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Article: Philosophes
- Article from:
- Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World
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PHILOSOPHES
PHILOSOPHES.
Literary writers, scientists, economists, and political theorists, the philosophes of eighteenth-century France explored topics and issues that ranged across a broad spectrum of thought. Yet they shared the assumption that all beliefs and ideas had to be submitted to the test of rational examination, including those that were the most established and institutionally sanctioned. Their faith in human reason was unshakable, and they were confident that the scientific method could produce an accurate and useful understanding of the world and the individual's place within it. Committed to improving the secular order, the philosophes proposed social, ethical, and ...