Historical Resources

• Modern History Sourcebook: The Enlightenment
• HistoryWiz: The Enlightenment
• Eighteenth Century Resources
• Eighteenth-Century Resources -- Philosophy
• Salon Life

Early Writers

• John Locke: see Constitutionalism Page for links to all his texts online here.

• Voltaire (1694-1778): On John Locke, from Letters on the English or Lettres Philosophiques, c. 1778  

The Enlightenment as a Propaganda Project

• Denis Diderot (1713-1784): Encyclopedie This is a link to the beginning of a complete online version of the Encyclopedia.

• Jean Le Rond d'Alembert: Preliminary Discourse to the Encyclopedia of Diderot

• Voltaire (1694-1778):  Letters on Newton, from the Letters on the English or Lettres Philosophiques, c. 1778   Reading Guide

• Voltaire: Letters on the English or Lettres Philosophiques, full text, c. 1778 

• Voltaire: Patrie, in The Philosophical Dictionary, 1752 Voltaire's attack on national chauvinism - and his views than people should be citizens of the world.

• Voltaire: A Treatise on Toleration, 1763 

• Voltaire: Treatise on Toleration 

• Voltaire: Candide

• Rev. Charles Davy: The Earthquake at Lisbon, 1755 It was this earthquake that was behind Candide, and Voltaire's attack on Leibniz

• Voltaire (1694-1778): Selections from the Philosophical Dictionary 

• Charles Louis de Secondat Montesquieu (1689-1755): Persian Letters, No. 13, 1721

The Enlightenment and Political Analysis

• Enlightenment Political Thought: A general outline

• Cesare Beccaria: An Essay on Crimes and Punishments, excerpts 

• Henry St. John, Viscount Bolingbroke: On Patriotism, 1730-1754

• Catherine the Great 

• Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755): The Spirit of the Laws, 1748, excerpts 

• Jean Jacques Rousseau: A Dissertation On the Origin and Foundation of the Inequality of Mankind, Parts 1 and 2, 1755, extended excerpts

• Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-78): Second Discourse on the Origins of Inequality, 1755 

• Jean Jacques Rousseau: The Social Contract, 1763, extended excerpts, 

• Jean Jacques Rousseau: Profession of Faith of a Savoyard Vicar, 1782 

• Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-78): The Social Contract, 1763, extracts 

• Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-78): The Social Contract, 1763, extracts 
  and Reading Guide

The Enlightenment Evaluation of the Human Condition

• Condorcet (1743-94): On the Future Progress of the Human Mind, 1794 and Reading Guide

• Gotthold Ephriam Lessing (1729-1781): The Education of The Human Race, 1778 

• Jonathan Swift: A Modest Proposal 

The Enlightenment and Economics

• Adam Smith  (1723-90): The Wealth of Nations, 1776, an epitome, 

• Adam Smith: Wealth of Nations, 1776, extracts On prices

• Adam Smith: The Case for Free Trade and Lower Taxes

• Adam Smith: Of Colonies, from The Wealth of Nations, 1776

• Adam Smith: The Principle of the Mercantile System, 1776, from Wealth of Nations.

• Adam Smith: Wealth of Nations, Full Text.

Enlightenment and Philosophy

• Edmund Burke: On Taste, c. 1756

• David Hume: Of the Dignity or Meanness of Human Nature

• David Hume (1711-1776): Of the Standard of Taste, 1760

• Immanuel Kant (1724-1804): Critique of Pure Reason, 1781, excerpts

• Immanuel Kant (1724-1804): What is Enlightenment?, 1784

Enlightenment Attitudes

• Jonathan Swift (1667-1745): Hints Towards An Essay On Conversation, 1713

• Daniel Defoe: On The Education Of Women, 1719

• Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689-1762): Selected Prose and Poetry

The Social Setting

• The First English Coffee-Houses, c. 1670-1675

• Paris Salons in the 18th Century On Enlightenment society hostesses.

• James Boswell: Life of Samuel Johnson, full text