colors. In his work "On the Layers of the Earth" (1763), he consistently pursued the idea of ​​the natural evolution of nature and actually applied the method that later received the name of actualism in geology (see C. Lyell). It was a bright and independent mind, whose views were ahead of the era in many ways.

In the 18th century cosmogonic ideas are expressed (cosmogony is a field of science that studies the origin and development of cosmic bodies and their systems) ideas that form the basis of the so-called nebular (from Latin fog) hypothesis of Kant (1754) - Laplace (1796) about the origin of the solar system. Its meaning boils down to the fact that the solar system was formed from a rotating hot gas nebula. As it rotated, the nebula peeled off one ring after another. In place of its central concentration, the Sun was formed. Planets arose from scattered matter at the periphery due to the attraction of particles. The formation of planets is explained by the laws of gravity and centrifugal force. This hypothesis is currently considered untenable. Thus, the data of geology convincingly indicate that our planet has never been in a fiery-liquid, molten state. In addition, it was not possible to explain why the modern Sun rotates very slowly, although earlier, during its contraction, it rotated so quickly that matter was separated by centrifugal force.

In 1781, William Herschel (1738-1822), using the astronomical instruments designed by them, discovers a new celestial body in the solar system - the planet Uranus.

Thanks to the work of Leonhard Euler (1707-1783) and Joseph Louis Lagrange (1736-1813), the methods of differential and integral calculus began to be widely used in mechanics.

In 1736, the Paris Academy of Sciences organized an expedition to Peru to measure the meridian arc in the equatorial zone, and in 1736 sent an expedition to Lapland to resolve the dispute between the Cartesian and Newtonian models of the world. London was the center of Newtonianism, and Paris was the center of Cartesianism. The difference in their views was clearly formulated by Voltaire in his Philosophical Letters (1731): “When a Frenchman comes to London, he finds a great difference here, both in philosophy and in everything else. filled with matter, but here it is told that it is completely empty; in Paris you see that the whole universe consists of vortices of subtle matter, in London you see nothing of the kind; in France the pressure of the moon causes the ebb and flow of the sea, in England they say that it is the sea itself that gravitates towards the moon, so that when the Parisians receive a tide from the moon, the gentlemen of London think that they must have a low tide. Your Carthusians say that everything is done by pressure, and this we do not understand; but here the Newtonians say that everything is done by attraction, which we do not understand better. In Paris, you imagine that the Earth at the poles is somewhat elongated, like an egg, while in London they imagine it flattened, like a melon. Expeditions confirmed the correctness of Newton's theory. In 1733, Charles Francois Dufay (1698-1739) discovered the existence of two types of electricity, the so-called "glass" (electrification occurred when glass was rubbed with skin, positive charges) and "resin" (electrification when ebonite was rubbed with wool, negative charges). The peculiarity of these two kinds of electricity was that the homogeneous with it repelled, and the opposite was attracted. To obtain electric discharges of great force, huge glass machines were built, producing electrification by friction. In 1745-1746. the so-called Leyden jar was invented, which revived research on electricity. The Leyden jar is a condenser; which is a glass cylinder. Outside and inside, up to 2/3 of the height of the can wall, and its bottom are covered with sheet tin; the jar is covered with a wooden lid, through which passes a wire with a metal ball at the top, connected to a chain that touches the bottom and walls. The jar was charged by touching the jig of the machine with the ball and connecting the outer lining of the jar to the ground; the discharge is obtained by connecting the outer shell with the inner one.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) created the phenomenological electrical theory. He used the concept of a special electrical substance, electrical matter. Before the process of electrification, the bodies have an equal amount of it. "Positive" and "negative" electricity (terms introduced by Franklin) are explained by an excess or deficiency in the body of one electrical matter. In Franklin's theory, electricity cannot be created or destroyed, but can only be redistributed. He also proved the electrical origin of lightning and gave the world a lightning rod (lightning rod).

Charles Augustin Coulomb (1736-1806) discovers the exact law of electrical interactions and finds the law of interaction of magnetic poles. It establishes a method for measuring the amount of electricity and the amount of magnetism (magnetic masses). After Coulomb, it became possible to construct a mathematical theory of electrical and magnetic phenomena. Alessandro Volta (1745-1827) in 1800, on the basis of circuits consisting of various metals, invents a volt column - the first electric current generator.

In the 18th century the attention of scientists was attracted by the problem of combustion. The doctor of the Prussian king Georg Ernest Stahl (1660-1734), based on the views of Johann Joachim Becher (1635-1682), created the theory of phlogiston: all combustible substances are rich in a special combustible substance phlogiston. Combustion products do not contain phlogiston and cannot burn. Metals also contain phlogiston, and, losing it, turn into rust, scale. If phlogiston (in the form of coal) is added to the scale, metals are reborn. Since the weight of rust is greater than the weight of rusted metal, phlogiston has a negative mass. Stahl most fully expounded the doctrine of phlogiston in 1737 in the book Chemical and Physical Experiments, Observations and Reflections. "Steel's hypothesis," D.I. Mendeleev wrote in his Fundamentals of Chemistry, "is distinguished by its great simplicity; in the middle of the 18th century, it found many supporters." It is also small for M.V. Lomonosov in his essays "On the Metal Luster" (1745) and "On the Birth and Nature of Saltpeter" (1749). In the 18th century pneumatic (gas) chemistry is intensively developing. Joseph Black (1728-1799) in a work of 1756 reports the production of a gas during the calcination of magnesia, which differs from ordinary air in that it is heavier than atmospheric and does not support combustion or respiration. It was carbon dioxide. On this occasion, V.I. Vernadsky wrote: “The discovery of the properties and nature of carbonic acid by J. Black in the middle of the 18th century acquired absolutely exceptional significance in the development of our worldview: the concept of gases was first elucidated on it. theory of combustion, finally, the study of this body was the starting point for the scientific analogy between animal and plant organisms "(" Questions of Philosophy and Psychology, 1902, p. 1416). The next major step in gas chemistry was made by Joseph Priestley (1733-1804). Before him only two gases were known - "bound air" by J. Black, that is, carbon dioxide, and "flammable air", that is, hydrogen, discovered by Henry Cavendish (1731-1810). Priestley discovered 9 new gases, including oxygen in 1774 However, he incorrectly considered that oxygen is air, from which mercury oxide took away phlogiston, turning into a metal.

Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier (1743-1794) disproved the phlogiston theory. He created the theory of obtaining metals from ores. In the ore, the metal is combined with gas. When ore is heated with coal, the gas binds with coal and metal is formed. Thus, he saw in the phenomena of combustion and oxidation not the decomposition of substances (with the release of phlogiston), but the combination of various substances with oxygen. The reasons for the change in weight in this process became clear. He formulated the law of conservation of mass: the mass of the initial substances is equal to the mass of the reaction products. He showed that air contains oxygen and nitrogen. Carried out a quantitative analysis of the composition of water. In 1789, Mr.. published "Introductory Chemistry", where he considered the formation and decomposition of gases, the combustion of simple bodies and the production of acids; combination of acids with bases and obtaining medium salts; gave a description of chemical instruments and practical techniques. The manual provides the first list of simple substances. The works of Lavoisier and his followers laid the foundations of scientific chemistry. Lavoisier was executed during the French Revolution.

Even in the second half of the 17th century. English botanist John Ray (1623-1705) gave a classification that included the concept of species. It was a very important step. The species has become a unit of systematization common to all organisms. By species, Ray understood the smallest set of organisms that are morphologically similar; breed together; produce similar offspring. The final formation of systematics occurs after the publication of the works of the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) "The System of Nature" and "Philosophy of Botany". He divided animals and plants into 5 subordinate groups: classes, orders, genera, species and varieties. Legalized the binary system of species names. (The name of any species consists of a noun denoting the genus and an adjective denoting the species; for example, Parus major - Great Tit). In the systematics of Linnaeus, plants were divided into 24 classes based on the structure of their generative organs. Animals were divided into 6 classes based on the characteristics of the circulatory and respiratory systems. The Linnaean system was artificial, that is, it was built for the convenience of classification, and not on the basis of the relationship of organisms. The criteria for classification in an artificial system are arbitrary and few. In his views, Lin Nei was a creationist. The essence of creationism is that all kinds of animals and plants were created by a creator and have remained constant ever since. The expediency of the structure of organisms (organic expediency) is absolute, originally created by the creator. Linnaeus adhered to the typological concept of species. Its essential characteristics are that species are real, discrete, and stable. Morphological features are used to establish the species affiliation.

In the 18th century in France, a new direction in biology arises - transformism. Transformism, in contrast to creationism, claims that animal and plant species can change (transform) in new environmental conditions. Adaptation to the environment is the result of the historical development of the species. Transformism does not consider evolution as a general phenomenon of nature. One of the most prominent representatives of transformism was Georges Louis Buffon (1707-1788). He tried to find out the reasons for the historical variability of domestic animals. In one of the chapters of the 36-volume Natural History, climate is named as the causes that cause changes in animals; food; oppression of domestication. Buffon estimated the age of the Earth at 70,000 years, moving away from Christian dogma and giving time for the evolution of the organic world to proceed. He believed that the donkey is a degenerate horse, and the monkey is a degenerate person. Buffon "in his transformist statements was not only ahead of time, but also ahead of facts" (N.N. Vorontsov). At the end of the 18th century rural physician Edward Jenner (1749-1823) revolutionized smallpox prevention, essentially introducing vaccination for the first time. He noticed that people who had been ill with cowpox never subsequently got sick with smallpox. Based on these observations, on May 14, 1796, Jenner inoculated 8-year-old James Phips with cowpox, then infected with smallpox, and after that the boy remained healthy.

3. The historical significance of the development of science and technology in the Enlightenment

No less crushing blow to the scholastic worldview and the church than humanistic thought was dealt by the development of natural science, which in the 16th century. has achieved tremendous success, which cannot be ignored.

The desire for an in-depth and reliable knowledge of nature was reflected in the work of Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), Johannes Kepler (1571-1630), Galileo Galilei (1564-1642).

Their theoretical developments and experimental studies contributed not only to changing the image of the world, but also ideas about science, about the relationship between theory and practice.

Leonardo da Vinci, a brilliant artist, great scientist, sculptor, architect, talented inventor (among his projects are the ideas of a tank, parachute, airlock), argued that any knowledge is generated by experience and completed in experience. But only theory can give true reliability to the results of experimentation. Combining the development of new means of artistic language with theoretical generalizations, he created an image of a person that meets the humanistic ideals of the High Renaissance. The high ethical content is expressed in the strict patterns of composition, a clear system of gestures and facial expressions of the characters. The humanistic ideal is embodied in the portrait of Mona Lisa Gioconda.

One of the most significant achievements of natural science of this time was the creation of the heliocentric system of the world by the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus. The main ideas underlying this system are as follows: the Earth is not a fixed center of the world, but rotates around its axis and at the same time around the Sun, which is in the center of the world.

This discovery made a truly revolutionary revolution, as it refuted the picture of the world that existed for more than a thousand years, based on the geocentric system of Aristotle-Ptolemy. That is why today, when mentioning any significant change, the expression "Copernican revolution" is used. When the great German philosopher of the XVIII century.I. Kant evaluated the changes he made in the theory of knowledge, and he called them the "Copernican revolution".

Galileo Galilei ( 1564-1642) - Italian scientist, one of the founders of exact natural science. He fought against scholasticism and considered experience to be the basis of knowledge. refuted the erroneous provisions of the teachings of Aristotle and laid the foundations of modern mechanics: put forward the idea of ​​the relativity of motion, established the laws of inertia, free fall and motion of bodies on an inclined plane, built a telescope with 32x magnification and discovered mountains on the moon, four satellites of Jupiter, phases of Venus , spots on the sun. Actively defended heliocentric system world for which he was subjected to the court of the Inquisition.

Giordano Bruno (1548-1600) - Italian scientist and philosopher. He was, so to speak, an older contemporary of Galileo.

J. Bruno saw the growth of productive forces, the development of new economic relations, characteristic of the era. In his ideas about the future social structure, set out in the book "On the Heroic Enthusiast", therefore, much attention is paid to the development of industry, scientific knowledge, and the use of the forces of nature in the industrial process. Bruno sharply opposed the dominance of the Catholic Church, the Church Inquisition, and indulgences.

Giordano Bruno claimed that the Universe is infinite, one. Each world has its own specifics, at the same time it is in unity with the rest. Nature is immovable. It does not arise and is not destroyed, cannot be destroyed, reduced, increased. It is infinite, embraces all opposites in harmony. The finite and the infinite are the two main concepts in philosophy. He abandoned the idea of ​​an external prime mover, i.e. God, but relies on the principle of self-movement of matter, for which he was burned at the stake in Rome (a contradiction to church views).

Rene Descartes - the greatest French thinker, philosopher, mathematician, naturalist, founder of the philosophy of modern times, laid the traditions that are alive today. His life was spent in the struggle against science and the worldview of scholasticism.

The field of activity of his creative interests was wide. It covered philosophy, mathematics, physics, biology, medicine.

At that time there was a convergence of the sciences of nature with practical life. There has been a revolution in the minds of many people in European countries since the 16th century. There is a desire to make science a means of improving life. This required not only the accumulation of knowledge, but also the restructuring of the existing worldview, the introduction of new methods of scientific research. There had to be a rejection of belief in miracles and in the dependence of natural phenomena on supernatural forces and entities. The foundations of the scientific method were formed in the course of observations and experimental study. These foundations stood out in the field of mechanics and technology. It was in this area that it was discovered that the solution of various specific problems presupposes, as a necessary condition, certain general methods for their solution. The methods presupposed the need for a certain general outlook, illuminating both the tasks and the means of solving them.

The basis of scientific progress at the beginning of the 17th century was the achievements of the Renaissance. At this time, all the conditions for the formation of a new science are formed. The Renaissance was a time of rapid development of mathematics. There is a need to improve computational methods.

Descartes combined an interest in mathematics with an interest in physical and astronomical research. He was one of the main creators of analytic geometry and improved algebraic symbolism.

Descartes rejected scholastic scholarship, which, in his opinion, made people less capable of perceiving the arguments of reason and ignored the data of everyday experience and all knowledge that was not consecrated by ecclesiastical or secular authorities.

Descartes himself, describing his philosophy, wrote: “All philosophy is like a tree, the roots of which are metaphysics, the trunk is physics, and the branches emanating from this trunk are all other sciences, reduced to three main ones: medicine, mechanics and ethics. "

Descartes comes to create his own method of knowing the world around him. By 1625, he already possessed the main provisions of the latter. Passed through the eye of a needle of doubt, they were reduced to a small number of the simplest rules, by means of which the whole richness of the material subjected to analysis can be deduced from the main provisions.

Anti-traditionalism is the alpha and omega of Descartes' philosophy. When we talk about the scientific revolution of the 17th century, it is Descartes who is the type of revolutionaries whose efforts created the science of the new time, but not only it: it was about creating a new type of society and a new type of person, which was soon revealed in the field socio-economic, on the one hand, and in the ideology of the Enlightenment, on the other. Here is the principle of the new culture, as Descartes himself expressed it with the utmost clarity: "... never accept as true anything that I would not know as such with obviousness ... include in my judgments only what appears to my mind so clearly and so distinctly that gives me no reason to question them."

The principle of evidence is closely related to Descartes' anti-traditionalism. We must receive true knowledge in order to be guided by it also in practical life, in our life-building. What previously happened spontaneously must now become the subject of a conscious and purposeful will, guided by the principles of reason. Man must control history in all its forms, from the construction of cities, public institutions and legal norms, to science. Former science looks, according to Descartes, like an ancient city with its unplanned buildings, among which, however, there are buildings of amazing beauty, but in which there are invariably crooked and narrow streets; a new science must be created according to a single plan and with the help of a single method. It is this method that Descartes creates, convinced that the use of the latter promises mankind previously unknown possibilities, that he will make people "masters and masters of nature."

However, it is wrong to think that, by criticizing tradition, Descartes himself starts from scratch. His own thinking is also rooted in tradition; discarding some aspects of the latter, Descartes relies on others. Philosophical creativity never starts from scratch. The Cartesian connection with the previous philosophy is revealed already in its very starting point. Descartes is convinced that the creation of a new method of thinking requires a solid and unshakable foundation. Such a foundation must be found in the mind itself, more precisely, in its inner primary source - in self-consciousness. "I think, therefore I am" - this is the most reliable of all judgments. But, putting forward this judgment as the most obvious, Descartes, in essence, follows Augustine, in polemics with ancient skepticism, who pointed out the impossibility of doubting at least the existence of the doubter himself. And this is not just an accidental coincidence: here is the commonality in understanding the ontological significance of the "inner man", which is expressed in self-consciousness. It is no coincidence that the category of self-consciousness, which plays a central role in the new philosophy, was, in essence, unfamiliar to antiquity: the significance of consciousness is a product of Christian civilization. Indeed, in order for the proposition "I think, therefore I am" to acquire the significance of the initial position of philosophy, at least two assumptions are necessary. First, going back to antiquity (primarily to Platonism), the belief in the ontological superiority of the intelligible world over the sensual one, for Descartes doubts, first of all, the sensual world, including heaven, earth and even our own body. Secondly, the consciousness of the high value of the "inner man", the human personality, alien to such a degree to antiquity and born by Christianity, later merged into the category of "I". Thus, Descartes put at the basis of the philosophy of the new time not just the principle of thinking as an objective process, which was the ancient Logos, but a subjectively experienced and conscious process of thinking, one from which it is impossible to separate the thinker. "... It is absurd," writes Descartes, "to suppose non-existent that which thinks, while it thinks..."

However, there is also a serious difference between the Cartesian and Augustinian interpretations of self-consciousness. Descartes proceeds from self-consciousness as some purely subjective certainty, while considering the subject epistemologically, that is, as something that opposes the object. The splitting of all reality into subject and object is something fundamentally new, which neither ancient nor medieval philosophy knew in this aspect. The opposition of the subject to the object is characteristic not only of rationalism, but also of the empiricism of the seventeenth century. Thanks to this opposition, epistemology, that is, the doctrine of knowledge, came to the fore in the 17th century, although, as we noted, the connection with the old ontology was not completely lost.

With the opposition of the subject to the object, Descartes searches for the reliability of knowledge in the subject himself, in his self-consciousness. And here we see another point that distinguishes Descartes from Augustine. The French thinker considers self-consciousness ("I think, therefore I am") as the point from which and based on which all other knowledge can be erected. "I think," thus, is, as it were, that absolutely reliable axiom from which the whole edifice of science must grow, just as all the propositions of Euclidean geometry are deduced from a small number of axioms and postulates.

The method, as Descartes understands it, should turn knowledge into an organized activity, freeing it from chance, from such subjective factors as observation or a sharp mind, on the one hand, luck and a happy coincidence of circumstances, on the other. Figuratively speaking, the method transforms scientific knowledge from handicraft into industry, from the sporadic and accidental discovery of truths into their systematic and planned production. The method allows science to focus not on individual discoveries, but to go, so to speak, in a "solid front", leaving no gaps or missing links. Scientific knowledge, as Descartes foresees it, is not separate discoveries that are gradually combined into some general picture of nature, but the creation of a general conceptual grid in which it is no longer difficult to fill in individual cells, that is, to discover individual truths. The process of cognition turns into a kind of production line, and in the latter, as you know, the main thing is continuity. That is why continuity is one of the most important principles of Descartes' method.

According to Descartes, mathematics should become the main means of knowing nature, because Descartes significantly transformed the very concept of nature, leaving in it only those properties that make up the subject of mathematics: extension (size), figure and movement.

The change in man's ideas about the Universe, about living nature and about himself, which had extremely important consequences, occurred due to the fact that for 100 years, starting from the 18th century. the idea of ​​change as such, of change over long periods of time, in a word, the idea of ​​evolution, was developed. In the current views of man on the world around him, the understanding that the Universe, the stars play a dominant role. The earth and all the living creatures that inhabit it have a long history that was not predestined or programmed, a history of continuous gradual change due to the action of more or less directed natural processes, consistent with the laws of physics. This shows the commonality of cosmic evolution and biological evolution.

At the same time, biological evolution in many of its aspects is fundamentally different from cosmic evolution. First of all, biological evolution is more complicated than cosmic one, and the living systems that arise as a result of this evolution are much more complicated than any non-living systems: in the future we will touch on a number of other differences. This book examines the origin, history of development and relationships of living systems in the light of the currently accepted general theory of life - the theory of evolution as a result of natural selection, proposed more than 100 years ago by Charles Darwin; this theory, later modified and interpreted on the basis of the provisions of genetics, now serves as the pivot around which all modern biology is built.

At the heart of the legends of primitive peoples about the creation of the world and at the basis of most religious teachings lies the same, essentially static, concept, according to which the universe, after it was created, did not change, and its very creation-event is not very old. . Produced by Bishop Usher in the 17th century. calculations, according to which it turned out that the world was created in 4004 BC. attract attention only for their accuracy, completely inappropriate in an era when the possibilities of history as a science were still limited due to rooted traditional ideas and the low availability of written sources. To expand these temporal boundaries fell to the lot of natural scientists and philosophers of the Enlightenment, which was marked by the XVIII century. as well as geologists and biologists of the XIX century.

In 1749, the French naturalist Georges-Louis Buffon first tried to calculate the age of the Earth. According to his estimates, this age was equal to at least 70,000 years (in unpublished notes, he even indicated an age of 500,000 years). Immanuel Kant, in his "Cosmogony", published in 1755, went even further: he operated on millions and even hundreds of millions of years. It is quite obvious that both Buffon and Kant imagined the physical world as the result of evolution.

For two centuries now, the problem of the origin of the solar system has been worrying the outstanding thinkers of our planet. This problem was dealt with, starting from the philosopher Kant and the mathematician Laplace, a galaxy of astronomers and physicists of the 19th and 20th centuries. And yet we are still quite far from solving this problem. But over the past three decades, the question of the ways of the evolution of stars has become clearer. And although the details of the birth of a star from a gas-dust nebula are still far from clear, we now clearly understand what happens to it over billions of years of further evolution. Turning to the presentation of various cosmogonic hypotheses that have replaced one another over the past two centuries, let's start with the hypothesis of the great German philosopher Kant and the theory that the French mathematician Laplace proposed several decades later. The prerequisites for the creation of these theories have stood the test of time. The points of view of Kant and Laplace sharply differed on a number of important questions. Kant proceeded from the evolutionary development of a cold dusty nebula, during which the central massive body first arose - the future Sun, and then the planets, while Laplace considered the initial nebula to be gaseous and very hot with a high rotation speed. Compressing under the influence of the force of universal gravitation, the nebula, due to the law of conservation of angular momentum, rotated faster and faster. Due to the large centrifugal forces, rings were successively separated from it. Then they condensed to form planets. Thus, according to the Laplace hypothesis, the planets formed before the sun. However, despite the differences, a common important feature is the idea that the solar system arose as a result of the regular development of the nebula. Therefore, it is customary to call this concept the "Kant-Laplace hypothesis".

For M.V. Lomonosov, the starting point of view in geology was the idea of ​​constant changes taking place in the earth's crust. This idea of ​​development in geology, expressed by M.V. Lomonosov, was far ahead of the state of contemporary science. M.V. Lomonosov wrote: “It must be firmly remembered that things visible on earth and the whole world were not in such a state from the beginning from creation, as we find others, but great changes took place in it ...”. M.V. Lomonosov offers his hypotheses about the origin of ore veins and methods for determining their age, about the origin of volcanoes, tries to explain the earth's relief in connection with ideas about earthquakes.

He defends the theory of the organic origin of peat, coal and oil, draws attention to seismic wave-like movements, also suggesting the existence of imperceptible but long-term seismic activity, leading to significant changes and destruction of the earth's surface.

Lomonosov did much to develop the atomistic theory. He connected matter and motion into a single whole, thus laying the foundations for the atomic-kinetic concept of the structure of matter, which made it possible to explain many processes and phenomena observed in nature from a materialistic point of view. Considering movement as one of the fundamental, inalienable properties of matter, Lomonosov never identified matter and movement. In motion, he saw the most important form of the existence of matter. He considered movement to be the source of all changes occurring in matter. The entire material world - from huge cosmic formations to the smallest material particles that make up bodies, Lomonosov considered in the process of continuous movement. This applied equally to both inanimate substances of nature and to living organisms.

The Russian scientist considered the animal and plant world of nature, all living and developing organisms as a conglomerate, i.e. a mechanical compound consisting of simple inorganic bodies, which, in turn, were a collection of tiny particles. Lomonosov argued that “although the organs of animals and plants are very thin, they are composed of smaller particles, and precisely of inorganic, i.e., of mixed bodies, because during chemical operations their organic structure is destroyed and mixed bodies are obtained from them. Thus all mixed bodies, which are produced from animal or vegetable bodies by nature or art, also constitute chemical matter. From this it is clear how widespread the duties and power of chemistry are in all the kingdoms of bodies.

In numerous studies and statements characterizing the essence of the processes of motion in their relationship with matter, Lomonosov was significantly ahead of the conclusions of contemporary natural science. In his works, the first steps were taken in revealing the dialectics of nature, which he tried to consider not as a frozen, ossified system, but in the process of continuous development. “Bodies,” he wrote, “can neither act nor oppose mutually without movement ... The nature of bodies consists in action and reaction ... and since they cannot occur without movement ... then the nature of bodies consists in movement, and, therefore, bodies are determined motion." However, Lomonosov, as already mentioned, lived in an age of mechanistic materialism. He understood movement as a simple mechanical movement of bodies. Under these conditions, it was not possible to fully reveal the true physical picture of the dialectical unity, the deep inseparable connection between matter and motion. Lomonosov owns not only the formulation of the universal law of nature, but also the implementation of the experimental confirmation of this universal law. Experimental verification of the principle of conservation of matter could most convincingly be carried out by studying chemical processes. It is during chemical transformations that the substance of one body partially or completely passes into another body. He supported the long-standing philosophical idea of ​​the eternity and indestructibility of matter with the data of physical and chemical experiments. Thanks to this, abstract philosophical constructions took on the concrete form of a natural science law.

In the work "On the Relationship between the Quantity of Matter and Weight" (1758) and in "Discourse on the Hardness and Liquid of Bodies" (1760), the "universal natural law" discovered by Lomonosov was fully substantiated. Both works were published in Latin, therefore, they were known outside of Russia. But many scientists of those years could not realize the significance of what Lomonosov did.

Conclusion

The 17th and 18th centuries are the time of special historical changes in the countries of Western Europe. During this period, we observe the formation and development of industrial production. New natural forces and phenomena are being more and more actively mastered for purely production purposes: water mills are being built, new hoisting machines are being designed for mines, the first steam engine is being created, and so on. All these and other engineering works reveal the obvious need of society for the development of concrete scientific knowledge. Already in the 17th century, many believe that "knowledge is power" (F. Bacon), that it is precisely "practical philosophy" (concrete scientific knowledge) that will help us to profitably master nature and become "lords and masters" of this nature (R .Descartes).

In the 18th century, the boundless faith in science, in our mind, was even more consolidated. If in the Renaissance it was accepted that our mind was unlimited in its possibilities in cognition of the world, then in the 18th century, not only successes in cognition, but also hopes for a favorable reorganization of both nature and society began to be associated with reason. For many thinkers of the 18th century, scientific progress began to act as a necessary condition for the successful advancement of society along the path to human freedom, to the happiness of people, to public well-being. At the same time, it was accepted that all our actions, all actions (both in production and in the reorganization of society) can only be guaranteed to be successful when they are permeated with the light of knowledge and will be based on the achievements of the sciences. Therefore, the main task of a civilized society was declared to be the general education of people.

Many thinkers of the 18th century confidently began to declare that the first and main duty of any "true friend of progress and humanity" is the "enlightenment of minds", enlightenment of people, familiarizing them with all the most important achievements of science and art. This orientation toward the enlightenment of the masses became so characteristic of the cultural life of European countries in the 18th century that the 18th century was later called the Age of Enlightenment, or the Age of Enlightenment.

England is the first to enter this era. The English enlighteners (D. Locke, D. Toland, M. Tyndall, etc.) were characterized by a struggle with the traditional religious worldview, which objectively restrained the free development of the sciences of nature, man and society. Deism has become the ideological form of freethinking in Europe since the first decades of the 18th century. Deism does not yet reject God as the creator of all animate and inanimate nature, but within the framework of deism it is cruelly postulated that this creation of the world has already taken place, that after this act of creation God does not interfere in nature: now nature is not determined by anything external and now the causes and explanations of all events and processes in it should be sought only in itself, in its own laws. This was a significant step towards a science free from the fetters of traditional religious prejudices.

And yet English education was enlightenment for the elite, had an aristocratic character. In contrast, French education is not focused on the aristocratic elite, but on the broad circles of urban society. It was in France, in line with this democratic enlightenment, that the idea of ​​​​creating an "Encyclopedia, or explanatory dictionary of sciences, arts and crafts", an encyclopedia that would acquaint readers with the most important achievements of sciences, arts and crafts in a simple and intelligible form (and not in the form of scientific treatises) was born. crafts.

The ideological leader of this undertaking is D. Diderot, and his closest associate is D. Alamber. Articles for this "Encyclopedia" agreed to write the most prominent philosophers and naturalists of France. According to the plan of D. Diderot, the "Encyclopedia" should have reflected not only the achievements of specific sciences, but also many new philosophical concepts regarding the nature of matter, consciousness, knowledge, etc. Moreover, the "Encyclopedia" began to publish articles in which critical assessments of traditional religious dogma, the traditional religious worldview were given. All this determined the negative reaction of the church elite and a certain circle of senior government officials to the publication of the Encyclopedia. Work on the "Encyclopedia" became more and more complicated with each volume. The 18th century never saw its last volumes. And yet, even what was nevertheless published was of enduring importance for the cultural process not only in France, but also in many other European countries (including Russia and Ukraine.

In Germany, the Enlightenment movement is associated with the activities of H. Wolf, I. Herder, G. Lessing, and others. If we keep in mind the popularization of sciences and the dissemination of knowledge, then the activities of H. Wolf play a special role here. His merits were later noted both by I. Kant and Hegel.

Philosophy for H. Wolf is "world wisdom", which implies a scientific explanation of the world and the construction of a system of knowledge about it. He proved the practical usefulness of scientific knowledge. He himself was known as a physicist, and as a mathematician, and as a philosopher. And he is often characterized as the father of the systematic exposition of philosophy in Germany (I. Kant). H. Wolf wrote his works in a simple and intelligible language.

His philosophical system was expounded in textbooks that replaced scholastic medieval courses in many European countries (including Kyiv and then Moscow). Kh. Wolf was elected a member of many academies in Europe.

By the way, M.V. studied with H. Wolf himself. Lomonosov, F. Prokopovich and our other compatriots who studied in Germany. And if the activities of H. Wolf were not properly covered in our philosophical literature, then, apparently, because he was a supporter of a teleological view of the world. He did not reject God as the creator of the world, and he associated the expediency that is characteristic of nature, for all its representatives, with the wisdom of God: when creating the world, God thought through everything and foresaw everything, and hence expediency follows. But asserting scope for the development of the natural sciences, H. Wolf remained a supporter of deism, which undoubtedly predetermined the subsequent deism of M.V. Lomonosov.

So, summing up what has been said above about the philosophy of the Enlightenment, we can note the following important points in its general characteristics:

a deep faith in the unlimited possibilities of science in the knowledge of the world is noticeably developing - a faith based on the ideas of F. Bacon (on the possibilities of experimental study of nature) and R. Descartes (on the possibilities of mathematics in natural science knowledge) well-acquired by the philosophers of the Enlightenment;

deistic ideas about the world develop, which in turn leads to the formation of materialism as a fairly integral philosophical doctrine, it is deism in unity with the successes and results of the natural sciences that leads to the formation of French materialism of the 18th century;

a new idea is being formed about social history, about its deep connection with the achievements of science and technology, with scientific discoveries and inventions, with the enlightenment of the masses.

Our interest in the philosophy of the Enlightenment is determined not only by the fact that this philosophy is one of the important stages in the development of Western European philosophical thought, which largely influenced the nature of new philosophical trends in the 19th century.

The philosophy of the Enlightenment involuntarily attracts our attention also because many of its guidelines, associated with exaggerated hopes for reason, science, enlightenment, in the middle of the 20th century became our guidelines, ideologically in the middle of the 20th century we were captured by the prospects of scientific and technical progress and many ideas of the philosophy of history" of the XVIII century receive their rebirth in the "technological determinism" of the XX century. As in the XVIII century, we are faced with descriptions of a number of philosophers about the possible negative consequences of scientific progress for humans, and in the XX century in the works of many philosophers show the same anxiety and the same concern for the fate of a person who is carried away by the scientific and technological process and is faced with a mass of problems caused by this progress.

List of sources used

1. Alekseev P.V., Uch. P., Reader in Philosophy - M .: Tk Velby, Ed. Prospect, 2004. - 576 p.
2. Asmus V.F. Descartes. educational - M.: Higher School Publishing House, 2006.
3. Gorelov A.A. The concept of modern natural science. - M.: Center, 2002. - 208 p.
4. History of the world economy: Textbook for universities / G.B. Polyak, A.N. Markova. - M. 2001
5. Karpenkov S.Kh. The concept of modern natural science: A textbook for universities. - M.: Culture and sport, UNITI, 1997. - 520 p. Concepts of modern natural science / Ed.V.N. Lavrinenko, V.P. Ratnikov. - M.: UNITI, 2000. - 203 p.
6. M.V. Lomonosov "Selected Philosophical Works", 1940
7. New history, Yudovskaya A.Ya.M. 2000Orlov A.S., Georgiev V.A., Georgieva N.G., Sivokhina T.A.
8. Ruzavin G.I. Concepts of modern natural science. Moscow: Culture and sport, 1997, 286 p.
9. Samygina S.I. "Concepts of modern natural science" / Rostov n / D: "Phoenix", 1997.
10. Fisher, Kuno. History of New Philosophy. Descartes: His life, writings and teachings. - St. Petersburg: 2004.
11. Khoroshavina S.G. Lecture course "Concepts of modern natural science", (series "Textbooks", "Teaching aids"), Rostov n / a: "Phoenix", 2000.
12. Yavorsky B.M., Detlaf A.A. Handbook of Physics. M.: Nauka, 1985, 512 p.

Enlightenment is considered the stage of development of European culture of the late XVII - early XIX century. Rationalism, mind, science - these three concepts began to come to the fore. The basis of the ideology of the Enlightenment is faith in man. The eighteenth century is the time of great hopes of man for himself and his abilities, the time of faith in the human mind and the high purpose of man. Enlighteners were convinced that a healthy fantasy, imagination, 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 but recall such famous people as Voltaire, Diderot, Rousseau. A whole variety of genres from the scientific encyclopedia to the parenting novel appears during this period. Voltaire in this regard said: "All genres are beautiful, except for the boring."

Voltaire(1694-1778)

Voltaire's creative heritage is enormous: fifty volumes of six hundred pages each. It was about him that Victor Hugo said that "this is not a man, this is an EPOCH." Voltaire still has the glory of an outstanding scientist, philosopher, poet. What can be found in Voltaire's Philosophical Letters? The principles of philosophy, which are still relevant today: tolerance, the right to freely express one's own thoughts. And what about religion? It 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 was in correspondence with Voltaire. After the philosopher's death, 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 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)

Also, 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 provisions of his worldview. The foundations of civil life, the division of labor, property, the state and laws are only a source of inequality, misfortune and depravity of people. Proceeding from the idea that a person is naturally endowed with a tendency to good, Rousseau believed that the main task of pedagogy is the development of good inclinations invested in a person by nature. From this point of view, Rousseau rebelled against all violent methods in the matter of education, and especially against the cluttering up of the child's mind with unnecessary knowledge. Rousseau's ideas influenced the French Revolution, they are written into the American Constitution, his pedagogical theories still make themselves felt indirectly in almost every school around the world, and his influence on literature has survived to this day. Rousseau developed his political ideas in a series of works, the pinnacle of which is the treatise On the Social Contract, published in 1762. “Man is born to be free, but meanwhile he is everywhere in chains.” 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 ancestor 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 the government (early 1760s, after the publication of the book "Emile, or On Education"), the suspicion inherent in Rousseau acquired extremely painful forms. He saw conspiracies everywhere. It was his "Social Contract" that inspired the fighters for the ideals of the French Revolution; Rousseau himself, paradoxically, was never in favor of such drastic 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 of Sciences, Arts and Crafts. In the philosophical works of Denis Diderot, being a supporter of an enlightened monarchy, he made an irreconcilable criticism of absolutism, the Christian religion and the church, defended (based on sensationalism) materialistic ideas. Diderot's literary works are written mainly in the traditions of the realistic-everyday novel of the Enlightenment. If the bourgeoisie sought to destroy the class barriers between themselves 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, incapable, in his opinion, of sound judgment in "moral and political matters." Diderot maintained friendly relations with Dmitri 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 is Charles-Louis de Seconda, Baron La Brad i de Montesquieu. French writer, jurist and philosopher, author of the novel "Persian Letters", articles from the "Encyclopedia, or Explanatory Dictionary of Sciences, Arts and Crafts", the work "On the Spirit of Laws", a supporter of a naturalistic approach to the study of society. Developed the doctrine of the separation of powers. Montesquieu led a simple, solitary life, and with full spiritual strength and deep seriousness he concentrated on the task of the observer, thinking and seeking the norm. The post of President of the Parliament of Bordeaux, which Montesquieu inherited in 1716, soon began to weigh him down. In 1726, he resigned this position, but, as owner of the castle of La Brede, he faithfully maintained the corporate convictions of the parliamentary aristocracy.

He was 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 scholar in the spirit of noble independence. Great travels in Europe, undertaken by Montesquieu in 1728-1731, had the character of serious research trips. Montesquieu actively visited literary salons and clubs, was familiar with many writers, scientists, diplomats. Among his interlocutors, for example, can be attributed to the French researcher of controversial issues of 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 one 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 certain system of culture. Here we can already talk about changes in the minds of a huge mass of people who, according to I. Kant, came out of "the state of their immaturity" and were captured by a stream 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 the further intervention of God in the self-movement of nature and does not allow other ways of knowing God, except for reason). Deism made it possible to speak out against religious fanaticism, for freedom of conscience and the liberation of science and philosophy from church guardianship. Representatives of deism (Voltaire and Rousseau in France, J. Locke in England, etc.) opposed reason to faith. In the Age of Enlightenment, the Christian idea loses its power, a desire is manifested to free religion from blind faith, to bring it out of natural knowledge.

2. The worship of the enlighteners to nature led to cosmopolitanism, which was expressed in the condemnation of any nationalism and the recognition equal opportunity all nations. At the same time, the spread of cosmopolitanism led to a decline in the feeling of patriotism, which is most clearly seen in the example of France. “From the very beginning, the French Revolution was distinguished by cosmopolitanism, it is difficult to call it actually French ... then the ideal was considered rather an abstract “man”, but by no means the Motherland” (E. Fage). The idea of ​​the unity of humanity and culture is being expressed more and more often.

Throughout the XVIII century. in Europe as a whole, an unusually growing interest in the life, customs and culture of the countries of the East. So, in France at the end of the XVII century. a multi-volume edition "Oriental Library" appeared. At the beginning of the XVIII century. translations appear from Arabic, Persian and other oriental languages. Of particular success is the publication of "Tales of a Thousand and One Nights", which caused many imitations. However, attempts to theoretically comprehend the culture of different peoples, based on the idea of ​​the unity of human nature and the universality of reason, were even more important. The Italian educator Vico said: "In nature there is one mental language common to all peoples." The German scientist I. G. Herder carefully studied the folklore of different countries and published a collection of "Voices of the peoples in their songs." Of course, it was impossible to cover all the richness of the culture of the world. But he dreamed about it, enthusiastically exclaiming: "What a work it would be about the human race, about the human spirit, world culture!"

3. The culture of the Enlightenment is inherent in "scientific". By the beginning of the XVIII century. natural science experienced a true renaissance. Scientists of the middle of the XVIII 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, who finally entered the life of mankind on an equal footing with philosophy and religion. What used to be the lot of a few is now common property, as exemplified by the famous French Encyclopedia. For the first time, an independent and integral scientific worldview entered the historical arena. In the Age of Enlightenment, the formation of modern science with its ideals and norms, which determined the subsequent development of technogenic civilization, was completed.

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. No wonder the Enlightenment is called the Age of Reason. Reason was interpreted as a source and engine of knowledge, ethics and politics: a person can and must act reasonably; society can and must be rationally organized. The cult of reason in the XVIII 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 Enlightenment culture is the idea of ​​progress, which is closely intertwined with the idea of ​​rationality. It was during the Enlightenment that the concept of "belief 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 the enlighteners is characterized by the absolutization of the importance of education in the formation of a new person. It seemed to the figures of the era that it was enough to create conditions for raising children - and within one or two generations all misfortunes would be eradicated. A bet was made 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 to him, Locke argued that there are no "innate ideas", and therefore there are no "blue blood" people who claim special rights and advantages. " Experience of the human mind"- a philosophical treatise by John Locke - became a kind of manifesto of the Enlightenment. The ideas contained in it about the upbringing of the human personality and the role of the social environment in this process formed the basis of the theories of most enlighteners. 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, directed in general against feudalism and absolutism, consisted of teachings that were different in political and philosophical radicalism. Representatives of the older generation - C. L. Montesquieu and Voltaire - gravitated more towards the gradual reform of feudal society along the lines of England, where constitutional monarchy - a form of statea device in which the power of the monarch is limited by the frameworkconstitution and a strong parliament. They counted on a "reasonable combination" of the interests of the bourgeoisie and the aristocrats. D. Diderot, J. O. Lametrie, K. A. Helvetius, P. A. Holbach in principle denied feudal property and feudal privileges, rejected monarchical power, while advocating "enlightened monarchy", the incarnationidealistic belief in the possibility of improving monarchical powerthrough the active enlightenment of monarchs in the spirit of the new ideas of the time as an intermediate compromise.

Edition " Great Encyclopedia"gathered all the scattered knowledge and aspirations of the enlighteners into one whole. The encyclopedia rallied around itself the smartest people of France. In Paris, a circle of philosophers was formed - encyclopedists, which declared itself in the early 50s as a public party. Encyclopedists - French educators, who, led by Denis Diderot, took part 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 sum up 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 combating social prejudices, intended for the whole society. The first volume was published in 1751. The editor-in-chief and the soul of the enterprise was Denis Diderot(1713-1784). In philosophical works ("Thoughts on the explanation of nature", "Philosophical principles of matter and motion", etc.), Diderot defended materialistic ideas. In literary work, he strove for realism ("Ramo's Nephew", "Jacques the Fatalist", "The Nun").

Enlighteners viewed art as a means of popularizing moral and political ideas. To look at things philosophically meant to look at things rationally. Enlightenment writers called themselves philosophers. Literature relied on public opinion, which was formed in circles and salons. The courtyard ceased to be the only center to which everyone aspired. The philosophical salons of Paris came into fashion, where Voltaire, Diderot, Rousseau, Helvetia, Hume, Smith visited.

Voltaire (real name François Marie Arouet) (1694-1778) was the recognized leader of the enlighteners throughout Europe. In his work, more fully and brighter than in anyone else, the social thought of the century was expressed. The whole rationalist movement is often identified with the activities of Voltaire and is called by a common name - Voltairianism. In the famous castle of Ferne, where he lived for the last 20 years, all the educated people of Europe flocked, as if on a pilgrimage. From here, Voltaire sent out philosophical and literary manifestos, 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 novels ("Candide, or Optimism", "Innocent"), satirical poems ("The Virgin of Orleans"), philosophical treatises ("English Letters"), plays ("Zaire", "Magomed"), feuilletons, articles. In contrast to some enlighteners, he strongly emphasized the value of culture.

The greatest representative of the French Enlightenment was Charles Louis Montesquieu (1689-1755). His main and last work - the result of many years of work - "The Spirit of Laws". Montesquieu considered the legislation of peoples depending on the state of the culture of society. Exploring 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, and on the general warehouse of civilization.

The democratic direction in the Enlightenment was called " Rousseauism"by the name of one of the most radical enlighteners - 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, poems, poems, novels, comedies - Rousseau idealized the "natural state" of mankind, glorified the cult of nature. Rousseau was the first to speak of the high price of the progress of civilization. Rousseau contrasted the corruption and depravity of civilized nations with the ideal purity of the morals of society at the patriarchal stage of development. His slogan "Back to nature!" reflects the dream of natural existence natural person in natural environment. Rousseau's pedagogical views are expressed in his famous treatise novel Emil, or On Education. His novel in letters "Julia, or New Eloise" 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 an artistic embodiment in English literature. In the famous novel by Daniel Defoe (1661-1731) "Robinson Crusoe" it is clearly proved that a person endowed with knowledge can survive in any conditions. Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), the author of the no less famous work Gulliver's Travels, looks quite soberly at the world. The handsome Dr. Gulliver is also not lost under any circumstances, he finds a common language with both midgets and giants. Enlightenment realism was most clearly expressed in the work of Henry Fielding (1707-1754), who is called the classic of Enlightenment literature. In the novel "The Story of Tom Jones, the Foundling", in the comedy "The Judge in the Trap", the satirical novel "Jonathan Wilde" gives a vivid picture of the era.

Art of the 18th century was in the process of revising all pre-existing values. It is possible to single out several directions in it, differing from each other in their worldview and ideological orientation. One of them is rococo- an artistic style that was formed 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 a degenerate baroque. Such a view is quite legitimate. Indeed, Rococo, as it were, translates the curvilinear constructions of the Baroque into a new register of sound, more chamber, graceful and tender. Rococo plays ornamental symphonies on the walls and ceilings of interiors, weaves lace patterns. At the same time, Rococo reaches the heights of virtuosity, grace and brilliance, but completely loses its Baroque monumentality, solidity and strength. Nude nymphs and angels fill the space against the pale pastel tones of the landscape. Rococo sphere - interior decoration. Rocaille painting and sculpture, closely associated with the architectural design of the interior, had a purely decorative character. She avoided resorting to dramatic plots and was frankly illusory and cloudless in nature. The plane of the wall was broken 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 thing, covers it with garlands of curls, inlays, patterns. The walls of the mansions of the nobility and the wealthy bourgeoisie, built in the classic spirit with strict order forms, are divided into niches inside, richly decorated with silk wallpaper, painting, and stucco molding. The unity of the interior was not disturbed by artsy furniture with inlays. Porcelain knickknacks, chests, snuffboxes, and bottles surprisingly went to elegant tables and ottomans on thin bent legs. Porcelain and mother-of-pearl came into fashion. The Sevres Porcelain Manufactory arose in France, and the equally famous Meissen Manufactory in Germany. Works of applied art occupied an important place in the Rococo culture. In this era, clothes, hairstyles, human appearance became works of art. The unnatural figures of ladies in crinoline, tanseries, and wigs acquired a silhouette uncharacteristic of the human body, and seemed like an artsy toy in a fantastic interior.

The largest representative of the Rococo in painting was Francois Boucher (1703-1770). The most skillful master, he worked a lot in the field of decorative painting, made sketches of tapestries and paintings on porcelain. His mythological and pastoral compositions were very suitable for the decoration of the rocaille apartments. Typical plots are "Triumph of Venus", "Toilet of Venus", "Bathing of Diana". In the works of Boucher, the mannerisms and eroticism of the Rococo era were expressed with particular force. Enlighteners justifiably reproached him for the lack of the truth of life. The plots of the works of Jean Honore Fragonard, on the contrary, are uncomplicated ordinary episodes ("Kiss furtively", "Happy opportunities for a swing"). They show realistic skill, fine and careful elaboration of details, imperceptibly translating the conditional rocaille genre into everyday life.

Enlighteners urged artists to take up the image of the life of the third estate. Jean Baptiste Siméon Chardin (1699-1779) and Jean Baptiste Greuze (1725-1805) heeded their calls. It is hard to believe that Chardin's women ("Prayer before dinner", "Laundress", "Woman washing pans") are contemporaries of Boucher's models, but it was they who represented the true France of those years. Grez's paintings are closer to the preaching of Rousseau ideas about the patriarchal idyll, family virtues ("Father of the family reading the Bible to his children", "Country bride", "Spoiled child"). Diderot, in his critical articles, spoke of Chardin as the creator of a new art, and called Greuze "truly his artist."

The forerunner of critical realism in painting was the great English artist William Hogarth (1697-1764). Entire series of paintings (out of 68 compositions), united by one plot ("Mot's Career", "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 a whole portrait gallery of his contemporaries, including a statue of a seated Voltaire.

The theater of the Enlightenment, both in dramaturgy and stage techniques, reflected a new view of the world. The playwrights and actors of England, France, and Germany were united in their desire to represent modern life as accurately as possible. The comedies "The Barber of Seville" and "Mad Day, or the Marriage of Figaro" by Pierre Augustin Beaumarchais (1732-1799) very accurately reflect the alignment of social forces. Figaro is a representative of the entire third estate. Figaro is a symbol of the commoner, who is the future. King Louis XVI, after reading "Mad Day", declared that the Bastille would fall sooner than this play would be staged. Indeed, the Bastille fell five years after the premiere of this sharp, revealing 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 the traditional opera forms, introduced psychological individuality into the genre types of symphonies. He owns about 20 operas ("The Marriage of Figaro", "Don Giovanni", "Magic Flute"), 50 symphony concerts, numerous sonatas, variations, masses, the famous "Requiem", choral compositions. The multifaceted work of Mozart is organically connected with the general pathos of the Enlightenment.

In the XVIII century. the picture of the world was for the first time given in worldly authentic images. It was during the Enlightenment, when man and his mind were declared the main value, that the very word "culture" for the first time became a generally recognized term, the meaning of which was discussed not only by the thinkers of the century, but also by the general 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. Already for this, one can highly appreciate the Age of Enlightenment, despite the many errors and misconceptions inherent in it.

The content of the article

THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT Enlightenment, intellectual and spiritual movement of the late 17th - early 19th centuries. in Europe and North America. It was a natural continuation of the humanism of the Renaissance and the rationalism of the beginning of the New Age, which laid the foundations of the enlightenment worldview: the rejection of the religious worldview and the appeal to reason as the only criterion for the knowledge of man and society. The name was fixed after the publication of the article by I. Kant Answer to the question: what is Enlightenment?(1784). The root word "light", from which the term "enlightenment" (English Enlightenment; French Les Lumières; German Aufklärung; Italian Illuminismo) comes, goes back to an ancient religious tradition, enshrined in both the Old and New Testaments. This is the Creator's separation of light from darkness, and the definition of God himself as Light. Christianization itself implies the enlightenment of mankind with the light of the teachings of Christ. Rethinking this image, the educators put a new understanding into it, talking about enlightening a person with the light of reason.

The Enlightenment originated in England at the end of the 17th century. in the writings of its founder D. Locke (1632–1704) and his followers G. Bolingbroke (1678–1751), D. Addison (1672–1719), A. E. Shaftesbury (1671–1713), F. Hutcheson (1694– 1747) formulated the basic concepts of the enlightenment doctrine: "common good", "natural man", "natural law", "natural religion", "social contract". In the doctrine of natural law, set forth in Two treatises on state government(1690) D. Locke, the basic human rights are substantiated: freedom, equality, inviolability of the person and property, which are natural, eternal and inalienable. People need to voluntarily conclude a social contract, on the basis of which a body (state) is created that ensures the protection of their rights. The concept of a social contract was one of the fundamental ones in the doctrine of society developed by the figures of the early English Enlightenment.

In the 18th century, France became the center of the enlightenment movement. At the first stage of the French Enlightenment, the main figures were Ch.L. Montesquieu (1689–1755) and Voltaire (F.M. Arue, 1694–1778). In the works of Montesquieu, Locke's doctrine of the rule of law was further developed. In the treatise About the spirit of laws(1748) formulated the principle of separation of powers into legislative, executive and judicial. AT Persian letters(1721) Montesquieu outlined the path along which the French Enlightenment thought with its cult of the rational and the natural had to go. However, Voltaire held different political views. He was the ideologist of enlightened absolutism and sought to instill the ideas of the Enlightenment in the monarchs of Europe (service with Frederick II, correspondence with Catherine II). He was distinguished by clearly expressed anti-clerical activity, opposed religious fanaticism and hypocrisy, church dogmatism and the primacy of the church over the state and society. The writer's work is diverse in topics and genres: anti-clerical writings Orleans virgin (1735), Fanaticism, or the Prophet Mohammed(1742); philosophical stories Candide, or Optimism (1759), Innocent(1767); tragedy brutus (1731), Tancred (1761); Philosophical letters (1733).

During the second stage of the French Enlightenment, Diderot (1713-1784) and the Encyclopedists played a major role. Encyclopedia, or Explanatory Dictionary of Sciences, Arts and Crafts, 1751-1780 became the first scientific encyclopedia, which outlined the basic concepts in the field of physical and mathematical sciences, natural sciences, economics, politics, engineering and art. In most cases, the articles were thorough and reflected the latest state of knowledge. Inspirers and editors encyclopedias Diderot and J. D "Alembert (1717–1783) appeared, Voltaire, Condillac, Helvetius, Holbach, Montesquieu, Rousseau took an active part in its creation. Articles on specific areas of knowledge were written by professionals - scientists, writers, engineers.

The third period put forward the figure of J.-J. Rousseau (1712–1778). He became the most prominent popularizer of the ideas of the Enlightenment, introducing elements of sensitivity and eloquent pathos into the rationalistic prose of the Enlightenment. Rousseau proposed his own way of the political structure of society. In the treatise On the social contract, or principles of political law(1762) he put forward the idea of ​​popular sovereignty. According to it, the government receives power from the hands of the people in the form of an assignment that it is obliged to fulfill in accordance with the people's will. If it violates this will, then the people can restrict, modify or take away the power given to them. One of the means of such a return of power may be the violent overthrow of the government. Rousseau's ideas found their further development in the theory and practice of the ideologists of the Great French Revolution.

The period of the late Enlightenment (late 18th - early 19th century) is associated with countries of Eastern Europe, Russia and Germany. A new impetus to the Enlightenment is given by German literature and philosophical thought. The German enlighteners were the spiritual successors of the ideas of the English and French thinkers, but in their writings they were transformed and took on a deeply national character. I. G. Herder (1744–1803) asserted the originality of the national culture and language. His main work Ideas for the philosophy of the history of mankind(1784–1791) became the first fundamental classical work with which Germany entered the arena of world historical and philosophical science. The philosophical quest of the European Enlightenment was in tune with the work of many German writers. The pinnacle of the German Enlightenment, which received worldwide fame, were such works as Rogues (1781), Deceit and love (1784), Wallenstein (1799), Mary Stuart(1801) F. Schiller (1759–1805), Emilia Galotti, Nathan the Wise G.E.Lessing (1729–1781) and especially Faust(1808–1832) I.-V. Goethe (1749–1832). Philosophers GW Leibniz (1646–1716) and I. Kant (1724–1804) played an important role in shaping the ideas of the Enlightenment. The idea of ​​progress, traditional for the Enlightenment, was developed in Critique of Pure Reason I. Kant (1724–1804), who became the founder of German classical philosophy.

Throughout the development of the Enlightenment, the concept of “reason” was at the center of the reasoning of its ideologists. The mind, in the view of the enlighteners, gives a person an understanding of both the social structure and himself. Both can be changed for the better, can be improved. Thus, the idea of ​​progress was substantiated, which was conceived as an irreversible course of history from the darkness of ignorance into the realm of reason. Scientific knowledge was considered the highest and most productive form of activity of the mind. It was during this era that sea travel acquired a systematic and scientific character. Geographical discoveries in the Pacific Ocean (Easter Islands, Tahiti and Hawaii, the east coast of Australia) by J. Roggeveen (1659–1729), D. Cook (1728–1779), L.A. F. Laperouse (1741-1788) laid the foundation for the systematic study and practical development of this region, which stimulated the development of natural sciences. A great contribution to botany was made by K. Linnaeus (1707–1778). In work plant species(1737) he described thousands of species of flora and fauna and gave them double Latin names. J.L. Buffon (1707–1788) introduced the term “biology” into scientific circulation, denoting “the science of life” with it. S. Lamarck (1744-1829) put forward the first theory of evolution. In mathematics, I. Newton (1642–1727) and G. W. Leibniz (1646–1716) almost simultaneously discovered differential and integral calculus. The development of mathematical analysis was promoted by L. Lagrange (1736–1813) and L. Euler (1707–1783). The founder of modern chemistry A.L. Lavoisier (1743-1794) compiled the first list of chemical elements. characteristic feature The scientific thought of the Enlightenment was that it focused on the practical use of the achievements of science in the interests of industrial and social development.

The task of educating the people, which the educators set themselves, required an attentive attitude to the issues of upbringing and education. Hence - a strong didactic principle, manifested not only in scientific treatises, but also in literature. As a true pragmatist, who attached great importance to those disciplines that were necessary for the development of industry and trade, D. Locke spoke in a treatise Thoughts on parenting(1693). A novel of education can be called The Life and Amazing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe(1719) D. Defoe (1660-1731). It presented a model of the behavior of a reasonable individual and showed the importance of knowledge and work in the life of an individual from a didactic point of view. The works of the founder of the English psychological novel, S. Richardson (1689–1761), are also didactic. Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded(1740) and Clarissa Harlow, or The Story of a Young Lady(1748-1750) - the Puritan-enlightenment ideal of the individual was embodied. The French enlighteners also spoke about the decisive role of education. K.A. Helvetius (1715-1771) in the works About the mind(1758) and About a human(1769) argued the influence of the "environment" on the upbringing, i.e. living conditions, social structure, customs and mores. Rousseau, unlike other enlighteners, was aware of the limitations of the mind. In the treatise About sciences and arts(1750) he questioned the cult of science and the boundless optimism associated with the possibility of progress, believing that with the development of civilization there is an impoverishment of culture. Related to these beliefs were Rousseau's calls to return to nature. In the essay Emil, or On Education(1762) and in the novel Julia, or New Eloise(1761) he developed the concept of natural education based on the use of the child's natural abilities, free at birth from vices and bad inclinations, which are formed in him later under the influence of society. According to Rousseau, children should be brought up in isolation from society, one on one with nature.

Enlightenment thought was directed towards the construction of utopian models of both the ideal state as a whole and the ideal individual. Therefore, the 18th century can be called the "golden age of utopia". The European culture of that time gave rise to a huge number of novels and treatises that tell about the transformation of the world according to the laws of reason and justice, - Will J. Mellier (1664–1729); The Code of Nature, or the True Spirit of Her Laws(1773) Morelli; On the rights and obligations of a citizen(1789) G.Mably (1709-1785); 2440(1770) L.S. Mercier (1740-1814). The novel by D. Swift (1667–1745) can be considered as a utopia and a dystopia at the same time. Gulliver's travels(1726), which debunks such fundamental ideas of the Enlightenment as the absolutization of scientific knowledge, faith in law and natural man.

In the artistic culture of the Enlightenment there was no single style of the era, a single artistic language. At the same time, various stylistic forms existed in it: late baroque, rococo, classicism, sentimentalism, pre-romanticism. The ratio of different types of art has changed. Music and literature came to the fore, the role of the theater increased. There was a change in the hierarchy of genres. The historical and mythological painting of the “great style” of the 17th century gave way to paintings on everyday and moral topics (J.B. Chardin (1699–1779), W. Hogarth (1697–1764), J.B. Grez (1725–1805 ) In the portrait genre, there is a transition from grandeur to intimacy (T. Gainsborough, 1727-1788, D. Reynolds, 1723-1792). A new genre of bourgeois drama and comedy appears in the theater, in which a new hero, a representative of the third estate, is brought to the stage - P.O. Beaumarchais (1732–1799) in Barber of Seville(1775) and The Marriage of Figaro(1784), by C. Goldoni (1707–1793) in Servant of two masters(1745, 1748) and Innkeeper(1753). The names of R. B. Sheridan (1751–1816), G. Fielding (1707–1754), C. Gozzi (1720–1806) stand out noticeably in the history of the world theater.

During the Age of Enlightenment, an unprecedented rise in musical art takes place. After the reform carried out by K.V. Gluck (1714–1787), opera became a synthetic art, combining music, singing and complex dramatic action in one performance. FJ Haydn (1732–1809) raised instrumental music to the highest level of classical art. The pinnacle of the musical culture of the Enlightenment is the work of J.S. Bach (1685–1750) and W.A. Mozart (1756–1791). The enlightenment ideal comes through especially brightly in Mozart's opera magical flute(1791), which is distinguished by the cult of reason, light, the idea of ​​man as the crown of the universe.

The enlightenment movement, having common basic principles, developed differently in different countries. The formation of the Enlightenment in each state was associated with its political, social and economic conditions, as well as with national characteristics.

English Enlightenment.

The period of formation of the educational ideology falls at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries. It was the result and consequence of the English bourgeois revolution of the middle of the 17th century, which is the fundamental difference between the island Enlightenment and the continental one. Having survived the bloody upheavals of the civil war and religious intolerance, the British strove for stability, and not for a radical change in the existing system. Hence the moderation, restraint, and skepticism that characterize the English Enlightenment. The national feature of England was the strong influence of Puritanism on all spheres of public life, therefore, the belief in the limitless possibilities of the mind, common to enlightenment thought, was combined by English thinkers with deep religiosity.

French Enlightenment

differed by the most radical views on all political and social issues. French thinkers created doctrines that denied private property (Rousseau, Mably, Morelli), defending atheistic views (Didero, Helvetius, P.A. Holbach). It was France, which for a century became the center of enlightenment thought, that contributed to the rapid spread of advanced ideas in Europe - from Spain to Russia and North America. These ideas inspired the ideologists of the French Revolution, which radically changed the social and political structure of France.

American Enlightenment.

The movement of the American Enlightenment is closely connected with the struggle of the English colonies in North America for independence (1775-1783), which ended with the creation of the United States of America. T. Payne (1737–1809), T. Jefferson (1743–1826) and B. Franklin (1706–1790) were engaged in the development of socio-political programs that prepared the theoretical basis for building an independent state. Their theoretical programs formed the basis of the main legislative acts of the new state: the Declaration of Independence of 1776 and the Constitution of 1787.

German Enlightenment.

The development of the German Enlightenment was influenced by the political fragmentation of Germany and its economic backwardness, which determined the predominant interest of the German enlighteners not in socio-political problems, but in questions of philosophy, morality, aesthetics and education. A peculiar variant of the European Enlightenment was the literary movement "Storm and Drang" , to which Herder, Goethe and Schiller belonged. Unlike their predecessors, they had a negative attitude towards the cult of reason, preferring the sensual principle in man. A feature of the German Enlightenment was also the flourishing of philosophical and aesthetic thought (G. Lessing Laocoön, or on the Limits of Painting and Poetry.1766; I. Winkelman History of ancient art,1764).

Ludmila Tsarkova