With few exceptions, philosophes put their faith in one crucial concept: reason. Reason was the weapon that could win all battles. Through the application of reason, the philosophes could come to understand the workings of society, diagnose its ills, and develop remedies. There was no area of human action that could not be improved through the imposition of rational principles. Examine paintings of a “Freemason’s ceremony”, the prints depicting the tortures of the Inquisition, the title page from Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, and the illustration from Diderot’s Encyclopedia.
