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10-6-2020
The Enlightenment: Still Burning Bright
Fernando N. Zialcita
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Part of the Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons
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THE ENLIGHTENMENT:
Still Burning Bright
FERNANDO N ZIALCITA, PhD
DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY
ATENEO DE MANILA UNIVERSITY
We assume that we have a right to be Free
THE ENLIGHTENMENT: STILL BURNING BRIGHT
OUTLINE
• How the flame was ignited in Europe
• How the flame spread to the Philippines
• How the flame continues to burn brightly today
THE ENLIGHTENMENT: STILL BURNING BRIGHT
HOW THE FLAME WAS IGNITED IN EUROPE
The Three Social Classes in France
and Europe during the 18th century:
The Clergy and the Nobility on the
back of the overtaxed Commoner
THE ENLIGHTENMENT: STILL BURNING BRIGHT
WHAT GAVE FRENCH INTELLECTUALS THE COURAGE TO QUESTION THE STATUS QUO?
• The example of Galileo in the preceding century who
developed a new approach: “Scienza” (Knowledge)
• Conduct controlled experiments, gather observable data,
use mathematical analysis to explain data
• Hence: Observation + Reason. No need for external
authority
THE ENLIGHTENMENT: STILL BURNING BRIGHT
WHICH REVOLVES AROUND WHICH? THE SUN AROUND THE EARTH?
OR THE EARTH AROUND THE SUN?
THE ENLIGHTENMENT: STILL BURNING BRIGHT
THE CLASH BETWEEN SCIENCE AND AUTHORITY
• Galileo used the telescope to investigate the movement
of the planets together with mathematical calculations
• Church authorities saw his “Science” as a threat to the
authority of the Ancient Greeks and the Bible
• Under threat of torture, he was ordered to recant.
THE ENLIGHTENMENT: STILL BURNING BRIGHT
THE TRIUMPH OF REASON
• Galileo’s New Method was copied throughout Europe
and proven correct.
• Intellectuals asked: Why not use rational inquiry to make
the everyday world a better place?
• “The Enlightenment” = Reason combatting ignorance
• The Radical Thinkers were called
“philosophes” (philosophers) or “lumières” (lights).
THE ENLIGHTENMENT: STILL BURNING BRIGHT
MODERNITY
The Enlightenment = “Man realizing his potential
through the use of his mind.” Immanuel Kant
▪ “Modernity” = the view that the world and the Self
can be improved through Reason.
▪ Modernity arose from the Enlightenment.
THE ENLIGHTENMENT: STILL BURNING BRIGHT
FIRST CONTRIBUTION OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT: EVIDENCE-BASED
KNOWLEDGE FOR ALL
The multi-volume
Encyclopédie of 1751-1772
made available current
knowledge, both theoretical
and practical, to the public.
However, the Church
objected...
THE ENLIGHTENMENT: STILL BURNING BRIGHT
SECOND CONTRIBUTION OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT: FIGHT FOR FREEDOM OF THOUGHT
“Intolerance has never provoked a civil war, but intolerance
has covered the earth in carnage.”
-Voltaire
THE ENLIGHTENMENT: STILL BURNING BRIGHT
Voltaire took up the case of JeanFrançois de la Barre, a 19 year old
nobleman accused of blasphemy
“Ecrasez l’infame!” (Crush the
horror!) - Voltaire
THE ENLIGHTENMENT: STILL BURNING BRIGHT
THIRD CONTRIBUTION OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT: STRUGGLE FOR EQUALITY
“Man is born free but is everywhere in chains.”
-Jean-Jacques Rousseau
THE ENLIGHTENMENT: STILL BURNING BRIGHT
“The so-called ”Savage”
uses his body for
various purposes of
which we are incapable..
If he had a ladder,
would he be so nimble
in climbing a tree?”
-Rousseau
-SOURCE OF QUOTE
ROUSSEAU ON INEQUALITY
• Private property in land is not present in all
societies. Absent in very simple societies.
• Laws by the State can mitigate social inequality.
• The State is a social contract.
THE ENLIGHTENMENT: STILL BURNING BRIGHT
IMPACT OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT UPON EUROPE
• Though Voltaire and Rousseau were exiled, their
ideas spread throughout Europe and the European
colonies in the Americas
• Legal codes were reexamined.
• Attitudes changed
THE ENLIGHTENMENT: STILL BURNING BRIGHT
But taxation without
representation still
prevailed. Hence the
American and the French
Revolutions in 1776 and
1789
THE 1789 DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF MAN AND THE CITIZEN
• Article I: Men are born and remain free and equal. Social
distinctions can only be founded on the common good.
• Article II: The goal of all political associations is the
natural and imprescriptible are the rights of man; and
these rights are liberty, property, security and resistance to
oppression.
THE ENLIGHTENMENT: STILL BURNING BRIGHT
HOW THE FLAME SPREAD TO THE PHILIPPINES
Because of the 1872 Cavite Mutiny, three
innocent priests were publicly executed.
Prominent citizens were deported to
Guam. Colonial rule was arbitrary.
THE ENLIGHTENMENT: STILL BURNING BRIGHT
CONTRIBUTION BY FILIPINOS TO THE
ENLIGHTENMENT: EXPOSE THE ABUSES OF
COLONIALISM
In his two novels, Rizal showed how
colonial injustice wrecks innocent lives
e.g. Ibarra and Maria Clara
THE ENLIGHTENMENT: STILL BURNING BRIGHT
FIRST CONTRIBUTION OF FILIPINOS TO THE ENLIGHTENMENT:
THE NEED FOR PERSONAL MORALITY
“There are can be no tyrants where there are no
slaves – Jose Rizal
THE ENLIGHTENMENT: STILL BURNING BRIGHT
Because reforms were not
granted, Andres Bonifacio
organized a revolutionary
organization
SECOND CONTRIBUTION OF FILIPINOS TO THE ENLIGHTENMENT:
CONTRAST BETWEEN TWO KINDS OF LIGHT
“Sa ating pang-uga-ugali, nangapit ang pagsamba sa
ningning at pagtakwil sa liwanag.”
-Emilio Jacinto
THE ENLIGHTENMENT: STILL BURNING BRIGHT
INSIGHT
• In standard Spanish: 1) “ilustrado” = anyone with
education (ilustración). 2) “ilustrado” = anyone who
believes in the Enlightenment (Ilustraciٴón)
• Jacinto and our other heroes: “ilustrados” in the term’s
two senses
• They were “light-bearers.”
THE ENLIGHTENMENT: STILL BURNING BRIGHT
IMPACT OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT UPON THE PHILIPPINES
• Rizal was executed, Jacinto died from battle
wounds
• Their ideals, however, inspired the philosophy of
our Republic.
THE ENLIGHTENMENT: STILL BURNING BRIGHT
HOW THE FLAME BURNS BRIGHT TODAY
• Many countries have constitutions with a bill of rights
• The UN enacted a “Universal Declaration of Human
Rights (1948)
• Churches, like the Catholic, advocate religious tolerance
and democracy
• Policy-makers consult science experts
THE ENLIGHTENMENT: STILL BURNING BRIGHT
BUT THERE ARE PROBLEMS
• Science is under attack when it challenges powerful interests.
E. g. saving the forests and reducing fossil fuels to arrest global
warming
• Human rights are also under attack. E.g. Religious intolerance,
often violent, is rising. So are racism and sexism. Freedom of
speech is being curtailed under populist governments
THE ENLIGHTENMENT: STILL BURNING BRIGHT
“Sapere aude” (Dare to know) - Immanuel Kant
“Ating hanapin ang liwanag. Huwag tayo mabigham sa
ningning.” (Let us look for the light and not be dazzled by
glitter) -Emilio Jacinto
THE ENLIGHTENMENT: STILL BURNING BRIGHT
TODAY’S LIGHT BEARERS
• Ibon Foundaton specializing in research on socio-economic
issues. Accused of harboring dissidents
• Academics who use scientific data to advocate more effective
government policies
• Writers and journalists who expose what really is being done by
the State on particular issues. They are harassed, imprisoned or
even killed.
THE ENLIGHTENMENT: STILL BURNING BRIGHT
Despite the growing shadows, the light shines bright
THE ENLIGHTENMENT: STILL BURNING BRIGHT
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
To: Enrique Leviste, Jowel Canuday, JP Dalupang and Skilty Labastilla.
Likewise to the heroes of the Enlightenment, the heroes of our
Propaganda Movement and 1896 Revolution and our Light-Bearers
today
THE ENLIGHTENMENT: STILL BURNING BRIGHT