The Age of Enlightenment

The 18th century, often called the Age of Enlightenment, is portrayed as a fascinating era blending rationality with mystery, intellectual rigor with adventurous spirit. It was the age of the "Encyclopédie," grand philosophical systems, and a profound belief in education and progress, yet it also harbored automatons, secret societies, alchemists, and adventurers promising miraculous elixirs.

In Europe, the Enlightenment fundamentally altered humanity's relationship with knowledge, liberty, religion, and society. These transformative ideas permeated the Romanian principalities through schools, translations, scholars, and travelers, interacting with the complex environment of the Phanariote period. This dynamic tension between the old world dissolving and the new one yet to form made the century a pivotal crossroads.

The era's intellectual fervor was characterized by a desire for rapid, effortless learning, as noted by a 1715 publication: "we like to know, but we want to learn without effort and in a short time." This led to a surge in creative effervescence, particularly in peculiar inventions like mechanical dolls, flying balloons, and bizarre machinery that captivated public interest. The drive for encyclopedic knowledge fueled the creation of dictionaries and popular science books.

This spirit gave rise to the Enlightenment movement, which championed an engaged scholar who illuminated the common people, moving away from the isolated, erudite scholar. This ideal spurred the development and modernization of education, with the establishment of schools teaching in native languages, the creation of textbooks, and a shift from humanistic culture to positive sciences. Research methods were simplified, and information accessibility was advocated. The aspiration for individual happiness became central, leading people to shed restrictive rules and prejudices. The desire to free reason from ecclesiastical dogma, and to escape revealed truth, birthed deism, a belief that God resides within the human soul, a supreme being whose divinity is accessible without the encumbrance of temples, rituals, or dogmas.