Social Theory of Religion

Assignment 1

Ankur Parashar

PH16052

Enlightenment and its features

The word enlightenment emerged in the context of the Age of enlightenment

from the translation of the word lumieres, which meant light and in the ancient

philosophical traditions the light, is equated with the wisdom. In this context the

term enlightenment is used in the European context mainly centred in France.

Thinkers of this period have used this word to show that they were emerging

from centuries of darkness and ignorance into a new age enlightened by reason,

science, and a respect for humanity.The Enlightenment has been defined in

many different ways, but broadly speaking it was a philosophical, intellectual and

cultural movement of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Although there

is no consensus on the time period of the beginning of the period of

enlightenment but generally it is said to be between the middle of 17 th century

through the eighteenth century.

Emergence of the enlightenment period can be traced to the work of many

philosophers like rationalists Ren Descartes and Baruch Spinoza, the political

philosophers Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, and various skeptical thinkers in

France such as Pierre Bayle. Their work had an influence of the confidence

coming through the development of science and technology and the exploration

of the newer parts of the world by the European travelers. It led to the

strengthening of the idea that there is a vast knowledge which has been

unknown to them and as all previously used methods and approaches are unable

to comprehend this unknown knowledge, there is a need to find new methods

and approach. John Locke argued that knowledge is not innate rather it comes
from experience and observation within the boundaries of reason. There is a

degree of continuity from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment period as both

the movements were the intellectual movements led by the elites of their times.

And both tried to explain the world in terms of a humanistic approach rather than

a supernatural one. But there was also a definite shift from finding the truth

through study of religious and even Greek texts to using observation of nature.

Enlightenment period saw the philosophers completely rejecting the medieval

period of Europe as the age of barbarism and superstition. Thus enlightenment

was also a clear shift from the period of Renaissance, which was related to the

accumulation of the past knowledge, instead of Enlightenment which was a

conscious effort to break with the past. This period most importantly challenged

the existing conception of the world view which had emerged from the Christian

faith. But this world view was not just limited to the philosophical and political

sphere rather it went beyond it and later influenced innovations in writing,

printing, painting and architecture. It even created a new class of people which

were professional thinkers outside the purview of the church. According to Kant

this period can be summarized through the phrase Dare to know.

There were some new ideas emerged during this period in philosophy and

politics. John Locke questioned the divine right of the divine right of the king and

brought in the idea that people are the ultimate sovereign in a state. And it is the

people that have created the state to serve them not vice versa. Exploring

human understanding he argued that mans mind is a blank slate and knowledge

can be learnt and improved on through conscious effort. French philosopher

Montesquieu building on this idea argued for the separation of powers to prevent

any misuse of the state powers. But in this early phase on the enlightenment

period the idea of religion was still not questioned. It was the second generation

philosophers like Hume and Diderot who brought the scientific approach of the
preceding generation to the existing anti clericalism. And in the later period of

Enlightenment philosophers like Kant moved into the critical assessment of the

enlightenment period with questioning the idea of enlightenment. He further

looked at the causes and pre existing conditions which can lead to the age of

enlightenment. This period also saw the emergence of new disciplines like

sociology, economics and epistemology which started to look at the existing

condition of humans.

Although there have been multiplicities in the understanding of enlightenment

both temporally as well as geographically but still there are certain core ideals

exist which bind together the age of enlightenment. First ideal of enlightenment

is its emphasis on the human autonomy. For all enlightenment thinkers

enlightenment meant that humans develop through the use of their reason.

Individual using their knowledge and their reason instead of being told by the

church or state on how to think is final aim of enlightenment. Thus even the

understanding of the society changed and now it became the sum of the

thoughts and actions of the individual. Enlightenment thinkers gave importance

to reason. For them freedom meant that one can be able to think rationally for

oneself. Kant thus argued that humanity must abandon a life of unreason,

superstition and blind obedience. And it is the reason which can lead to the truth.

Here the influence of scientific rationalism can be seen as scientific inquiry is

based on reason and it can reveal the problems faced by the people. With the

influence of science on the enlightenment philosophy the importance of

empiricism also came into the centre stage. It was argued that all the knowledge

is based on empirical facts. And whether it is the natural or the social world,

whatever we can observe is the only truth. Enlightenment thinkers also believed

that the ideals they are proposing are universal in nature. Thus enlightenment

thought moves beyond the religion, race and nationality and considers that all
human beings are capable to be enlightened. In other words, humans are equal

by nature. All human beings are part of this universal community. It also led to

the more humanistic understanding of the world where emphasis was on the

toleration towards all the human beings. Enlightenment ideals emphasis on the

progress as a necessary feature so that humanity can progress from immaturity,

superstition and slavery towards the reason and maturity. Another important

feature of the enlightenment is the emphasis on the idea of secularism.

Enlightenment philosophers argue that the religion and politics should be

separated and there should not be a religion of the state. Further, ones method

of worship should be a private matter.

Social Context leading to the Enlightenment and role of science

and technology

In the period preceding enlightenment, the knowledge about the world was in

the purvey of the religious institutions, mainly the church. And this idea was

continuously strengthened by the alliance of the church and the state as

monarchies used this knowledge to reinforce their rule. It created a stratified

society where some were in the advantageous position and rest of the population

was dissatisfied. Among this group, a sub group of educated middle class which

played an important role in the spreading of the enlightenment thought. This

group of educated people was the first one to question why they have to remain

subservient to the landed nobility. Main constituent of this group were the lower

middle class journalists and writers who played an important role in the

spreading of the enlightenment thought through newspapers and pamphlets. But

the major thinkers of the Enlightenment were from the upper strata of the

society. Most of them were either from the large landowning families or were
from the families of the nobles. Another social change that influenced the

enlightenment was the colonialism as it led to the new understanding of faith

and various new forms of Deity which challenged the authority of the church as a

sole representative of God on earth.

These social changes were aided by the scientific revolution, which played the

pivotal role in the emergence of the age of enlightenment. The Scientific

Revolution of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries changed the way

educated people looked at the world. It brought the idea of Reason as the central

Science in the Middle Ages was designed to help a person reach a better

understanding of God and not the world. A medieval scientist would have found

it inconceivable to examine the universe outside the realm of religion. During the

Renaissance from the 1300s until the early 1500s, science was still considered a

branch of religion, and scientific thought held that the earth was a stationary

object at the center of the universe. Beginning with Copernicus, however, who

taught that the earth revolved around the sun, Europeans began to reject

medieval scientific thought. Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton developed a new

concept of a universe based on natural laws, not a mysterious God. The new

scientific approach promoted critical thinking. Nothing was to be accepted on

faith. Belief in miracles and superstition was replaced by reliance on reason and

the idea that rational thinking would uncover a plan governing the universe. This

critical analysis of everything in society from religion to politics and the optimism

that the human mind could find the solution to everything was the foundation of

the Enlightenment.

New scientific ideas emerged during this time which challenged the ancient

knowledge through empirical evidence. Copernicus challenged the Aristotelian

view of Earth being the centre of the universe by proposing Heliocentric Theory
that the sun and not the earth was the centre of the universe. By characterizing

the earth as just another planet, he destroyed the impression that the earthly

world was different from the heavenly world. This idea challenged the religious

view that the humans are the pivot of Gods creation. This idea was further

strengthened by Galileo who used empirical evidence to confirm Copernicuss

work and this became very difficult for the powers to oppose.

Galileos work on free fall and general mechanics provided the experimental

evidence and mathematical equations for the new definition of matter and the

universe, according to which all bodies are composed of particles of a universal

substance (matter). All bodies are extended, that is, they have a recognizable

geometric form and occupy space. This was a shift from the Greek understanding

of the world in which every object has a unique set of qualities. And this shift led

to the emergence of the idea of universalism.

The greatest figure of the Scientific Revolution was Sir Isaac Newton, who

integrated the ideas of Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo into one system of

mathematical laws to explain the orderly manner in which the planets revolved

around the sun. The key feature of his thesis was the law of universal gravitation.

According to this law, everybody in the universe attracts every other body in

precise mathematical relationships. Newtons law mathematically proved that

the sun, moon, earth, planets, and all other bodies moved in accordance with the

same basic force of gravitation. Such proof showed that the universe operated by

rules that could be explained through mathematics and that a religious

interpretation was not the sole means of comprehending the forces of nature.

Newtons contribution towards building of scientific method has also contributed

towards the emergence of the enlightenment thought. He developed four

principles to study nature in his book Philosophiae naturalis principia

things than such as are both true and sufficient to explain their appearances.,

the second rule stated, Therefore to the same natural effects we must as far as

possible, assign the same causes., the third rule stated, The qualities of bodies,

which admit neither intensification nor remission of degrees, and which are found

to belong to all bodies within the reach of our experiments, are to be esteemed

the universal qualities of all bodies whatsoever., the fourth rule asserted, In

experimental philosophy we are to look upon propositions inferred by general

induction from phenomena as accurately or very nearly true, notwithstanding

any contrary hypotheses that may be imagined, till such time as other

phenomena occur by which they may either be made more accurate or liable to

exceptions.

These new ideas in science had an impact in the philosophy, as the

Enlightenment inherited the notion that reason, manifested as natural physical

laws expressed through mathematical equations, informs and governs the

structure of society. It also inherited a new way of conceiving the activity of

doing scientific research, the so-called scientific method originally outlined by

Newton.

The scientific revolution led to the emergence of the new idea of the science of

man during the enlightenment period. The use of the concept science of man

during the enlightenment showed the prevalent idea that the study of basic

human nature could provide the material for creating a systematic body of

reliable knowledge about human behaviour and character. The concept of a

science of man also embodied the notion that the proper study of humankind

should be separated from theology and metaphysics. This was a clear shift from

the existing system of knowledge where the study of human values was done
through the framework of theology. This general belief that human existence

could be studied as a science modelled after the natural sciences helped to

stimulate the development of specific new disciplines during the Enlightenment.

It led to the creation of new disciplines like Sociology, psychology and

anthropology in which the methods of science were used to study the society

and people.

Even technology played a significant role in the spread of the enlightenment

thought as the expansion of the printing technology made it possible to spread

these new ideas more easily. Printing technology also enabled production of

books and journals in the high volume which enabled it to compete with the

existing texts related to religion.

Secularization and Enlightenment

In spite of the fact that secularization and secularism both are the term that

frequently use interchangeably, but there is a key contrast between these terms.

Secularization is real procedure which shows the change that is occurring in the

society while secularism is to a greater extent a philosophical position.

Secularization is the change of society from close recognizable proof with

religious qualities and organizations toward nonreligious qualities and secular

organizations. Secularization alludes to the historical procedure where religion

loses its cultural and social importance. Whereas secularism is a philosophical

process that burdens that religious thought ought not to influence the general

population and religion and establishments ought to be separate entities. Thus

secularism is a philosophical position as opposed to the secularization which is a

process.

Enlightenment played an important role in the secularization process as Kant

argued that Enlightenment was the age of criticism and despite sanctity to the
religion, it is still under a suspicion. Enlightenment played an important role in

challenging absolutism and thus posed challenges to the religious authority.

Enlightenment played an important role in the secularization of government with

Montesquieu arguing for the doctrine of the division of power and the separation

of the church and the state. Diderot made a plea Men have banished divinity

from their midst; they relegated it to a sanctuary; the walls of a temple are the

limits of its view ... destroy these enclosures which obstruct your horizon;

liberate God; see Him everywhere. He actually is, or else say that He does not.

Enlightenment also brought in the ideas like reason and empiricism in the social

philosophical discourse. Thus the authority of religion was put under the lens and

its role in running the day to day life of the people was questioned. But thinkers

like Owen Chadwick only see a limited impact of actual enlightenment era on the

secularization of the society. It was the in the nineteenth century when these

ideas were absorbed by the working classes the secularization process got

spread in the society. But even then Enlightenment ideals which were developed

in those elite salons did play an critical role in the secularization process as they

started the secularization of the state which acted as the foundation for the

secularization of the society.

Enlightenment in the context of India

Essential core of the enlightenment is very relevant to India as it is still stuck

with the practices of the past which is similar to the situation of Europe when the

idea of enlightenment emerged there. In the context of India Raja Rammohan

Roy can be called as the pioneer of bringing the Enlightenment ideals like reason

into the Indian social discourse. But his inauguration of enlightenment in India

was limited to the upper strata of educated elite. Similarly the Young Bengal

movement which was influenced by the enlightenment ideals also vanished due
to the lack of any mass support for these ideals in the society. Apart from these

movements there had been many movements in India to reform Hinduism like

the work of Vivekananda and Gandhi. But they have been limited to the reformist

agenda for example Gandhi opposed untouchability but supported the Varna

Ashrama system. Thus these approaches were more of a incremental reformist

movement in the religion rather than enlightenment project. Enlightenment

process which actually talks about the radical change was more in line with the

lower caste movements in India as it was in their interest to establish a society

which is driven by reason rather than the unreason of the existing religious

structures. There have been movements like the Anti Brahmin movement to

Priyar which talked about a society driven the reason and toleration. All the past

practices were questioned during the movement and attempt has been made to

make the society more secular. But this movement was limited to Madaras

province and had limited impact elsewhere. Post independence there has been a

conscious effort by the likes of Ambedkar and Nehru to introduce the

enlightenment values in the constitution. That is why principles like equality and

liberty are added to the constitution and the encouragement of scientific temper

in the directive principles of state policy. And provisions which regulate practices

like untouchability are not intended to bring together the religion and state but

as an instrument of protection of citizen from the social influence of religion. This

has been possible due to the effort by the mass movement led by Ambedkar

which was able to stand up for these reforms against the Hindu orthodoxy. But

these constitutional reforms are only the top soil and without mass movements

to reinforce such reforms

In the present time the enlightenment project has become even further

important for India as there has been an attempt to revive the ancient

knowledge and repackaging it in the modern frameworks of knowledge like

which can be done through the ideas of enlightenment like science, reason and

empiricism.