Voices of the Enlightenment
The Theory
Adam Smith defined modern capitalism. His landmark work, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776), has long been the classic inspiration for all free enterprise theorists. Keep the government out of the marketplace. Allow the laws of supply and demand to guide our economic destiny. And society will be well served by such open competition. This economic theory has become one of the cornerstones of libertarian thinking.
These key voices helped spark the Enlightenment, glorify economic competition, promote the acquisition of knowledge, stimulate progress, and institute modern democracy. They defined Western Civilization.
One of the earliest thinkers to foster
scientific thinking, Francis Bacon helped define the intellectual
mind. In his Meditations Sacrae (1597), he gave us his famous
slogan, "Knowledge is power." He was one of the first to
actively promote scientific investigation and the pursuit of knowledge.
In
1687, Isaac Newton published his Philosophiae naturalis principia
mathematica. This monumental tome conceptualized and organized all
the laws of the physical universe. It was a landmark that dominated
intellectual and scientific thinking for more than two centuries.
Newton's genius was testimony to the Enlightenment faith in the mind of Homo
sapiens.
In reviewing John Locke's Second Treatise on Civil Government (1690), three elemental principles are evident. First, human beings are essentially rational and just. This is the underpinning of the entire Libertarian movement. Second, human beings are endowed with basic inalienable rights--including life, freedom, the right to hold property, and the right to express themselves uncensored. Third, government exists only at the pleasure of the people who created it. People come together freely to establish a state in order to accomplish certain works that cannot be done individually--building roads,
maintaining a school system, or establishing a militia. The government has no right to impose any obligations on the people other than what the people ask the state to do. This anti-authoritarian tenet of Locke's is the cornerstone of every free democratic system of government.
John Milton's Areopagitica (1644)
provided three basic arguments against censorship: (1) Licensing was the
evil offspring of a repressive church. (2) Licensing was
impractical. (3) Licensing frustrates the search for truth: Let all
voices be heard, let all opinions clash, and ultimately truth will triumph
over falsehood. This thinking formed the cornerstone for the
Enlightenment.
