101
and revived the connection between
philosophy and science, especially
mathematics, that dated back to
pre-Socratic Greece.The birth of rationalism
In the 17th century, many of the
most significant philosophers in
Europe were also accomplished
mathematicians. In France, René
Descartes and Blaise Pascal made
major contributions to mathematics,
as did Gottfried Leibniz in Germany.
They believed that its reasoning
process provided the best model for
how to acquire all our knowledge of
the world. Descartes’s investigation
of the question “What can I know?”
led him to a position of rationalism,
which is the belief that knowledge
comes from reason alone. This
became the predominant belief in
continental Europe for the nextcentury. At the same time, a very
different philosophical tradition
was being established in Britain.
Following the scientific reasoning
espoused by Francis Bacon, John
Locke came to the conclusion that
our knowledge of the world comes
not from reason, but experience.
This view, known as empiricism,
characterized British philosophy
during the 17th and 18th centuries.
Despite the division between
continental rationalism and British
empiricism (the same division that
had separated the philosophies of
Plato and Aristotle), both had in
common the placing of the human
at their centers: it is this being
whose reason or experience leads
to knowledge. Philosophers on both
sides of the Channel had moved
from asking questions about the
nature of the universe—which werebeing answered by scientists such
as Isaac Newton—to questioning
how we can know what we know,
and they now began to investigate
the nature of the human mind and
self. But these new philosophical
strands had moral and political
implications. Just as the Church’s
authority had been undermined by
the ideas of the Renaissance, so the
aristocracies and monarchies were
threatened by the new ideas of the
Enlightenment, as this period came
to be known. If the old rulers were
removed from power, what sort of
society was to replace them?
In Britain, Hobbes and Locke
had laid the foundations for
democratic thinking during the
turbulent 17th century, but it was
another 100 years before a
questioning of the status quo
began in earnest elsewhere. ■RENAISSANCE AND THE AGE OF REASON
1649
1651 1721
1664 1710
1670
1690
1704
Isaac Newton
begins compiling his
notes on “Certain
Philosophical
Questions.”George Berkeley
publishes A Treatise
Concerning the Principles
of Human Knowledge.Blaise Pascal’s
Pensées are published
posthumously.John Locke publishes
An Essay concerning
Human Understanding.Thomas Hobbes’ great
political work, Leviathan,
is published.Britain’s first factory
opens, accelerating
the Industrial
Revolution.The execution of King
Charles I brings an
end to the English
Civil War.
Gottfried Leibniz
writes New Essays on
Human Understanding.