The Birth of Modernity: The Influence of the Renaissance, the Enlightenment and the French Revolution

Year 2023, Volume: 16 Issue: 2, 523 - 539, 31.12.2023

Zeynep Çolak , Yasemin Mumcu

https://doi.org/10.37093/ijsi.1358215

Abstract

While the emergence and global spread of modernity is a complex phenomenon, it is known that certain political, economic, and social developments led to its rise and spread. Looking closely at these factors, it is possible to say that the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, and capitalism in the Western world are the five main historical developments that shaped modernity. On a historical continuum, these developments are interrelated. Some of them gave modernity its soul. Others made it much more influential and global. In this regard, it is arguable that the first three developments gave modernity its soul, while the last two gave it a much more effective scope. This study examines the first three historical developments using the descriptive research method based on these premises. It considers the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and the French Revolution as the developments that gave birth to modernity and gave it its soul. At the same time, this study argues that these are moments or developments that are intrinsically supportive of each other, seeing these historical moments as moments of rupture and crisis in the Western world. These moments and developments are crucial components of the problems and phenomena we currently discuss today. No literary, aesthetic, philosophical, or political criticism of the 20th century can be analyzed without taking these developments into account. In this respect, this study reconsiders, within a historical continuum, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and the French Revolution, which shaped modernity and its philosophy, modernism.

Keywords

modernity, modernism, Renaissance, enlightenment, French Revolution

Ethical Statement

The authors declare that this article complies with ethical standards and rules.

Supporting Institution

No financial support was received from any person or institution for the study.

References

• Baczko, B. (1978). Rousseau and social marginality. Daedalus, 107(3), 27-40.
• Baudelaire, C. (1998) The Flowers of evil [Les Fleurs du mal] (J. McGowan, Trans.). Oxford University Press (Original work published 1857).
• Baudelaire, C. (2008). Paris Spleen and La Fanfarlo [Le Spleen de Paris, La Fanfarlo] (R. M. MacKenzie, Trans.). Hackett Publishing Comp. Inc (Original works published 1869, 1847).
• Baudelaire, C. (2010). The painter of modern life. [Le Peintre de la vie moderne] (P.E. Charvet, Trans.). Penguin Books (Original work published 1863).
• Britannica. (2023, January 21). Denis Diderot: Biography, philosophy, works, beliefs, enlightenment and facts. https://www.britannica.com/biography/DenisDiderot
• Britannica. (2023, November 10). Odyssey. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Odyssey-epicby-Homer
• Burke, P. (1998). The European Renaissance: Centers and peripheries. Wiley.
• Cabeen, D. C. (1939). The Esprit of the Esprit des Lois. PMLA, 54(2), 439-453. https://doi.org/10.2307/458567
• Calvino, I. (2014). Klasikleri niçin okumalı? (4. baskı). [Perché leggere i classici?] (K. Atakay, Trans.). Yapı Kredi Yayınları (Original work published 1991).
• Corbin, A., Courtine, J.-J. and Vigarello, G. (2017). Bedenin tarihi 1: Rönesans’tan aydınlanmaya [Histoire du Corps] (S. Özen, Trans.). Yapı Kredi Yayınları (Original work published 2006).
• Crary, J. (1992). Techniques of the observer: On vision and modernity in the nineteenth century. MIT Press.
• Curran, A. (2019). Diderot and the art of thinking freely. Other Press.
• Çiğdem, A. (1997) Bir imkan olarak modernite: Weber ve Habermas. İletişim Yayınları.
• Damrosch, L. (2007). Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Restless Genius. HarperCollins Publisher.
• Descartes, R. (2020). Metot üzerine konuşma [Discours de la méthode] (A. Altınörs, Trans.). Bilge Kültür Sanat (Original work published 1637).
• Descartes, R. (2022). Ruhun ihtirasları [Les Passions de l'âme] (Ç. Kerimoğlu, Trans.). Gufo Yayınları (Original work published 1649).
• Diderot, D. (2019). Rahibe [La Religieuse] (A. Cemgil, Trans.). İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları (Original work published 1796).
• Eagleton, T. (1978). Criticism and ideology: A study in Marxist literary theory. Verso.
• Faure, P. (1992). Rönesans [La Renaissance] (H. Boysan, Trans.). İletişim Yayınlar (Original work published 1949).
• Fehér, F. (1990). The French Revolution and the birth of modernity. University of California Press.
• Foucault, M. (1991). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison [Surveiller et punir: Naissance de la prison] (E.M. Sheridan, Trans.). Vintage Books (Original work published 1975).
• Foucault, M. (2004). The Birth of the clinic [Naissance de la clinique: une archéologie du regard médical] (E.M. Sheridan, Trans.) Routledge (Original work published 1963).
• Foster, H. (2003). Design and crime (and other diatribes). Verso.
• Furbank, P. N. (1992). Diderot: A critical biography. Knopf.
• Garrard, G. (2012). Rousseau’s counter-enlightenment: A republican critique of the philosophes. State University of New York Press.
• Gombrich, E. H. (1951). The Story of art (4th Edition). Phaidon Press.
• Homeros (2019). Odysseia [Odýsseia] (A. Kadir, Trans.). İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları (Original work written c. 8th Century B.C).
• Horkheimer, M. & Adorno, T. W. (1995). Aydınlanmanın diyalektiği: Felsefi fragmanlar I. [Dialektik der Aufklärung] (O. Özügül, Trans.). Kabalcı Yayınevi (Original work published 1947).
• Kant, I. (1992). An answer to the question: What is enlightenment? [Beantwortung der Frage: Was ist Aufklärung?] (T. Humprey, Trans.). Hackett Publishing (Original work published 1784).
• Kant, I. (1998). Critique of pure reason [Kritik der reinen Vernunft] (P. Guyer and A. W. Wood, Trans.). Cambridge University Press (Original work published 1781).
• Kant, I. (2002). Critique of practical reson [Kritik der praktischen Vernunft] (W. S. Pluhar, Trans.). Hackett Publishing Comp., Inc. (Original work published 1788).
• Kumar, K. (2005). From post-industrial to post-modern society: New theories of the contemporary world. Backwell Publishing.
• La Mettrie, J.O.D. (2022). Makine insan [L'homme Machine] (A. Avcan ve E. Erkan, Trans). Fol (Original work published 1747).
• Lauritsen, H. R., & Thorup, M. (2011). Rousseau and Revolution. Bloomsbury Publishing.
• Lefebvre, G. (2005). The French Revolution: From its origins to 1793. Routledge.
• Livesey, J. (2001). Making democracy in the French Revolution. Harvard University Press.
• Lyotard, J. F. (1984). The postmodern condition: A report on knowledge [La condition postmoderne: rapport sur le savoir] (J. Bennington and B. Massumi) University of Minnesota Press (Original work published 1979).
• Löwy, M. (2018). Demir Kafes: Max Weber ve Weberci Marksizm [La Cage d’acier: Max Weber et le marxisme wéberien] (N. Çetinkaya, Trans.). Ayrıntı Yayınları (Original work published 2013).
• Marx, K. (1969). The class struggle in France, 1848-50. Moscow: Progress Publishers.
• McLuhan, M. (1964). Understanding media: The extension of man. McGraw Hill.
• Montesquieu, C. L. de S. (2017). Kanunların ruhu üzerine [De l'esprit des loix] (B. Günen, Trans.). İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları (Original work published 1748).
• Ong, W. J. (1967). The presence of the word: Some prolegomena for cultural and religious history. Yale University Press.
• Rousseau, J. J. (2002). İtiraflar [Les confessions] (K. Somer, Trans.). Doruk Yayınları (Original work published 1782).
• Rousseau, J. J. (2011). Yalnız gezerin hayalleri [Les rêveries du promeneur solitaire] (H. F. Nemli, Trans.). Pinhan (Original work published 1782).
• Rousseau, J. J. (2013). Toplum sözleşmesi [Du contrat social] (V. Günyol, Trans.). İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları (Original work published 1762).
• Voltaire, F. M. A. (1984). Philosophical dictionary [Dictionnaire philosophique] (T. Besterman, Trans.). Penguin Classics (Original work publishes 1764).
• Voltaire, F. M. A. (2006). Candide and other stories [Candide, ou l'Optimisme] (R. Pearson, Trans.). Oxford University Press (Original work published 1759).
• Voltaire, F. M. A. (2017). Treatise on toleration [Traité sur la tolérance] (D.M. Clarke, Trans.). Penguin Classics (Original work published 1763).
• Voltaire, F. M. A. (2018). An essay on universal history, manners and spirit of nations [Essai sur les mœurs et l'esprit des nations] (Mr. Nugent). Gale (Original work published 1756).
• Williams, R. (1977). Marxism and literature. Oxford University Press.