Part ThreeNew Cultural and
Political Horizons
During the late seventeenth century and the eighteenth
century, Europe entered a period of remarkable intellectual
and political ferment. Rejecting the weight of tradition, men and
women of science developed the scientific method, a means of
understanding based on systematic observation of natural phe
nomena and experimentation regarding causes and effects. Their
successors, the philosophes—the thinkers and writers of the
Enlightenment—believed their role was to bring progress to the
world through the application of reason to their reflections on
the nature of mankind. Influenced by growing religious skepti
cism and increased knowledge of the New World brought through
overseas trade and the establishment of European empires, and
drawing on expanding literacy, the philosophes espoused views of
nature, mankind, society, and government that challenged some
of the fundamental tenets most Europeans shared.
During this exciting period, Europe also entered a remark
able time of economic and social change. Increased agricultural
productivity supported a larger population that, in turn, raised the
demand for food and permitted the development of large-scale
manufacturing in and around northern English towns.
Changes also came in the realm of political life. The public
political sphere was transformed by the emergence of newspa
pers and learned associations, which facilitated political inter
est and discussion. Reform-minded people began to denounce
unwarranted privilege and “despotism,” and they celebrated the
British model of constitutional monarchy and the successful
rebellion of the American colonists against British rule. In a
time of economic and social change, new cultural and political
innovations began to transform Europe.