List of intellectuals of the Enlightenment

This is a list of intellectuals from the Age of Enlightenment.

Person Dates Nationality Notes
Thomas Abbt 1738–1766 German Author of "Vom Tode für das Vaterland" (On dying for one's nation).
Jean le Rond d'Alembert 1717–1783 French Mathematician and physicist, one of the editors of the Encyclopédie.[1]
Francis Bacon 1561–1626 English Philosopher who started the revolution in empirical thought that characterized much of the Enlightenment.[2]
Pierre Bayle 1647–1706 French Literary critic known for his newsletter "Nouvelles de la république des lettres" and his powerful Dictionnaire historique et critique, and one of the earliest influences on the Enlightenment thinkers to advocate tolerance between the different religious beliefs.
Cesare Beccaria 1738–1794 Italian Criminal law reformer, best known for his treatise On Crimes and Punishments (1764).
Balthasar Bekker 1634–1698 Dutch A key figure in the early Enlightenment. In his book De Philosophia Cartesiana (1668) Bekker argued that theology and philosophy each had their separate terrains and that Nature can no more be explained from Scripture than can theological truth be deduced from Nature.
George Berkeley 1685–1753 Irish Philosopher and mathematician famous for developing the theory of subjective idealism.[3]
Justus Henning Boehmer 1674–1749 German Ecclesiastical jurist, one of the first reformers of the church law and the civil law which was the basis for further reforms and maintained until the 20th century.
Ruggiero Giuseppe Boscovich (Roger Joseph Boscovich) 1711–1787 Ragusan (Italian) A physicist, astronomer, mathematician, philosopher, diplomat, poet, theologian, Jesuit priest, and a polymath from the Republic of Ragusa (today Dubrovnik, Croatia), who studied and lived in Italy and France where he also published many of his works. He produced a precursor of atomic theory and made many contributions to astronomy, including the first geometric procedure for determining the equator of a rotating planet from three observations of a surface feature and for computing the orbit of a planet from three observations of its position. In 1753 he also discovered the absence of atmosphere on the Moon.
James Boswell 1740–1795 Scottish Biographer of Samuel Johnson, helped established the norms for writing biography in general.
G.L. Buffon 1707–1788 French Biologist, author of L'Histoire Naturelle considered Natural Selection and the similarities between humans and apes.
Edmund Burke 1729–1797 Irish Parliamentarian and political philosopher, best known for pragmatism, considered important to both Enlightenment and conservative thinking.
Dimitrie Cantemir 1673–1723 Moldavian Philosopher, historian, composer, musicologist, linguist, ethnographer, and geographer.
Émilie du Châtelet 1706–1749 French Mathematician, physicist, and author. Translated Newton's Principia with commentary.
Anders Chydenius 1729–1803 Finnish-Swedish Priest and an ecclesiastical member of the Riksdag, contemporary known as the leading classical liberal of Nordic history.
Francisco Javier Clavijero 1731–1787 Mexican Historian, best known for his Antique History of Mexico.
Marquis de Condorcet 1743–1794 French Philosopher, mathematician, and early political scientist who devised the concept of a Condorcet method.
Mihály Csokonai Vitéz 1773-1805 Hungarian Hungarian poet, main person in the Hungarian literary revival of the Enlightenment.
Ekaterina Dashkova 1743–1810 Russian Director of the Imperial Academy of Arts and Sciences (known now as the Russian Academy of Sciences).
Denis Diderot 1713–1784 French Founder of the Encyclopédie, speculated on free will and attachment to material objects, art critic, contributed to the theory of literature.
Benito Jerónimo Feijóo y Montenegro 1676–1764 Spanish The most prominent promoter of the critical empiricist attitude at the dawn of the Spanish Enlightenment. See also the Spanish Martín Sarmiento (1695–1772)
1700s French Encyclopédistes
Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle 1657–1757 French Author.
Denis Fonvizin 1744–1792 Russian Writer and playwright.
José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia 1766–1840 Paraguayan First president of Paraguay. Introduced radical political ideas never-before seen in South America to Paraguay, making his country prosperous and more secure than any other in South-America.
Benjamin Franklin 1706–1790 American Statesman, scientist, political philosopher, author. As a philosopher known for his writings on nationality, economic matters, aphorisms published in Poor Richard's Almanac and polemics in favor of American Independence. Involved with writing the United States Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of 1787.
Luigi Galvani 1737–1798 Italian Physician, physicist and philosopher who was a pioneer in the studies of Bioelectricity.[4]
Antonio Genovesi 1712–1769 Italian Writer on philosophy and political economy.
Edward Gibbon 1737–1794 English Historian best known for his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
Johann Wolfgang Goethe 1749–1832 German Closely identified with Enlightenment values, progressing from Sturm und Drang ("Storm and Stress"); leader in Weimar Classicism.
Olympe de Gouges 1748–1793 French Playwright and activist who championed feminist politics.
Alexander Hamilton 1755–1804 American Economist, political theorist and politician. A major protagonist for the Constitution of the United States, and the single greatest contributor to The Federalist Papers, advocating for the constitution's ratification through detailed examinations of its construction, philosophical and moral basis, and intent.
Joseph Haydn 1732–1809 Austrian A leading composer of the era; revolutionized i.a. the symphonic form.
Claude Adrien Helvétius 1715–1771 French Philosopher and writer. Famous for De l'esprit (On Mind).
Johann Gottfried Herder 1744–1803 German Theologian and linguist. Proposed that language determines thought, introduced concepts of ethnic study and nationalism, influential on later Romantic thinkers. Early supporter of democracy and republican self-rule.
Thomas Hobbes 1588–1679 English Philosopher who wrote Leviathan, a key text in political philosophy. While Hobbes justifies absolute monarchy, this work is the first to posit that the temporal power of a monarch comes about, not because God has ordained that he be monarch, but because his subjects have freely yielded their own power and freedom to him – in other words, Hobbes replaces the divine right of kings with an early formulation of the social contract. Hobbes' work was condemned by reformers for its defense of absolutism, and by traditionalists for its claim that the power of government derives from the power of its subjects rather than the will of God.
Baron d'Holbach 1723–1789 French Author, Encyclopédist and Europe's first outspoken atheist. Roused much controversy over his criticism of religion as a whole in his work The System of Nature.
Ludvig Holberg 1684–1754 Norwegian Writer, essayist, historian and playwright.
Henry Home, Lord Kames 1696–1782 Scottish Lawyer and philosopher. Patron of Adam Smith and David Hume. See Scottish Enlightenment.
Robert Hooke 1635–1703 English Probably the leading experimenter of his age, Curator of Experiments for the Royal Society. Performed the work which quantified such concepts as Boyle's Law and the inverse-square nature of gravitation, father of the science of microscopy.
Wilhelm von Humboldt 1767–1835 German Linguist, diplomat, founder of the modern educational system, philosopher.
David Hume 1711–1776 Scottish Philosopher, historian and essayist. Best known for his empiricism and rational skepticism, advanced doctrines of naturalism and material causes. Influenced Kant and Adam Smith.[5]
Thomas Jefferson 1743–1826 American Statesman, political philosopher, educator. As a philosopher best known for the United States Declaration of Independence (1776), especially "All men are created equal", and his support of democracy in theory and practice. A polymath, he promoted higher education as a way to uplift the entire nation .
Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos 1744–1811 Spanish Main figure of the Spanish Enlightenment. Preeminent statesman.
Immanuel Kant 1724–1804 German Philosopher and physicist. Established critical philosophy on a systematic basis, proposed a material theory for the origin of the solar system, wrote on ethics and morals. Prescribed a politics of Enlightenment in What is Enlightenment? (1784). Influenced by Hume and Rousseau. Important figure in German Idealism, and important to the work of Fichte and Hegel.
Vasyl Karazin 1773–1842 Russian and Ukrainian Enlightenment figure, intellectual, inventor, founder of The Ministry of National Education in Russian Empire and scientific publisher in Ukraine. Founder of Kharkiv University, which now bears his name. Also known for opposing to what he saw as colonial exploitation of Ukraine by the Russian Empire, even though he himself was ethnically Serbian.
Hugo Kołłątaj 1750–1812 Polish Active in the Commission for National Education and the Society for Elementary Textbooks, and reformed the Kraków Academy, of which he was rector in 1783–86. Co-authored the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth's Constitution of May 3, 1791, and founded the Assembly of Friends of the Government Constitution to assist in the document's implementation.
Ignacy Krasicki 1735–1801 Polish Leading poet of the Polish Enlightenment.
Joseph-Louis Lagrange 1736–1813 Italian-French Major mathematician, famous for his contributions to analysis, number theory, and mechanics.
Antoine Lavoisier 1743–1794 French Founder of modern chemistry; executed in the French Revolution for his politics
Gottfried Leibniz 1646–1716 German Polymath-philosopher, mathematician, diplomat, jurist, historian; rival of Newton.
Giacomo Leopardi 1798–1837 Italian Poet, essayist, philosopher, and philologist.
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing 1729–1781 German Dramatist, critic, political philosopher. Created theatre in the German language.
Carl von Linné (Carl Linnaeus) 1707–1778 Swedish Botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. Known as the father of modern taxonomy.
John Locke 1632–1704 English Philosopher. Important empiricist who expanded and extended the work of Francis Bacon and Thomas Hobbes. Seminal thinker in the realm of the relationship between the state and the individual, the contractual basis of the state and the rule of law. Argued for personal liberty emphasizing the rights of property.
Mikhail Lomonosov 1711–1765 Russian Polymath, scientist and writer, who made important contributions to literature, education, and science.
James Madison 1751–1836 American Statesman and political philosopher. Played a key role in the writing of the United States Constitution and providing a theoretical justification for it in his contributions to The Federalist Papers; author of the American Bill of Rights.
George Mason 1725–1792 American Statesman, authored the Virginia Declaration of Rights; along with Madison called the "Father of the United States Bill of Rights".
Moses Mendelssohn 1729–1786 Jewish German Philosopher of Jewish Enlightenment in Prussia (Haskalah), honoured by his friend Lessing in his drama as Nathan the Wise.
Jean Meslier 1664–1729 French Roman Catholic priest, philosopher and first atheist writer since ancient times. Author of Testament, a book length essay, which supplied arguments and rhetoric used by other enlightenment authors such as Denis Diderot, Baron d'Holbach and Voltaire.
La Mettrie 1709–1751 French Physician and early French materialist philosopher. Best known as author of L'homme machine (Man a Machine).
James Burnett, Lord Monboddo 1714–1799 Scottish Philosopher, jurist, pre-evolutionary thinker and contributor to linguistic evolution. See Scottish Enlightenment
Josef Vratislav Monse 1733–1793 Czech Professor of Law at University of Olomouc, leading figure of Enlightenment in the Habsburg Monarchy
Montesquieu 1689–1755 French Political thinker. Famous for his articulation of the theory of separation of powers, taken for granted in modern discussions of government and implemented in many constitutions all over the world. Political scientist, Donald Lutz, found that Montesquieu was the most frequently quoted authority on government in colonial America.[6]
Leandro Fernández de Moratín 1760–1828 Spanish Dramatist and translator, support of republicanism and free thinking. Transitional figure to Romanticism.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1756–1791 Austrian A leading composer of the era.
José Celestino Mutis 1755–1808 Spanish Botanist; lead the first botanic expeditions to South America, and built a major collection of plants.
Isaac Newton 1642–1727 English Lucasian professor of mathematics, Cambridge University; author of 'Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica' and 'Opticks'.
Nikolay Novikov 1744–1818 Russian Philanthropist and journalist who sought to raise the culture of Russian readers and publicly argued with the Empress. See Russian Enlightenment.
Dositej Obradović 1739–1811 Serbian Writer, linguist, educator, influential proponent of Serbian cultural nationalism, and founder of The Ministry of National Education in Karađorđe's Serbia, and founder of the University of Belgrade.
Zaharije Orfelin 1726–1785 Serbian Polymath-poet, writer, historian, translator, engraver, editor, publisher, etc.
Francesco Mario Pagano 1748–1799 Italian Jurist and philosopher, one of the pioneers of modern criminal law.
Thomas Paine 1737–1809 English/American Pamphleteer, most famous for Common Sense (1776), calling for American independence as the most rational solution.
Marquis of Pombal 1699–1782 Portuguese Statesman notable for his swift and competent leadership in the aftermath of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. He also implemented sweeping economic policies to regulate commercial activity and standardize quality throughout the country.
Stanisław August Poniatowski 1732–1798 Polish Last king of independent Poland, a leading light of the Enlightenment in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and co-author of one of the world's first modern constitutions, the Constitution of May 3, 1791.
François Quesnay 1694–1774 French Economist of the Physiocratic school.
Alexander Radishchev 1749–1802 Russian Writer and philosopher. Brought the tradition of radicalism in Russian literature to prominence.
Jovan Rajić 1726–1801 Serbian Writer, historian, traveller, and pedagogue, considered to be one of the greatest Serbian academics of the 18th century.
Thomas Reid 1710–1796 Scottish Philosopher who developed Common Sense Realism.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1712–1778 Swiss Political philosopher, educational reformer, composer; Encyclopédist who influenced many Enlightenment figures but did not himself believe in the primacy of reason and was a forerunner of Romanticism.
Adam Smith 1723–1790 Scottish Economist and philosopher. Wrote The Wealth of Nations, in which he argued that wealth was not money in itself, but wealth was derived from the added value in manufactured items produced by both invested capital and labour. Sometimes considered to be the founding father of the laissez-faire economic theory, but in fact argues for some degree of government control in order to maintain equity. Just prior to this he wrote Theory of Moral Sentiments, explaining how it is humans function and interact through what he calls sympathy, setting up important context for The Wealth of Nations.
Jan Śniadecki 1756–1830 Polish Mathematician, philosopher, and astronomer.
Jędrzej Śniadecki 1768–1838 Polish Writer, physician, chemist, and biologist.
Baruch Spinoza 1632–1677 Jewish Dutch Philosopher who helped lay the groundwork for the 18th-century Enlightenment.
Alexander Sumarokov 1717–1777 Russian Poet and playwright who created classical theatre in Russia.
Emanuel Swedenborg 1688–1772 Swedish Natural philosopher and theologian whose search for the operation of the soul in the body led him to construct a detailed metaphysical model for spiritual-natural causation.
Giambattista Vico 1668–1744 Italian Political philosopher, rhetorician, historian, and jurist.
Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet) 1694–1778 French Highly influential writer, historian and philosopher. He promoted Newtonianism and denounced organized religion as pernicious.
Adam Weishaupt 1748–1830 German Founded the Order of the Illuminati.
Christian Wolff 1679–1754 German Philosopher and mathematician.
Mary Wollstonecraft 1759–1797 British Writer, and pioneer feminist.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "The Encyclopedia of Diderot & D'Alembert Collaborative Translation Project." The Encyclopedia of Diderot & D'Alembert Collaborative Translation Project. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.
  2. ↑ Enlightenment (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy), Plato.stanford.edu, 2010-08-20, retrieved 2012-02-17
  3. ↑ Downing, Lisa. "George Berkeley." Stanford University. Stanford University, 10 Sept. 2004. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.
  4. ↑ Sabbatini, Renato. "The Discovery of Bioelectricity. Galvani and Volta." Sabbatini, R.M.E.: The Discovery of Bioelectricity. Galvani and Volta. The State University of Campinas, 1998. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.
  5. ↑ Fieser, James. "David Hume." Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.
  6. ↑ "The Relative Influence of European Writers on Late Eighteenth-Century American Political Thought", American Political Science Review 78,1 (March 1984), 189–197.
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