Sociology is an intellectual discipline developed due to enlightenment ideas as a positive societal science immediately after the French Revolution. The beginning of sociology links to several major movements in the philosophy of knowledge and philosophy of science. The movements arose in reactions to imperialism, colonization, secularization, rationalization, urbanization, capitalism, and modernity. During the embryonic stages of sociology, deliberations assumed interests in modern state nation development, including its; units of socialization, constituent institutions, and surveillance means (Mazlish 220). Therefore, highlighting modernity idea instead of the Enlightenment differentiates classical political philosophy from the sociological discourse. Social analysis in a broader scope has backgrounds in the common philosophy stock, hence back-dating the social fields.
Different quantitative social research techniques are regular tools for businesses, governments, and organizations and found usage in other sociological sciences. However, social research obtains a degree of autonomy from the sociological discipline considering the social dynamics theoretical explanations. However, people use social sciences as a collective term to define disciplines that study interaction, humans, culture, or society. Sociological reasoning traces back to the ancient Greeks, whose character traits in sociological thought have roots in the social environment. Considering the scarcity of highly centralized or extensive political associations within nations, provincialism and tribal localism spirit were open for discussions on social occurrences, hence pervading a lot of Greek understanding (Mazlish 278). The Western philosophy founding text like Polybius, Plato, Thucydides, and Herodotus displays proto-sociological observations. A methodological survey has its origin in the Domesday Book ordered in 1086 by William the Conqueror, the King of England.
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Also, perspectives of antecedent sociology exist among non-European ideological personalities such as Confucius. In the early 13 th century, a Chinese historian named Ma Duanlin identified dynamic social trends as a primary historical development component in his formative encyclopedia. Early Muslim sociology was portrayed in the 14 th century by Ibn Khaldun, an Islamic scholar, considered the first sociologist of Arabic origin from Tunisia. Khaldun's Muqaddimah serves as an introduction to a universal history analysis and the first initiative to advance social-philosophy and social-scientific reasoning in implementing social conflict and social cohesion (Mazlish 312). Therefore, sociology developed due to intellectual forces like Enlightenment hence influencing different sociological theories. Most sociologists argue that Enlightenment comprises vital progress in terms of the later sociological revolution. Enlightenment was an era of notable change in philosophical thought and intellectual development. Most long-standing beliefs and ideas connected to social life got ousted and replaced in the enlightenment era.
Besides Enlightenment, other intellectual ideologies pushed for the emergence of sociology, such as; Charles Darwin's concepts concerning organic evolution that dominated initial sociological thoughts. Darwin's ideology of organic evolution talks of "modification decency," which argues that; current multifaceted animals and plants evolved from initial simpler life forms through gradual changes. Also, sociology got triggered by natural findings and scientific theories on pre-modern societies created by colonial administrators, early travelers, social anthropologists, and sociologists. The theories aimed to put societies into different categorical forms and differentiate social development stages. Moreover, scholars such as Herbert Spencer, Karl Marx, and Auguste Comte classified different societal types; Modern societies like industrialized societies and pre-modern societies like hunters and gatherers (Mazlish 333). Early modern era thinkers believed that knowledge progression was a remedy to all social vices. Therefore, Auguste Comte (1789-1857) found sociology by contributing to humanity's welfare.
Enlightenment in Western Philosophy
The Enlightenment era or age of reason was a philosophical and intellectual drive that dominated the European ideological world in the 17 th and 18 th centuries. The period comprised a scope of ideologies focused on the sovereignty of reason, evidence of the senses, and pursuit of happiness as the chief knowledge source. However, the period also advanced on various ideals such as fraternity, toleration, progress, liberty, division of state and church, and constitutional government (Cottingham 350). Enlightenment developed due to the scholarly and intellectual drive called Renaissance humanism and got preceded by the scientific revolution. People date the conception of Enlightenment to Cogito, ergo sum philosophy, while others quote Isaac Newton's publication Principia Mathematica as the scientific revolution culmination and Enlightenment.
French historians conventionally date the enlightenment age to France's Louis XIV death in 1715, the French Revolution outbreak of 1789, while others culminated in the 19th century. Scientists and philosophers of the time broadly spread their concepts through; masonic lodges, scientific academies, coffee houses, literary salons, and printed pamphlets, journals, and books. Additionally, enlightenment theories undermined the catholic church's power and the monarchy and resulted in radical uprisings of the 18 th and 19 th centuries. A variety of movements in the 19 th century, including neoclassicism and liberalism, track their scholarly legacy to the enlightenment period (Cottingham 474). In France, the enlightenment philosophers' central doctrines were religious tolerance and individual liberty. However, the Enlightenment was marked by stress reductionism and scientific methods, alongside increased religious orthodoxy questioning.
Besides, the philosophical rationale of Rene Descartes created the basement for enlightenment thinking, although his effort to develop the sciences on a safe metaphysical ground failed. Rene's doubt method applied in philosophical fields creating a dualistic doctrine of matter and mind. In the 1740s and John Locke's Essay About Human Understanding, David Hume's writings refined Rene's skepticism and; Spinoza's adamant assertion matter's unity in his Ethics and Tractatus challenged him. Concerning Jonathan Israel, there were two divergent thoughts in the enlightenment era; the average variety, which proposed accommodation between customary power systems and faith and reforms, and drastic Enlightenment-inspired by Spinoza's philosophy (Goldmann 180). The philosophy advocated for individual liberty, democracy, eradication of religious authority, and freedom of expression. Also, the average variety was deistic, while radical tendency separated morality's basis from theology.
Significant Figures in the Development of Enlightenment in Western Philosophy
Western philosophy emerged in the Greek Archaic era (800-500 BC) when Greek scholars focused their mythological explanations of the universe, explaining nature's logic. The first scholar to develop logical reasoning of nature was Thales, also called "The Father of Western philosophy," who proposed a search for all matter's essential properties. Therefore, significant figures that led to Enlightenment in Western philosophy were Socrates, Aristotle (Plato's student), and Plato (Socrates' student). Both Plato and Socrates were Athenians, while Aristotle shortly went to Athens to learn at the Academy, which was Plato's philosophical school. The Academy was the most renowned ancient prototype for an institution offering western education (Goldmann 220). Nevertheless, Socrates contributed to the Enlightenment of Western philosophy for his effortless drive that philosophers should regularly reassess their opinions to clarify purgative logical inconsistencies and imprecise arguments. The persistent critical reflection notion creates Socrates' exceptional contribution to Western philosophy.
However, though obvious, the relevance of Socrates' information is not easy to overestimate because some people consider him the most imperative scholar of all time. Socrates' exertions developed an extraordinary level of precision and rigor to Greek philosophy, arguing that, though genuinely constant critical reflection cannot take a chance in the West until the Enlightenment. Regarding Socrates, the philosopher's main role is to help others reveal the facts for themselves and not directly communicate the truth (Kenny 1234). Introduction and application of the Socratic method helped Socrates to achieve his policy of revealing truth within oneself. According to the Socratic method, instead of offering one's opinions or knowledge on a particular issue, it comprises inquiring probe questions. Therefore, the approach enables one to reply to the queries to sharpen their terminology, see new aspects of the issues and correct their stands in case of inconsistencies detection.
Another figure was Plato, who wrote most of his works in a dialogue format where there was an exploration of an issue through an argument between two philosophers. One philosopher asks the other questions until they reveal a contradiction in their reasoning hence discrediting their debate at the essentiality of Plato's philosophy that ascertains that every tangible thing is simply an estimation of an eternal and non-physical form. Although the theory that Plato inherited from Socrates may sound odd, considering the modern perception of science, it proved vital in Western thought's entire history. According to Plato, one fully understands the world when one chooses to see far beyond temporary earthly occurrences to their unending underlying forms (Kenny 1300). Plato did not perimeter himself to condescending, immaterial metaphysics; however, since his celebrated work, the Republic is the initial documentation of Western political ideology. The working document offers a complete suggestion for a preferably governed society, featuring its wisest members' total regulation.
Contrary to Socrates and Plato, who made a rational analysis of the universe, Aristotle focused on an empirical approach centering his philosophical scheme strictly on information coordinated by the senses. Also, Aristotle disputed Plato's theory of forms claiming that material things exist; they are not calculations of abstract concepts. While Plato felt that to achieve universal understanding, one has to comprehend its eternal forms, Aristotle stresses careful physical observation. Therefore, Aristotle's approach was similar to a modern scientific viewpoint since he denied the existence of one immaterial thing to explain the origin of the universe (Lloyd 786). The most regular ideology in Aristotle's philosophy is "the four causes," which act as noticeable aspects of any specific thing. Specifically, the four causes of a thing are the form a material takes, the material used to make it, its purpose, and the cause of the thing converting into being.
In conclusion, the relevance of enlightenment ideas is that modern states without religious obligations or ambitions may choose to combine religious governance with personal convictions protection. The settlement is an enlightenment minds' legacy that dealt with two issues; freethinker's demands challenging the beliefs and individual's commitment to global religious views. Enlightenment thinking acknowledges that people seek perfection via an internal conscience sense, yet they contended that this human occurrence's civic dimensions needed public management. Therefore, Enlightenment currently frees spiritual expressions from persecution by coercing the space for its actual performance (Lloyd 900). However, the enlightenment ideas had limitations, such as not showing economic viability because most people who spearhead the ideas did so for their self-interest. Also, the ideas were not politically sustainable for leaders since people differed in opinions, and for a pragmatic project to happen, amicable decisions needed execution.
Works Cited
Cottingham, John G., ed. Western philosophy: An anthology . John Wiley & Sons, 2021.: 345-800
Goldmann, Lucien. The Philosophy of the Enlightenment (Routledge Revivals): The Christian Burgess and the Enlightenment . Routledge, 2017.: 134-250
Kenny, Anthony. A new history of Western philosophy . Oxford University Press, 2018.: 1200-1356
Lloyd, Genevieve. The man of reason:" Male" and" female" in western philosophy . Routledge, 2017.: 780-1005
Mazlish, Bruce. A new science: The breakdown of connections and the birth of sociology . Penn State Press, 2016.:214-356
