In his text on Franklin and the Enlightenment, Frank Kelleter dispels the common myth that the enlightenment marked a period of new, shared beliefs and theories. The Age of Reason, the other main term used to refer to the enlightenment, seems to be a more accurate name for the time, as Kelleter argues that the faculty of reason was what united enlightenment thinkers. He explains the critical, democratic, and constructive aspects of reason that still hold true today. Based on John Locke’s principle, that we have no certain knowledge, reason becomes critical to free the mind from doctrines that others impose as ‘the truth’, since we are not born with a truth. Though Kelleter does not mention tabula rasa, Locke’s idea that we are born without any inherent knowledge, it forms the basis of his argument against accepting the beliefs of others as valid due to commonality.
Enlightenment thinkers also believed it their responsibility to eliminate falsely established beliefs and even speak out against institutions that perpetuate them. Interestingly, having more skillsets, such as a foreign language or strong rhetoric, does not make the person more reasonable, but rather more powerful, lending credence to the old adage that knowledge is power. Ben Franklin warns however that knowledge could simply disguise nonsense to thwart reason. Thus, every man, regardless of economic/educational standing was capable of enlightened thought by using reason’ reason is democratic because it is accessible by anyone. This principle explains how Descartes’ theory of planetary motion, despite being false, makes him a good enlightenment thinker because he exercised sound reason within a limited set of knowledge that he could not have exceeded at the time.
Finally, this system of enlightened reason is constructive because if everyone proves beliefs for themselves and disproves unsound or unreasonable beliefs, what has become known as the scientific method would apply to all facets of life to create a better society as a whole. Unfortunately, we will never quite reach that utopia because unreasonable people shall always exist.
