7 CONSEQUENCES OF ILLUSTRATION IN TODAY'S SOCIETY - HISTORY - 2025

The consequences of the Enlightenment, developed between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, are so extensive that it must be divided according to the different sciences and thoughts in which it had the greatest influence.

It was a time of great advances for humanity in the main areas of knowledge for man. Historians consider this stage as the column that supports the foundations of today's society and the origin of revolutionary thought.

Illustration scene

The birth of this era can be found in the contributions of Isaac Newton, an English physicist who managed to explain phenomena of the earth and the cosmos through scientific evaluation.

It would establish that the universe is the perfect creation, so it was vital that man understand its mechanism.

The main thinkers of the Enlightenment took up this idea of ​​the universe, and tried to apply it to society. They thought that if society and man are a mechanism, evaluation and reason would be able to explain their phenomena and thus we could find a way to make them work perfectly.

Experts mention that this stage begins in 1620 with the creation of the Novum organum, a work written by Francis Bacon where it is established that the technical and logical knowledge of science helps us to control nature.

In turn, its end comes in 1781 with the Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant, where he says that human experience has the same value as scientific analysis.

Consequences of the Enlightenment in Today's Society

The Enlightenment is one of the most prolific eras of mankind because enormous advances were made in the main areas of man's knowledge at that time.

This knowledge persists, although many without any change, thanks to the forefront of thought and the constant search for reason. These are the main contributions of the Enlightenment to society.

1- Contributions to the arts

One of the main characteristics of the Enlightenment is the transfer of religion to the background. For the first time, it was sought to find a meaning to humanity beyond the existence of divinities.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

This phenomenon is observable in painting at the beginning of the 18th century, where the Rococo, a French artistic movement, focused on man and his worldly activities as the main object.

Nature, bodies and everyday life were the main content of the new European art, which was previously thought to decorate chapels and highlight the divine.

In music this was notorious thanks to the work of composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, whose most famous operas had as their main theme the relationships of the common man and their work was enjoyed by both nobles and commoners.

2- Contributions to philosophy

At this time, the two main currents of thought were Empiricism and Rationalism.

Immanuel kant, René Descartes and Julien Offray from La Mettrie

Empiricism, developed by thinkers such as John Locke (1632-1704), George Berkeley (1685-1753), and David Hume (1711-1776), held that ideas and knowledge are formed through experiences and sensations.

On the other hand, the rationalism proposed by René Descartes, Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677), and Gottfried Leibniz (1646-1716) supposed that knowledge was based on reason and logic, since this was the only path that led to universal truths.

They were opposed to empiricism, since they claimed that the senses were not to be trusted when looking for an accurate answer.

These currents would later serve as inspiration for the German thinker Immanuel Kant, who established a link between the two without denying or invalidating the positions.

3- Contributions to politics

In this period, two great thinkers laid the foundations for modern democracy as we know it today.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Thomas Hobbes with his work Leviathan (1651), and John Locke with his Two Treatises on Civil Government (1690) criticized the divine appointment of monarchs and their duties towards the people they ruled.

On these contributions, Jean-Jacques Rousseau spoke of the existence of a social contract, where kings and rulers were responsible for a bilateral relationship and responsibility towards the people. The breach of this contract, said Rousseau, should end with the removal of the powerful.

This concept would later give rise to great social movements, such as the French Revolution that culminated in the removal of the rulers, who proclaimed themselves by divine word; or the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States of America.

4- Contributions to astronomy

Galileo Galilei - Source: Domenico Tintoretto

This was perhaps the most prolific stage of the father of astronomy, Galileo Galilei, who is credited with the coarse description of the movements of the celestial bodies.

It was through his observation that data such as the orbits of some planets and details about the relief of the moon and sunspots were known.

Another great astronomer of the time was Edmond Halley, who found craters on the surface of Mars and observed the movement of celestial bodies with such precision that he predicted the return of Halley's Comet, which today bears his name.

5- Contributions to physics

Isaac Newton

In addition to developing in astronomy, Galilei is recognized in the field of physics for his innovative and rigorous methods of experimentation, thereby positioning himself as a forerunner of classical mechanics. His experiments culminated in the prediction of the laws of friction and acceleration.

His basic principle of relativity would lay the foundations for Isaac Newton's laws of gravity and it was even a first approach to what Albert Einstein would later do in his work on the speed of light.

6- Contributions to mathematics

Blaise pascal

One of the most prominent mathematicians of the time was Blaise Pascal, who focused on geometry and its uses. It is credited with Pascal's triangle, a triangular figure that accommodates binomial coefficients.

Later, he established a celebrated mathematical theory of probability that was initially intended to apply to gambling and chance, but which he eventually took up again to argue for the existence of God and the benefits of virtuous life.

7- Contributions to religion

Finally, religion was perhaps the concept that underwent the most changes in this period. After a long darkness for the sciences and a stage of stagnation, religion would regain the influences of all these currents to advance with the same course of humanity.

Creed and church and state were separated, which greatly reduced wars due to religious differences.

This transition culminated in the creation of libraries and universities where knowledge was freely shared, as well as the opening of museums and cultural centers, since art and the divine now became the property of man.

References

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4. New World Encyclopedia (2016). Age of Enlightenment. New World Encyclopedia. Recovered from newworldencyclopedia.org.
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