Commentary on the Time Period-Part Two

The Age of the Enlightenment

Baron de Montesquieu's The Spirit of the Law

As I mentioned before, the doctrines of the Enlightenment profoundly influenced society through the natural laws of reason,hope,and progress. The legacy of Locke and Newton paced the way to the discovery of a new,rational world based on the intellectual understandings. The intellectuals that construct this new world are known by the French term, philosophes. The philosophes were composed of a variety of social groups: the literary people, economists, journalists, professors, political scientists, and above all these distinctions, social refomers. These French philosophes created a movement that propagated to the entire Western world, including the British and Spanish colonies to America. The philosophes' call for freedom of expression reminds me that their appeals were done in censorship and tight regulation. Despite this censorship, a few intellectuals were able to dictate the multitude and establish themselves as "giants" of the Enlightenment-Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Diderot. Montesquieu's political thought called for an intervention on traditional religion, the support for religious toleration, the denunciation of slavery, and the adoption of reason as the supreme "code of the land." Much of the foundation in Montesquieu's work reflected the ideals of the Enlightenment. I, Joshua II of Austria, ruled according to the Enlightenment ethics and the truth expressed in Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Diderot's work. My call for the enforcement of religious toleration is evident in my Toleration Patent of 1781;the Lutherans, Calvinists, and Greek Orthodox retain the privilege of worshiping privately. All together, in my effort to reform Austria, I issued six thousand decrees and eleven thousand laws. Montesquieu's famous work, The Spirit of the Law, published in 1748 profoundly influenced my ability to issue a reform program in Austria. It attempted to apply the scientific method socially and politically. Montesquieu distinguished three distinct kinds of government: the republics, a political system where power rested in the hands of the people, a monarchy where middle-sized states were grounded in the principles of the law, and despotism, where the multitude is disciplined through fear as a means to inspire obedience. Montesquieu's contribution to political thought based on the distinct governments includes the separation of powers. The different executive, legislative, and judicial powers served to limit each other and provide freedom for the state. Montesquieu's principle of creating a balanced power and equality influenced me to create m own equality reforms before the law. Voltaire's principle of the freedom of speech is added to my reform program as well as Diderot's reinforcement of a more reasonable, tolerant, and cosmopolitan society. Indeed,the rational applications in my reform program is based on the principles of the Enlightenment as well as the conclusions of the philosophes.