Philosophers contributed to the French Revolution

The Renaissance or Enlightenment of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries saw

the masses learn to judge everything by reason rather than by medieval
superstition and superstition. As a result of the spread of rationalism, the
importance of knowledge in human society became more important when the
Scientific Revolution developed in the seventeenth century. In the eighteenth
century, Renaissance rationalism completely changed European thought. In this
era, in nature, science, social system and state system, people applied rationality
to verify the truth of the conventional system. As a result, the 18th century is
referred to as the 'Age of Enlightenment' in world history. According to some
French philosophers, the eighteenth century was an enlightened century, in
which reason and intelligence had the seat of all-round superiority to man.

During the Age of Enlightenment, certain changes were observed in logical ideals
as society gradually developed a theory of logic by integrating science and
knowledge. They are respectively 1) The establishment of rational explanation of
the mysteries of nature begins with denial of the divine and supernatural. 2)
According to the philosopher Immanuel Kant, if nature is governed by law, then
there must be certain laws for the discipline of the state and society. According to
Kant, the task of philosophers is to liberate and discover these rules. 3)
Rationalizing human experience and placing rationalism above theology. 4)
Judging the medieval feudal system and superstitious religious beliefs in the
light of logic. Hence, the Enlightenment helped popularize Rationalism in
eighteenth-century thought. That is, in the century of the Enlightenment,
rationalism ushered in a new humanism, whose ultimate aim was to influence the
state and human welfare.

According to the historian Fisher, the main characteristic of eighteenth-century

philosophers and thinkers was to use their prevailing doctrines for the betterment
of society. So philosophers continue to analyze and reason about religion, the
origin of the state, the rights of kings, economics and human rights. As a result of
which, the conventional social system of the 18th century began to show several
flaws in the state system and the state system. Influenced by the doctrines of
philosophers and thinkers, the people of Europe began to lose faith in the old
order and began to prepare the ground for revolution against the so-called state
system. In fact, the influence of this enlightened intelligence of the 19th century
was widely seen among the citizen bourgeoisie of Europe and France. Lawyers,
teachers, clerks and merchants especially belonging to the bourgeoisie were
introduced to the new philosophy of the philosophers through various
philosophies and 'salons' or gatherings and later emerged to establish a new
Philosophers contributed to the French Revolution
rational modernity by breaking down the archaism of the old order. The
enlightened period of enlightenment can basically be divided into three phases.

1) The first phase is from 1715 to 1750. Robert Boyle's theory of blood circulation
in the human body, Sir Isaac Newton's theory of gravitation gained great fame in
the field of science during this period.

At this time, the English philosopher John Locke published his 'Social Contract
Theory' and preached that the position of the king of the empire is not governed
by the command of God, the emperor can only rule by the social contract by
gaining power from the people. As a result, philosophers like Locke began to
question the authority of the medieval regime. French thought was particularly
influenced by its influence. Philosophers and thinkers of the first phase began to
attack orthodox Catholicism's orthodoxy and religious intolerance. Attacks on
Catholicism led to the decline of the influence of the Catholic Church in European
society and the development of independent thought in society.

2) The second phase revealed the greatness of Enlightenment philosophy from

1748 to 1774. Enlightenment philosophy began to spread to the greatest extent
during this phase. During this period, the French philosophers were the main
masters of the Enlightenment, who began to apply their rationalism to the
analysis of the state, economy and society. A particularly notable philosopher of
this period was Voltaire. Who advocated social justice, religious tolerance and
independent thinking. Besides, another famous philosopher Rousseau promoted
the revolutionary ideology about the origin of the state by promoting the doctrine
of 'social contract'. It was during this time that Venice Didero compiled the
original ideas by composing the encyclopaedia. Besides, in the second phase,
economists called Physiocrats led by Quesnay strongly criticized mercantilism
and conservationism.

3) The third phase i.e. between 1774 and 1789 AD organized influence of thinkers
and philosophers began to materialize in different areas of Europe. Enlightened
by philosophers, Turgot, Necker and economists in France began trying to reform
the financing process. During this period philosophers began to spread their
doctrines to the masses through various journals, clubs and pubs. Writers such
as Renal and Condorcet published various pamphlets to promote the doctrines of
the philosophers in simple language to the public.

Incidentally, on the eve of the French Revolution, the influence of the

philosophers was extended to a large extent in the all-encompassing range of the
Philosophers contributed to the French Revolution
bourgeois class in Europe and in the French society. In the spirit of rebellion of
the aristocratic groups, the bourgeois groups, inspired by the doctrines of the
philosophers, gradually became eager to fight for revolution. According to the
historian Lefebvre, a new optimism began to awaken in the minds of the
degenerate people, influenced by the way the philosophers called for equal
human rights, individual freedom and a society without discrimination. Voltaire
was one of the greatest philosophers of France. Voltaire was a poet of bourgeois
life. His famous works are 'Philosophic' and 'Kandid'. He was opposed to the
autocratic rule of the Bourbon monarchy and free democracy. Voltaire strongly
attacked the conservative attitude of the then priestly community. Inspired by
Voltaire's doctrine, the bourgeoisie as well as the common people started
criticizing religion and the church.

Another notable promoter of philosophy in France was Montesquieu. The son of

an aristocratic family, Montesquieu was inspired by the state and social system of
England. Montesquieu advocated the principle of separation of powers of
government to protect individual liberties. He promoted the ideals of
constitutional monarchy in his 'Spirit of Law' and 'Persian Letters'. He argued
through his views that the separation and individualization of power through the
three branches of government namely law, administration and judiciary is
absolutely necessary to protect the liberties and rights of the people. Mainly
through the philosophies of popular philosophers like Rousseau and
Montenegrin, the common people arose to break the monarchical autocracy. As a
result, the implementation of the French Revolution can be regarded as the
daughter of Enlightenment philosophy or Enlightenment.

The most notable of the French philosophers was Jacques Rousseau. He

believed that the European civilization and social system in the eighteenth
century was built to protect the interests of a limited upper class of people. On
the eve of the revolution, Rousseau propagated revolutionary information about
the origin of the state and sovereign power. 'Social Contact' by him; Discourse on
Political Economy'; In 'Discourse on the Origin of Equality' he called for the
creation of society through the sovereign and social contract of the state. He
strongly argued that if the government did not implement the will of the general
public according to the social contract, the people could overthrow the
government. Rousseau established a radical ideology among the common
people, which inspired the masses to change the flaws and corruptions of the
state and social system on a larger scale.
Philosophers contributed to the French Revolution
On the eve of the Revolution, French society was marked by the influence of a
group of economic experts called the Physiocrats. Those who welcome private
initiative in the economic sphere. Prominent figures in French society at that
time, such as Turgot, Necker and Mirbeau, advocated the dismantling of the old
tariff wall and open trade. They wanted to strengthen the French economic
system by modernizing it by changing the expansion and distribution policies of
wealth. At the same time, Denis Diderot and d'Alembert played an important role
in changing people's views by creating encyclopedias. As a result, all these
philosophers and thinkers indirectly helped the fire of revolution on the eve of
revolution. According to historian David Thomson, the doctrines of the
philosophers after the revolution had begun made the course of the revolution
more concrete.

Enlightenment philosophy and the doctrines of French philosophers undoubtedly

played an important role in spreading the revolutionary spirit in France. However,
disagreement has been observed among historians regarding the contribution of
philosophers. Some historians believe that most of the philosophers who are
credited with promoting Enlightenment philosophy died before the revolution.
Second, many also believe that the people of France at that time joined the
Revolution for social and material reasons, along with a direct philosophical
theory.

There was no communication. Thirdly, while the philosophers had direct contact
with the educated bourgeois leadership, the philosophers had no direct contact
with the masses, the rural masses and the working people. It is therefore highly
unreasonable to attribute the contribution of philosophers entirely to the cause of
revolution.

Among those historians who did not give importance to the contribution of
philosophers as the reason for the revolution, the Marxist historians such as
Lefebvre, Mathieu, Monstephens and Welle etc. are notable. Monstephens
commented that the cause of the French Revolution was mainly economic and
political, with no direct contribution of the philosophers behind the revolution.
Economic theorists argued that philosophers did not advocate the transformation
of social order through bloodshed, and even Rousseau himself was opposed to
bloodshed and murder. As a result, philosophers had no contact with the
leadership of the revolution, publicly criticizing the flaws of the conventional
system. Historian George Lefebvre said in his book 'The coming of the French
revolution' that the contribution of philosophers in the French revolution of 1789
was very minor, the cause of the revolution should be attributed to the king's
Philosophers contributed to the French Revolution
financial mismanagement, administrative weakness and incompetence.
According to him, the importance of the bourgeoisie should be particularly
attributed to the French Revolution. However, a class of historians, especially
George Rude in his book 'Resolution Europe', said that in order to make a
revolution, apart from economic distress, social discontent, lack of political and
social desire, many other elements are needed. There were no political parties in
France at the time, so enlightened philosophers helped to expand the psychology
of the revolution. David Thomson in his book 'Europe since Napoleon' says that
by 1789 the people of France had become revolutionary for the overall state of
society, but behind this the writings of philosophers did not play a very important
role rather the writings of philosophers indirectly influenced every level of the
revolution.

But historians such as Edmund Burke, Setobria, Tein and Rustan have seen
philosophers as directly important to the revolution. Setobria and Rustan argue
that philosophers cannot be expected to directly participate in revolutions or
dictate the course of revolutions. However, the main duty of the philosophers was
to judge and analyze the injustices and injustices of the state and society using
rationalism. Historian Madela remarked that humble respect for tradition was the
mainstay of the Old Tantras, so philosophers and thinkers constantly criticized
the Old Traditions, creating a rift in the autocratic regime. Philosophers at this
time preached that if nature is governed by rules, then the state must be
governed by rules, so these philosophers began to try to discover new rules by
applying rationality. As a result, the anti-monarchy movement in France gradually
took the form of a revolution.

Finally, it must be admitted that since the Enlightenment, philosophers and

thinkers have been able to consistently establish their views on changing the
state apparatus since the Enlightenment began to oppose traditional and
traditional autocratic monarchies by valuing the importance of the laws of nature.
Beginning with a critique of the theory of God, philosophy gradually came to
oppose the central power given by God. Influenced by the philosophy of the
philosophers, the educated bourgeoisie broke through the defenses of the
Catholic system and moved towards a free society. Although socio-economic
factors were responsible for the occurrence of the French Revolution, the ideals
and ideologies of the revolutionary philosophers helped shape the social and
economic discontent into the form of the revolution. As a result, the people of
France and Europe became confident and demanded their basic rights to build
rationality and modern social system. In this context, Diderot felt that, influenced
by the doctrines of the philosophers, the greatest objective of that century was
Philosophers contributed to the French Revolution
individual freedom, equality and friendship. Therefore, there is no room to deny
that instead of the old tradition, the philosophers tried to destroy the wall of
theology and monarchy by creating a competitive mentality.