Austrian Enlightenment

The Austrian Enlightenment,^[1] also known as the Austrian Aufklärung^[2] (German: die österreichische Aufklärung),^[3] was the 18th-century period of the Enlightenment in what is now Austria (then part of the Habsburg Empire). The Austrian Enlightenment came "quite late",^[4] beginning under Maria Theresa's reign, and was "largely transmitted through the Freemasons".^[4] It continued during the reign of Joseph II, who ruled as an enlightened despot.

Religious questions held an important place in the Austrian Enlightenment.^[5] On the political level, the Austrian Enlightenment stayed at a distance from the Rousseauists and from the democratic utopia, which thinkers of Central Europe felt were hardly applicable to Habsburg territories.^[5]

In his work about the Austrian Enlightenment, Ernst Wangermann distinguished, on one hand, the point of view of conservative Catholic historians, for whom this movement had been something completely alien to the real Austrian traditions, as something which had been imported from outside and had been anti-Catholic; and, on the other hand, the point of view of liberal and anti-clerical historians who, in light of the concept of Greater Germany, considered the Austrian Enlightenment to have been a pale reflection or an imitation of the German Enlightenment.^[6]

Among the main Austrian enlighteners were Joseph von Sonnenfels, Karl von Zinzendorf and Gerard van Swieten.^[5] Karl Anton von Martini, professor of natural law at the University of Vienna, was another key figure of the Austrian Enlightenment,^[1] who proposed changes to modernize the Austrian school system.

Joseph von Sonnenfels

Karl von Zinzendorf

Gerard van Swieten

Karl Anton von Martini

References

1. Melton 2008, p. 56.
2. Ingrao 2019, p. 243.
3. "Für eine Literaturgeschichte der österreichischen Aufklärung". Austriaca (in German). 1997.
4. Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment. 2013. p. 605.
5. Lauzun 2021, p. 1860.
6. Le Règne de Charles III (in French). 1994. p. 155.

Sources

• Ingrao, Charles W. (2019). The Habsburg Monarchy, 1618–1815.
• Lauzun, Hélène de (2021). Histoire de l'Autriche (in French).
• Melton, James Van Horn (2008). "The Theresian School Reform of 1774". Early Modern Europe. Blackwell.

Further reading

• Robertson, Ritchie; Timms, Edward, eds. (1991). The Austrian Enlightenment and Its Aftermath.