Enlightenment And Economics
The Enlightenment is the name given to the
intellectual movement that was
centered in the Western World, mainly Europe,
during the 18th century. The rise
of modern science greatly influenced the
enlightenment. It was also the
aftermath of the long religious conflict that
followed the Reformation. The
thinkers of the Enlightenment were dedicated to
secular views based on reason of
human understanding, which they hoped would
provide a basis for beneficial
changes affecting every area of life and
thought. There were many people during
the Enlightenment that made an impact
on the world. Many people had different
opinions about what was happening and
how to fix the problems facing the world
at that time. One man started this
change with his Encyclopedia. This man was
Diderot; it was called the
great work of his life. This book was a major weapon
against the old French
society. His book made a great impact on the people
because it was so cheap
that everyone could obtain a copy. With the printing of
this book a new group
emerged from the populace. This group, named the
Physiocrats, has been
viewed as the founders of the modern discipline of
economics. A well-known
member of this party is known for his thoughts on the
old economic ideas. His
name was Adam Smith and he had many economic ideas of
the enlightenment. Adam
Smith wrote the book Inquiry into the Nature and Causes
of the Wealth of
Nations. This book had three basic principles of economics. The
first
principle was the condemning of mercantilist use of protective tariffs
to
protect home industries. "A tailor does not try to make his own shoes,
nor
does a shoemaker try to make his own clothes." (Western Civilization
pg.
493) With this line of reasoning Adam Smith was saying that a country
should not
try to make their own products when another country can supply
them for cheaper
than the one country can make it. A nation should make what
it can for the least
amount of money, without the tariff, then trade it with
other countries. The
free trade principle was a fundamental economic
principle to most people. The
second principle that Smith proposed was about
labor. Unlike most of the
Physiocrates he thought that labor was a
countries true wealth. Labor was the
only part of the country that could
change the wealth, not gold or silver.
Finally Smith believed that the
government only existed for three of the peoples
basic needs. He thought that
the government should be a "passive
policemen". The three needs that Adam
Smith theorized were the fact that
the people need some protection against
another country in the case of an
invasion. The next need was for justice and
peace in the cities. To do this
there had to be police. The very last need
was maintenance. There were many
roads and bridges that needed to be kept in
working order and the citizens were
too busy to do it themselves. Many of the
ideas that Smith proposed were then
incorporated into everyday living. This
made the enlightenment a new place for
people to live. The enlightenment
brought a new life for the poor. They soon got
jobs and many other benefits
for these poor people. The Enlightenment brought
more trade to the people.
They felt that, along with Adam Smith, countries
should only make items that
they can do for the cheapest amount. This spread
trade to many different
countries that had items others needed. Distributing
trade made work
available for a greater number of people. Government members
wanted to help
their country have a greater economy. With this idea in mind they
started to
make jobs open to more people. With more members in the working
society the
country would have more benefits. There would be a larger food
supply and
more money going back into the economy. The government supported the
people
by making new positions for the needy. They did this by developing new
jobs
to fit the three needs for the people according to Smith's theories.
The
people needed to have maintenance around to fix the roads and bridges.
These
made many new jobs for handymen. The next need was the need for
security and
justice. The government had to structure an office for this,
which supplied many
new jobs and made people feel safer so they came to the
country. The new
theories of the Enlightenment are still around this very
day. It has an effect
on almost everyone that works or lives today. There are
still many different
places in the government that have the same ideas that
were used back then. The
United States government trades with many other
countries. It trades with the
Middle East countries for oil when we have
a small stock of our own. In trade we
give them, something that we grow a
large amount of that few countries do, corn.
The government also supplies
a large amount of jobs to maintain the roads,
bridges, get others jobs, and
to supply safety to the citizens. The
Enlightenment came to an end in
Western Europe after the upheavals of the French
Revolution and the
Napoleonic era revealed the costs of its political program
and the lack of
commitment in those whose rhetoric was often more liberal than
their actions.
Nationalism undercut its cosmopolitan values and assumptions
about human
nature, and the romantics attacked its belief that clear
intelligible answers
could be found to every question asked by people who sought
to be free and
happy. The skepticism of the philosophes was swept away in the
religious
revival of the 1790s and early 1800s. The cultural leadership of the
landed
aristocracy and professional men who had supported the Enlightenment
was
eroded by the growth of a new wealthy educated class of businessmen,
products of
the industrial revolution. Only in North and South America, where
industry came
later and revolution had not led to reaction, did the
Enlightenment linger into
the 19th century. Its lasting heritage has been its
contribution to the
literature of human freedom and some institutions in
which its values have been
embodied. Abstract Over the years there have been
many eras that have effected
the way we live now. In the Enlightenment Adam
Smith had many theories about the
economy. These ideas had a grand effect on
the people of the time and the people
that live today. The Enlightenment and
its ideas help bring along many ideas and
many other eras in the
process.
Bibliography
The Enlightenment Paul Brians 1999
http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/hum_303/enlightenment.html
Bjorn Christensson
- Philosophers Guide 1997
http://sunsite.informatik.rwth-aachen.de/phil/filosofer/philosophers.html
Political
Movers and Shakers of the Enlightenment, Mike Hodges,
1996
http://www2.cybernex.net/~mhodges/movers/enlightenment.htm Western
Civilization
Volume II, Hughes Annual Edition, 1982 An Inquiry into the
nature and Cause,
Adam Smith, William Benton Publishing, 1952 Intro into
the Enlightenment, Lloyd
Spencer, Totem Publishing, 1997 Western
Civilization Volume Four, Jackson J.
Spielvogel, Wadsworth, 1999