How Did The British Enlightenment

The British enlightenment was one of the most important enlightenments that paved the foundation of the modern world we live in today. Often overlooked, the British enlightenment set the stage for others and brought new ideas to a new age that were revolutionary to say the least. Some of these reasons as to why the British enlightenment paved the way for the modern world are the fact that British enlightenment thinkers brought in new ideas that changed the way we view the world and how it affects us, how it was the earliest and essentially set a foundation for other enlightenment thinkers to follow, and how it was subtle yet highly effective and created a deep change that was unique in its own way.
The first reason as to why the British enlightenment was foundational was the
discovery of new ideas by British enlightenment thinkers and the effect it had on the world.
The British enlightenment brought many important enlightened thinkers who changed the world such as Isaac Newton, John Locke, Thomas Hobbes and Francis Bacon. Many thinkers differed greatly and opposed each other's ideas such as John Locke who “Diametrically opposed the pessimistic Hobbes” (What is the English enlightenment). Francis Bacon was one of the earliest and most influential enlightenment thinkers. He was known as the father of the scientific method, which was a new turn in the framework for science. His philosophies and discoveries would soon be the foundation in which other thinkers would build upon. Isaac Newton, another physicist and mathematician, made new discoveries in the laws of motion and universal gravitation, discoveries which we today still widely recognize. Another big thinker was Thomas Hobbes, who was an influential political philosopher who wrote the leviathan and was a basis for
modern day western political philosophies. Hobbes brought in a pessimistic view of the enlightenment and discussed how people were inclined to abuse power when put in charge. This added much to the playing field as it brought in new ideas of political change and action. One other influential thinker was John Locke, who was a major philosophical contributor with ideas of identity. Locke was by far one of the most influential thinkers, with his ideas of liberalism that would soon inspire others such as Voltaire and even the American Revolution. Locke followed the basis of empiricism, which Francis had also followed earlier on, showing the effect of thinkers building upon foundations of earlier thinkers.
The second reason as to why the British enlightenment paved the way was how early on it had started and how it essentially set a foundation to which other thinkers would build upon. The British enlightenment was a subtle enlightenment that was earlier than most others and not generally widespread. It was developed from the basis of the 17th century struggle for political power in England. This struggle in power would prove to bring forth thinkers who would give their create new philosophies for politics and nature. Enlightenment thinkers like Montesquieu built upon earlier political philosophies and philosophers such as John Locke and Thomas Hobbes. Thus he built upon these ideas and continued to structurally form them. As stated previously, the works and philosophies of thinkers like Thomas Hobbes and John Locke set the basis of the American Revolution and were a key foundation for others to work upon. Without these thinkers, it would Have taken much longer and changed events in our history to set a working foundation and inspire others to formulate ideas. These enlightened thinkers were thus responsible for the structural foundation of the world we live in today, and our views of things such as Liberty, freedom and political ideas. The enlightenment goes way back to the age of scientific revolution near the 1620s, and as discussed before, Francis Bacon played a huge role in the discoveries of the scientific method. Though many place the enlightenment as occurring near the 17th century, the scientific age is often overlooked, even though it was a key factor in setting up the enlightenment.
A third reason as to why the British enlightenment paved the way was how it was a subtle and yet highly effective, causing many deep changes that were unique. In THE CREATION OF THE MODERN WORLD by Roy Porter, Porter states how the British enlightenment is often looked because of the fact English thinkers were more concerned about defining sociability than about undermining the established church and state. Roy goes on to talk about how the French Revolution and the French enlightened despots are widely recognized and seen as a huge part of the enlightenment because of the revolution and widespread change compared to the British enlightenment, which was tame and less about undermining the state and church but more on acquisition of knowledge and subtle but effective change, and he goes on to talk about how the British enlightenment is often overlooked because it's lack of a revolution and huge change. He states that “A group of renowned French philosophes -- Diderot, Rousseau and Voltaire, for example -- receive all the credit for advancing a shocking new intellectual agenda that eroded a traditional moral order and eventually brought down the ancien régime”. Enlightened English people had the idea that new perspectives of man and society that did not in some way improve the quality of everyday life were not of much interest. Porter states how Locke and Newton play central roles in Porter's story, as do David Hume, Adam Smith and Joseph Priestley. But Porter also includes less familiar voices of people with more modest talents who tried to make sense out of living in an enlightened society. It urged a newly constituted reading public to trust in its own power of reason. The English Enlightenment's challenge to traditional morality and values brought their own peculiar blend of curiosity, optimism and pragmatism. English writers explored radical ideas about religion and nature, about science and reason, and about the meaning of happiness. This enlightenment benefited many people during its time and Novels became much more common and females were able to have a say in their view of class privilege and male prerogative. This changed many lifestyles and views as many people began to question and think for themselves. Porter also continues to discuss how important it was that they at least asked the hard questions about man and society, nature and science. He goes on to talk about how the Moderns approached and tackled the people problem and problem people through models of improvement. Thus the enlightenment brought new views to major ideas and questioned the nature of society and life, which brought about deep changes that seemed subtle.
Though the British enlightenment surely paved the way for our world today, the fact is that Other enlightenments and enlightenment thinkers were able to achieve ground breaking and original ideas. French enlightenment thinkers such as Voltaire and Rousseau advanced a new intellectual agenda, with original ideological approaches to their scenarios they were in, which was the French Revolution. And what of the smaller lesser known countries? The Case for The Enlightenment by John Robertson brings into the playing field the examples of Scotland and Naples, two countries that faced a bleak future because of the aggressive English commercial states. Enlightenment thinkers such as David Hume and Giambattista Vico brought ideas of the political economy. David Hume, who is best known for his radical ideas of empiricism, naturalism and skepticism, was a philosophist who brought in ideas of The naturalist science of man. Hume was against rationalists, and instead viewed the humans differently in that humans can have knowledge only of the objects of experience. Another notable despot was Giambattista Vico of the kingdom of Naples, who criticized the expansion and development of modern rationalism. Vico was a precursor of systemic and complexity thinking and can be credited with the first exposition of the fundamental aspects of social science. Many historicists were inspired by him and his ideas such as Isaiah berlin and Hayden white. from these two enlightened despots lies the evidence that there were many other countries that had an effect in the contribution of the modern views of our world today and how it functions. Other factors were the countries such as France and America, who had changed their situation and outcome by effectively applying the enlightenment ideas and successfully overthrowing rule and rewriting history by taking action. Thus the enlightenment period can be viewed as a domino effect that toppled over and contributed to each country, and the British enlightenment can be viewed as the source of all major contributions to other enlightenments and the firm foundation to which our world lays upon today.