Modern Philosophy: From the French Enlightenment to Kant

Abstract

The eighteenth-century philosophical landscape is characterized by the expansion of the Enlightenment and the eventual transition toward critical philosophy. In France, intellectual development moved from early scepticism and the comparative study of law toward the radical deism of Voltaire and the systematic materialism of the Encyclopaedists. These movements sought to apply empirical methods to the “science of man,” leading to reductionist psychological theories and a redefinition of the social contract through the concept of the general will. Simultaneously, the German Enlightenment formalized rationalism before encountering significant reactions that emphasized faith, intuition, and historical particularism. This period also witnessed the formalization of the philosophy of history, transitioning from providential interpretations to cyclical and progressive models of human civilization. These diverse currents converged in the critical system of transcendental idealism. By distinguishing between phenomena and noumena, this framework addressed the antinomies of metaphysics and established the formal limits of scientific cognition. It further positioned morality as an autonomous exercise of practical reason, grounding freedom and religious belief in moral postulates rather than speculative demonstration. This synthesis provided a systematic resolution to the competing claims of rationalism and empiricism, fundamentally reorienting the relationship between human understanding, aesthetics, and teleology. – AI-generated abstract.