But at this time, France's powerful feudal forces, autocratic rule, hierarchy and Catholic forces seriously hindered their development. These bourgeoisie, with strong economic strength, have no position in politics and are classified as third class, so many activities will be restricted.
So these French domestic capitalists began to pursue their own political rights. They strongly demanded political democracy and personal freedom. They hoped that France could also carry out bourgeois revolution and implement constitutional monarchy like Britain.
However, due to their low political status, this war that violently attacked the old system,
Starting from the ideological and cultural fields, France gradually became the center of the European Enlightenment.
First, the Enlightenment was born in Britain, but its social influence was not great. /kloc-in the 0/7th century, Britain was at the forefront of capitalist development. With the opening of new air routes, Britain gained rich capital accumulation through external expansion, so the capitalist economy developed rapidly and the domestic bourgeoisie grew.
But at this time, the autocratic rule of British Stuart dynasty seriously hindered the development of British capitalism. In order to eliminate this obstacle, the bourgeois revolution broke out in Britain and a constitutional monarchy was established.
There was a fierce ideological struggle during the revolution. However, this kind of ideological struggle only exists within the bourgeoisie and does not prevail among the broad masses of the people. At that time, the bourgeoisie and new noble were afraid that the people would launch a revolution and affect the social order, so they used religion to explain the necessity of the revolution to the people.
Although the feudal forces in Britain were not completely eliminated, the Renaissance and the Reformation still promoted the development of the Enlightenment.
Later, in order to demonstrate the legitimacy of constitutional monarchy, thinkers, mainly Hobbes and Locke, began the Enlightenment in Britain. During this period, the core of the Enlightenment was liberalism. With the end of the "Glorious Revolution", domestic contradictions gradually eased, and Britain's capitalization development officially entered the right track and gradually became the best capitalist country in Europe.
At that time, many other European countries thought that the British constitutional monarchy was an ideal political system. On the one hand, the authority of the monarch is conducive to suppressing the people and maintaining social order. On the other hand, Congress's suppression of monarchies cannot limit the development of capitalism.
However, due to the lack of acute social contradictions in China, although the Enlightenment was born in Britain, its social impact was not great.
Nevertheless, the British Enlightenment greatly influenced the Enlightenment in many countries and laid the foundation for its development.
Second, the background of the development of the Enlightenment in France Due to the unique historical conditions in France, the Enlightenment developed rapidly in France, and a large number of outstanding thinkers such as Voltaire, Montesquieu and Rousseau appeared successively. They developed on the premise of the original ideas, which made the Enlightenment in Britain more mature, systematic and thorough.
Politically speaking, France under Bourbon Dynasty is the most stubborn and centralized feudal country in Europe. Ruler Louis XIV is a famous tyrant in France. During his reign, he constantly strengthened his kingship.
At that time, the French court had the right to oppose the "decree" promulgated by the monarch, but he exiled the judge many times, which made the high court lose its supervisory role over the king.
In addition, he canceled the sale of aristocratic titles and reviewed the existing aristocratic privileges, which meant that the big bourgeoisie lost the opportunity to change classes and the feudal aristocratic privileges were greatly improved. After the glorious revolution in England, he tried to interfere in the internal affairs of England and restore the Stuart dynasty.
In order to prevent France from going to capitalism like Britain, he suppressed the infidels at home.
In addition, Catholicism was prevalent in France at that time. Although the theological authority of European countries has been severely hit since the Renaissance, the religious power of France is still very strong. The Pope, second only to the king at that time, could suppress the people with criminal law and sell officials and titles at will.
Under the joint action of these two reasons, social contradictions and class contradictions in France are extremely acute.
At the same time, France's feudal economic system is gradually collapsing. Louis XIV launched many wars of aggression, and successive wars gradually exhausted the country's financial resources and plunged it into crisis.
In order to maintain the traditional feudal economy, the government increased the oppression of civilians and set up many taxes. In rural areas, farmers have to pay taxes to the state and the Pope, and they also have to bear many feudal obligations, such as the landlord's labor service and paying bridge tolls.
In the city, handicraft industry was dominant in the society at that time. In order to limit the development of capitalism, the state strictly stipulates the number of factory personnel, product quality and production quantity. Under this condition, there was a sharp contradiction between production relations and productivity in French feudal society.
Even in this environment, the French capitalist economy is still developing rapidly, and a large number of new bourgeoisie have been born. They are advanced in thought, strong in economic strength and high in education, but they belong to the third class in society, have no political rights and suffer unfair treatment in all aspects of society. They laid a class foundation for the development of the Enlightenment.
Ideologically, missionaries were privileged in France at that time. They don't have to pay taxes, rule the people with theocracy and promote cultural absolutism. In the face of fierce social contradictions, church propaganda and divine right of monarchy. Turn all unfair treatment in society into providence.
At this time, France's natural science also made great progress. After the Renaissance, people's ideas have been broken, and scientists began to pursue the mysteries of nature. As a result, many Catholic ideas have been broken.
For example, Newton's three laws and the law of universal gravitation have opened the veil of the universe and told people what the real starry sky is like. /kloc-In the first half of the 8th century, France made remarkable achievements in physics, botany and geography.
Third, the content of French enlightenment thought, as an ideological movement of the bourgeoisie against feudal forces, is mainly against feudal autocracy and Catholic reactionary forces. Although the enlightenment thinkers at that time had different opinions on many issues, anti-imperial power and anti-religious right were their common goals.
Secondly, the guiding ideology of these enlightenment thinkers is basically the same, namely skepticism, naturalism and atheism. At that time, the main enlightenment scholars who participated in the activities were mostly scientists, historians, writers and economists. They criticized religious theology through this kind of thought and practice.
Different from Britain, the Enlightenment in France directly faced the people, distributed a large number of articles and pamphlets, popularized scientific and cultural knowledge for the people, and even entered people's lives in the form of novels and plays.
For France, which was in dire straits at that time, the Enlightenment exposed the hypocrisy of religious theology, opened the heart of feudal tyranny and accused the society of unequal treatment. Let the French people at that time believe in science, advocate rationality, grasp real life, and illuminate the development path of the whole country.
Summary: The British Enlightenment was born because of the needs of British productivity and production relations at that time, but because there were no sharp social contradictions in British society, it was not highly developed.
There are many reasons for its development in France:
First of all, it is because of the double oppression of feudal monarchy and traditional religious forces in French society;
Secondly, the French bourgeoisie grew, natural science developed and the Enlightenment spread.
In addition, facing the people directly set off the climax of this ideological emancipation activity.