Rousseau, Voltaire, Montesquieu, Diderot, D'Alembert… many thinkers come to mind when we think about the "Enlightenment." In any history book you can find, French thinkers have a significant weight in this philosophical and partly political movement that took place in the 18th century. But was this an exclusive movement of the "Gallic" country? In this article, we will talk about the importance of this current in Spain and its main representatives.
We set the scene in Spain during the 18th century. After the Bourbon victory in the War of Spanish Succession (1700-1715), a new dynasty would come to the Spanish throne, ending almost two hundred years of Habsburg rule in the Iberian kingdoms – including Portugal from 1580 to 1640. New kings brought, why deny it, a new political philosophy. The first monarch of the new dynasty, Philip V (1683-1746), brought with him new ideas about how to organize the state, among them perhaps the most well-known were embodied in what are called the Decrees of the New Plant, which between 1707 and 1715 represented a significant change in the political configuration of the country, but they were not the only ones.
The new king also arrived with a new idea of what the state should be, how it should be organized and how power should be distributed, through what were called Secretaries of State and Council. But all this had a philosophical background, one could even say ideological. It must be remembered that Spain was at war in these times, facing the great challenge of equipping itself with other European states. Moreover, it needed to recover part of its political prestige lost after the conflict – including the most well-known loss, Gibraltar to England. For this reason, a significant program of initiatives began which has come to be known as The Bourbon Reformism.
It is here where the thinkers we will refer to in this article enter the scene. The reforms that the Bourbons carried out in Spain needed support, an ideological and philosophical foundation for them to be implemented. Many of the most important figures of Spanish Enlightenment had influence in politics, although it was not the only field they acted upon. Politics and management were certainly fields where these thinkers had a greater impact, but also economics and even religion and beliefs.
In this article we will talk about some of the great thinkers of eighteenth-century Spain, their ideas and their vision of the country and the time they lived in. Although there are many characters that can be highlighted, only a few must be selected for space reasons. Precisely what was good about Spanish Enlightenment was that, as happened in other countries too, the great figures of the era were not just thinkers and philosophers but also scientists and literati. This has made it necessary to leave out some outstanding personalities from our "list". Nevertheless, as they say, "not everyone who is there should be, but all those who are there are."
We highlight first Pablo de Olavide (1725-1803), a Peruvian thinker to whom we owe numerous initiatives of every kind. Born and educated in Lima, he arrived in Spain to play a leading role in the cultural life of the country. Among his most popular initiatives can be found his project for colonizing certain areas of the country. This idea materialized in what were called New Populations of Sierra Morena, which aimed at repopulating this area. Another great legacy left by Olavide's assistant from Seville was the creation of the first map of this city, elaborated in 1771. The popularity of the document is such that even today there are those who have it framed at home.
But not everything was good news for Olavide. The enlightened man had problems with the ever-present Inquisition. Indeed, the high tribunal, always vigilant of tradition's maintenance, prosecuted and imprisoned the enlightened one who had to flee to France a few years later. Although officially the reason for his capture had something to do with his particular view on Christian religion, it was a complex process we cannot delve into.
Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos (1744-1811) was another of the great thinkers of the time, immortalized in his famous portrait with his left hand on his head, thinking over his desk. He is undoubtedly one of the most important thinkers of his time who showed a great concern for solving the country's problems and even reached political life. Jovellanos' main concerns had to do mainly with agriculture and land property regime. His thoughts about these topics are collected in two of his major works: The Expedient of Agricultural Law (1766) and the Report on Expedient of Agricultural Law (1795). One of the great problems denounced by Jovellanos had much to do with the practice of vincular lands and properties. When someone vinculated land, it prevented them from being sold or alienated in any way; they were taken out of circulation, or put differently, they were amortized. This, according to the thinker, caused the backwardness of the nation since it disincentivated productive investment. Thus, he denounced in Chapter VI of his Report on Agricultural Law that:
The amortization in new foundations of convents, colleges, hospitals, brotherhoods, patronages, chaplaincies, memorials and anniversaries, which are the outlets of dying wealth, always generous, now moved by the impulses of piety, or the counsels of superstition, or finally, the remorse of avarice. What then would remain in Castile of territorial property for use of industrious wealth? How could it be converted into benefit and promotion of agriculture a wealth that ran through so many channels to bury property in lazy hands?
Jovellanos, Gaspar Melchor de (1820), Report on Agricultural Law. Madrid: I. Sancha Press.
Jovellanos' ideas served as a basis for the desamortizations carried out in later decades, of which perhaps the most famous was that executed by Juan Álvarez de Mendizábal (1790-1853) between 1836 and 1837.
But the world of thought in the eighteenth century transcended politics, and a good example of this are the two thinkers we will mention next.
The first one is the well-known Benedictine priest Benito Jerónimo Feijóo (1676-1764). In the case of Feijóo, one of the aspects that makes him a prominent thinker is his defense of women's capabilities. All this in an era, remember, when Enlightenment, despite everything, still placed women in a category inferior to men's. The thinker develops his ideas in his Universal Critical Theatre (1726), and more specifically, in his Discourse XVI, titled precisely Defense of Women. Already in the first paragraph he clearly states the ideas from which he starts:
To such an extent has common opinion vilified women that it hardly admits anything good about them. In moral terms, it fills them with defects and in physical ones with imperfections. But where it makes the most force is in limiting their intellects. For this reason, after defending them somewhat briefly on other topics, I will discuss more extensively their aptitude for all kinds of sciences and sublime knowledge.
Feijóo, Benito Jerónimo (1778), The Universal Critical Theatre. Madrid: Joaquín Ibarra.
In the field of written culture and essay, more than philosophy, two great personalities stand out.
The first one is the Valencian Gregorio Mayans (1699-1781). To Mayans we owe above all great contributions to the study of the Spanish language history, being also a great scholar of Cervantes. Among his works stand out The Origin of the Spanish Language (1737), and The Life of Miguel de Cervantes (1737).
Along with Mayans, we must highlight the figure of José Cadalso (1741-1782), a military man from Cádiz responsible for works such as the well-known Moroccan Letters (1789). The name of the work comes from its epistolary structure and the presence in it of Gazel, a young Moroccan arrived in Spain who wishes to know the customs and situation of the country. Thus, through a series of letters the author expresses his vision of eighteenth-century Spain and reflects on various topics such as society, culture, and politics.
To conclude, we cannot fail to mention some of the great scientists of the time, since in eighteenth-century Spain it was not all philosophers and writers.
The first scientist that comes to mind when talking about the 18th century is the Sevillian Antonio de Ulloa (1716-1795). His fame is such that he even appeared in the video game Assassin's Creed III: Liberation. Among other merits, Ulloa founded in 1752 what is now the National Museum of Natural Sciences and discovered the chemical element known as platinum.
Perhaps less well-known but no less important was the famous engineer Jorge Juan (1713-1773). The value of this military engineer was such that the Monarchy itself decided to send him to England on a confidential mission to obtain English shipbuilding techniques, while he was also responsible for founding the Real Instituto and Observatory of the Navy in San Fernando (Cádiz), and the Royal Observatory of Madrid. His contribution to the world of military and science was thus indisputable, even collaborating with Ulloa at times.
We will end with two naturalists: The Cádiz-born José Celestino Mutis (1732-1808) and the Italian Alejandro Malaspina (1754-1810). Both were great naturalists who developed expeditions in America for scientific purposes. Of the first, his work as a botanist could be highlighted particularly, while of the second mainly his famous expedition that has passed into history with his name, carried out between 1788 and 1794.
After this small tour of the Spanish Enlightenment, it seems evident that this cultural movement not only took place with intensity in Spain but also affected all fields of knowledge. Far from there being a vision of Spain as a backward and traditional country, it is undeniable that there were indeed reactionaries, but equally true that one can find numerous references in literature, arts, and sciences. And that's not all. Along with the names mentioned, there are many more figures in the world of arts and letters we have not been able to see since talking about them would take pages and pages. In these cases, there is no other option but to leave it up to the reader's curiosity to investigate on these interesting aspects…
Bibliography
DOMÍNGUEZ ORTIZ, Antonio (1976). Society and State in 18th Century Spanish. Barcelona: Ariel.
FEIJÓO, Benito Jerónimo (1778), The Critical Theatre. Madrid: Joaquín Ibarra. Available at: Defense of Women / Feijoo / The Critical Theatre 1, 16 (filosofia.org) (last access: July 12, 2021)
GARCÍA CÁRCEL, Ricardo (coord.) (2002), History of Spain. The Bourbon Era. Madrid: Cátedra.
JOVELLANOS, Gaspar Melchor de (1820), Report on Agricultural Law, Madrid: I. Sancha Press. Available at: Report on Agricultural Law / Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos | Miguel de Cervantes Virtual Library (cervantesvirtual.com) (last access: July 12, 2021)
PÉREZ SAMPER, M. Ángeles (2000). Spain in the Age of Enlightenment. Barcelona: Ariel.
Web Resources
-Miguel de Cervantes Virtual Library: Cervantes Virtual Library | Home (cervantesvirtual.com)
-Feijóo's Bibliography: Feijóo's Bibliography of the Spanish Philosophy Project (filosofia.org)
-Biographical Dictionary of the Royal Academy of History: DB-e | Real Academia de la Historia (rah.es)
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