The early modern period was a very innovative period in Western philosophy. New theories of mind and matter, new conceptions of God, new political philosophies and theories of civic society were proposed. The period approximately spanned from the late 1400s to the end of the 18th century (roughly 1500-1800). It is the time period where philosophers like Descartes, Locke, Hume, Spinoza, Leibniz, and Kant, published books that would shape our modern understanding of philosophy.
It is also the period of Enlightenment Thinking, and the development of the scientific method. Enlightenment Thinking is characterized by the self-reflection of reason, a discovery of human subjectivity, and claims about the autonomy of willpower. These ideas fuel democratic revolutions and the expansion of European systems to the rest of the world.
Renaissance: The 16th century was the pinnacle of the Renaissance, a period of great cultural and artistic growth in Europe, with artists like Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael producing iconic works.
Age of Exploration: This period saw European explorers, such as Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama, and Ferdinand Magellan, embark on voyages to discover new trade routes and lands, significantly expanding the known world.
The Reformation: In 1517, Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses, marking the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, which led to the establishment of various Protestant denominations and the division of Western Christianity.
The Spanish Empire: The 16th century marked the height of the Spanish Empire, with territories in the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Europe, making it one of the most powerful empires in history.
The Ottoman Empire: The Ottoman Empire reached its peak during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent (1520-1566). The empire expanded significantly in Europe, Asia, and Africa during this time.
The Elizabethan Era: Queen Elizabeth I's reign (1558-1603) marked a period of stability and prosperity in England, with significant advancements in literature, the arts, and exploration.
The Scientific Revolution: This period saw the development of the scientific method and major advancements in various fields of science, such as astronomy, physics, and biology. Key figures of the Scientific Revolution include Nicolaus Copernicus, Galileo Galilei, and Johannes Kepler.
The Council of Trent (1545-1563): A response to the Protestant Reformation, the Council of Trent was a key event in the history of the Roman Catholic Church, defining its doctrines and practices and initiating the Catholic Counter-Reformation.
The roots of early modern philosophy can be traced back as far as the 1200s — to the mature and speculative heights of the scholastic tradition. The philosophies of Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), Ockham (1288-1348) and Buridan (1300-1358) emphasized the capacities of human rational faculties: if God gave us the faculty of reasoning then we shall trust that through such faculty we can achieve a full understanding of worldly and divine matters.
The most innovative philosophical impulse came during the 1400s with the rise of humanistic and renaissance movements. Thanks to the increasing relations with non-European societies the European thinkers rediscovered central texts of the Ancient Greek period, and new waves of Platonism, Aristotelianism, Stoicism, Skepticism, and Epicureanism emerged. This widening of the horizon greatly influenced key figures of early modernity.
Descartes is often regarded as the first philosopher of modernity. He was a scientist at the forefront of new theories of mathematics and matter, and he also held radically new ideas of the relationship between mind and body as well as God’s omnipotence.
His philosophy did not develop in isolation. It was a reaction to centuries of scholastic philosophy that provided a rebuttal to anti-scholastic ideas of some of his contemporaries. Among them, for instance, we find Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592), a statesman and author, whose “Essais” established a new genre in modern Europe which allegedly prompted Descartes’s fascination with skeptical doubting.
Elsewhere in Europe, Post-Cartesian philosophy occupied a central chapter of early modern philosophy. Along with France, Holland and Germany became central places for philosophical production and their most distinguished representatives rose to great fame. Among them, Spinoza (1632-1677) and Leibniz (1646-1716) occupied key roles. They both expressed systems that could be read as attempts to fix the main problems of Cartesianism.
The scientific revolution — which Descartes represented in France — also had a major influence in British philosophy. During the 1500s, a new empiricist tradition developed in Britain. The movement includes several major figures of the early modern period including Francis Bacon (1561-1626) John Locke (1632-1704), Adam Smith (1723-1790) and David Hume (1711-1776).
British empiricism is also at the roots of so-called “analytic philosophy,” which is a contemporary philosophical tradition centering on analyzing or dissecting philosophical problems rather than addressing them all at once. Contemporary analytic philosophy can be characterized by its origins in the works of the great British empiricists of the era.
In the 1700s European philosophy gave birth to a novel philosophical movement, the Enlightenment. It is also known as “the age of reason” because of the optimism in the capacity of humans to improve their existential conditions by means of reasoning and science alone. The Enlightenment can be seen as the culmination of certain ideas advanced by Medieval philosophers: God gave reason to humans as one of our most precious instruments and since God is good, reason — which is God’s work — is in its essence also good; through reason alone, then, humans can achieve good outcomes.
Enlightenment thinking led to a great awakening in European societies, expressed through art, innovation, technological advances, and an expansion of philosophy. The period of early modern philosophy ends with the work of Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), who created the foundations for the next period in modern philosophy.