French Enlightenment

The French Enlightenment was an eighteenth-century intellectual movement that used reason and criticism to challenge inherited authority and advocate social, political, and religious reform.

Voltaire: Voltaire was a French writer and philosopher known for satire, religious criticism, and advocacy of civil liberties. His attacks on intolerance and arbitrary power gave the movement a widely read voice.
Rationalism: Rationalism is the view that reason is a primary source of knowledge. Confidence in reason underwrote criticism of customs defended only by tradition.
Encyclopédie: The Encyclopédie was a French reference work edited by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert, published from 1751 to 1772. Its articles organized knowledge while exposing readers to criticism of established institutions.
French Revolution: The French Revolution was the political and social upheaval that began in France in 1789 and ended the monarchy. Revolutionaries drew on Enlightenment language, though the movement did not dictate the Revolution's course.
Gallicanism: Gallicanism is a tradition asserting the autonomy of the French church from papal authority. It sought national control of church affairs without embracing the movement's broader religious criticism.
Denis Diderot: Denis Diderot was a French philosopher and writer who co-edited the Encyclopédie. He made the Encyclopédie a collaborative vehicle for Enlightenment knowledge and criticism.
Empiricism: Empiricism is the view that knowledge derives chiefly from sensory experience and observation. Empirical inquiry offered a model for testing claims about nature and society.
French salons: French salons were private gatherings where hosts brought together writers, thinkers, and other guests for conversation. They connected authors, patrons, and readers beyond universities and royal institutions.
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen: The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was a 1789 statement of political rights adopted during the French Revolution. Its claims about liberty and equality echoed arguments developed by Enlightenment thinkers.
Jansenism: Jansenism was a Catholic theological movement emphasizing human sinfulness and divine grace. Its religious reform drew on theological commitments distinct from Enlightenment rationalism.

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