Two great pioneers in the Enlightenment

王若寧

What literary movement left the deepest impression on me in the history of Europe is the Enlightenment. In the eighteenth century， the capitalist mode of production has almost established in Europe， and the field of thought launched a more radical and more thoroughly movement compared with Renaissance， that is， the Enlightenment movement. Enlightenment thinkers inherited and developed humanistic spirit under the banners of democracy and science. They advocated liberty， equality and fraternity as well as universal and necessary truths， lightening the road of early modern Europe.

The reasons why I said that the Enlightenment was more radical and more thoroughly than Renaissance are as follows. The core of Renaissance was to advocate humanity and oppose divinity， but in fact it borrowed Ancient Greece and Rome culture as its cover. On the contrary， the Enlightenment didnt use religion as its cover at all， only showing the whole respect for reason and science instead. But they both contributed to humanity， capitalist， and modern science a great deal.

One of the most outstanding representatives during the Enlightenment was Voltaire， also a leader of the movement. The eighteenth century was regarded as the age of Enlightenment as well as the age of Voltaire. He lashed out at the dark rule of the Catholic church and the corruption of its feudal rulers; therefore， he had twice been thrown into Bastille prison， and then he was forced to leave his homeland and went to England for three years. The experience in England had a large influence on him， for it was in England that he wrote a great work Letter Concerning the English Nation. In 1733， the book was published the first time. It had an enormous impact on France， the French authorities were horrified， and Voltaire was only narrowly avoided to be sent to the prison. Because not only did he write down English religion， politics， science and literary， but he also criticized the culture and politics in France in a sarcastic and humorous style. He used what he looked in England to criticize French Catholic church indeed. For example， he said in the book： “Take a view of British Royal Exchange， where representatives of all nations meet here for the benefits of mankind. Jewish， Mohammedan and Christians trade there， it seems like they are all believe in a same religion.” And then Voltaire began to use the way of comparison and metaphor， “If one religion only were allowed in England， the government would very possibly become arbitrary. If there were but two， people would cut one anothers throats; but as there as such a multitude， they all live happy and in peace.” From the plot we can see that Voltaires proposition was very clear， English multi-religion led to a more harmonious society. In conclusion， Voltaire was aimed at criticizing the only rule of Catholic in French society. It was also one aim of the Enlightenment.

“Opinion rules the world.”

As we all know， Voltaire had a famous saying： “I disapprove of what you say， but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” Some people argue that it was not originally said by Voltaire， but he did express the same idea with the sentence， though. Voltaire stressed the importance of multiculturalism and the value of liberalism. Especially after launching a campaign to regain an innocent guy Calas reputation， he gradually konwed that public opinion was able to change the society. From then on， he began to attach much more significance to freedom of expression and rejection of prejudice. All in all， it also had something to do with the spirit of the Enlightenment.

There was another outstanding representative of the Enlightenment----Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

Rousseau was one of the most radical Democrats of the Enlightenment who wrote the famous book during the Enlightenment， the Social Contract. His thoughts of liberty and democracy also became the driving force of the French Revolution.

In 1762， he wrote ?mile， which showed his opinion on children education. It reflected the educational thought of naturalism and claimed the theory of the goodness of nature. He argued that mans nature at birth was good， the only thing we should do was to prevent them from sliding into bad habits. In my perspective， I dont agree with him totally， because kids know little about the world， they cant tell which is right or wrong. Consequently， wed better not to let them obey their own minds thoroughly， instead we should get involved and teach them in a better way. Thats the reason why we set schools and set morality courses.

Goethe thought highly of them， he commented that： “Voltaire ended an old era while Rousseau started a new era.”

Ive learned a lot from those two pioneers， they had made great contributions to the Enlightenment movement as well as human-beings throughout the world. May people are as brave as they are， may liberty， equality， and fraternity fill the world.