18th century

The age of reason — and the guillotine as its result

What happened — and why

The French Revolution (1789–1799)

Louis XVI is executed. "Liberty, equality, fraternity." Robespierre proclaims the "Reign of Terror" — 40,000 dead. Napoleon seizes power.

The philosophical cause

Rousseau — Rousseau taught that man is good by nature and is corrupted by a wrongly ordered society. So — break society and build a new one. Robespierre had read Rousseau.

The idea of "correcting humanity by force" would pass through the 19th century and become the foundation of Bolshevism. Marx is Rousseau's grandson.

Kant: "Critique of Pure Reason" (1781)

Hume "woke Kant from his dogmatic slumber." Kant answers: reason cannot know things-in-themselves. But the moral law is within us.

The philosophical cause

Kant — Newton discovered the laws of nature. Kant asks the question: how is knowledge possible at all? What is the "I"?

Kant separates science and morality forever. Hegel will try to join them again — and this will lead to Marx.

Russian version