What is Enlightenment? Questions for the 18th Century

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“What is Enlightenment?” asked the Berlin pastor Johann Friedrich Zöllner in 1783 in an article for the Berlinische Monatsschrift. The magazine took up the question and passed it on to its readers. Thus began a debate about the term that was to leave its mark on the history of philosophy and to inspire Moses Mendelssohn, Immanual Kant and other thinkers of the time to contribute responses that became famous. From 18 October 2024 to 6 April 2025 the Deutsches Historisches Museum devotes an extensive exhibition to the question of the essence of Enlightenment and poses further “Questions for the 18^th Century” that have been inspired by it.

Raphael Gross, President of the Stiftung Deutsches Historisches Museum: “Anti-modern positions and anti-enlightenment attitudes are currently manifesting themselves as criticism of ‘western enlightened’ positions and are reflected in esoteric thinking and anti-universalist postures. Many institutions in the fields of culture, science and society that grew out of the Enlightenment are increasingly coming under pressure. The proliferation of ever more virulent anti-modern movements and ressentiments in recent decades – which can be seen as a reaction to the challenges to society from multiple crises – is for us grounds to take a new look at the question “What is Enlightenment?”. Numerous ideas and concepts are connected with this era without which we could hardly begin to think about the current world. At the same time some of the enlightened thinkers who stood for these ideas also supported traditions that have shone themselves to be particularly destructive and inhuman. This historical view of the ‘Enlightenment’ allows us to point out to observers today the ambivalences and contradictions that were an imminent part of those theories from the very beginning, and in the best case to resolve them. Thanks to the generous support of the Federal Cultural Foundation, we can also bring these questions to the attention of young people in particular in the form of the Outreach programme that accompanies the exhibition.”

Liliane Weissberg, Curator of the exhibition: “As the epoch of the so-called long 18^th century, but also as a collective term for philosophical ideas, the Enlightenment is full of contradictions and problems; many of its representatives wanted to design a new world, but failed in the end. For philosophers of the 20^th and 21^st centuries the Enlightenment with all of it ambivalences formed the beginning of what we call modernity, the Modern Age. For us today it is important to understand two things: first, that many of the demands that were formulated in the 18th century must also apply to us if we want to live in a democratic country. But secondly, it is precisely the problems of that era that determine our current thinking and acting. These theses are not some little programme for an exhibition where it looks like the circle has already been squared on how to present philosophical questions visually and audibly. For a museum that is devoted to the question of historical judgement, this task becomes a veritable obligation.”

Claudia Roth, Minister of State for Culture and the Media: “The question ‘What is enlightenment?’ is highly up to date. Immanuel Kant's answer is still a challenge to despots, autocrats and right-wing populists. Those who follow Kant's call and use their own intellect risk their life not only in Putin's Russia, China or North Korea, but also in many other countries. If you want to use your own intellect, you need good, reliable and serious information. That is exactly what the enemies of enlightenment are afraid of. At a time when disinformation is being declared the truth, when right-wing populists are spreading fear and terror with lies in Germany too, it is not only enlightenment that is at stake, but democracy itself. This exhibition therefore comes at exactly the right time: it shows what we can learn from the 18th century in order to have a good, free and just society today.”

Katarzyna Wielga-Skolimowska, Artistic Director of the Federal Cultural Foundation: “By means of goal-oriented mediation, museums can overcome reservations that people can have towards them and reach out to new audiences. But the DHM has done even more than this by working on the current exhibition with schools and young people for the first time so extensively. For the complex questions that the Enlightenment once raised are dealt with differently today than 300 years ago. Who has access to education? How universally valid are the human rights? How do we create genuine equality between the genders? To examine these questions with all their ambivalences from young perspectives leads directly into our current debates about identity, individual freedom and equal opportunities – a process from which in the best case we will emerge more wisely than before.”

In current sociopolitical discussions the universal values of the Enlightenment are often cited or questioned as to their significance for our world. At the same time, the contradictions of that epoch are still influencing our thinking and acting today. The exhibition “What is Enlightenment? Questions for the 18th Century” provides a historical framework for current debates. It concentrates on the central confrontations of that epoch and throws light on its ambivalences by presenting the ideas of the Enlightenment not as a homogenous project towards progress, but by visualising the debates that were fought over concepts and demands. This reveals that the notions that they had about equal rights or tolerance do not correspond exactly to those that we have today and as it turned out were often not put into practice. Friedrich II of Prussia, also know as Frederick the Great, declared religious tolerance in his state, but it was not realised. In the Declaration of Independence Thomas Jefferson postulated the equality of all humankind but was himself a slaveholder. In the course of the French Revolution civil and human rights were declared but they did not apply to women. It was the time of cosmopolitans, but also one of colonialism when indigenous people in the colonial territories were enslaved and degraded to mere trading goods. In the course of popular expeditions Europeans encountered peoples they had never heard of and recorded their own great curiosity in their travel reports. At the same time, their attempts to classify these peoples systematically formed the basis for scientific theories of racism.

The curator Liliane Weissberg has focused her attention on the so-called long 18^th century from an international perspective, concentrating on the main issues of the epoch. After a prologue on the meaning of the term Enlightenment, the tour through the 1100 square metres of the exhibition follows the principle of a kaleidoscope, allowing visitors to cross-reference the twelve chapters. The spectrum of topics ranges from the search for knowledge and the emergence of new sciences and principles of order to questions of religion, equality, and the liberty of the people as well as the demand for civil rights, and continues on to the emergence of mercantilism and cosmopolitanism. The exhibition deals with the political and economic models of the time and the new concept of the public sphere, which includes the popular publication media, the academies and the salons. Other sections are devoted to the great importance of pedagogy and the emergence of the modern individual, trace the prevalent gender models, and examine how the modern age rediscovered antiquity.

The exhibition perceives the events, problems and persons of the time within their different constellations and at the same time shows them in relation to one another. It becomes evident that the Enlightenment as a political, social and intellectual movement was primarily borne by European thinkers, some of them women, who formulated their ideas not least of all on the basis of overseas travels, an active exchange of books and essays, and an intensive trading of goods from other continents.

The exhibition draws parallels between the 18^th century and the present time. In video interviews prominent figures from the fields of science, culture and the media – including the immunologist Drew Weissman, the philosophers Martha Nussbaum and Kwame Anthony Appiah, the historians Annette Gordon-Reed and Neil MacGregor, the writers Jens Bisky and Jürgen Kaube, as well as the former political refugee from Iran and present Mayor of Frankfurt am Main, Nargess Eskandari Grünberg – address the questions of the Enlightenment then and now. Alongside the interview clips presented in the exhibition, visitors can get further information from the longer versions found on the DHM website.

On two floors of the Pei Building the exhibition presents paintings, drawings, graphic prints, sculptures, models, plaster busts, documents, publications, coins and scientific instruments from the DHM collection as well as from lenders in Belgium, Germany, France, Great Britain, Austria, the USA and Switzerland. On view are some 400 first-class exponents, some never displayed before, including original manuscripts of Isaac Newton, the silver microscope of King George III of Great Britain, a French declaration of human rights in the shape of a round Communion wafer, an extremely rare engraved ostrich egg, and a French ball gown embroidered with hot-air balloon motifs.

The exhibition is designed to be inclusive and largely barrier-free. Multimedia and interactive elements supplement the topics and involve the guests in the exhibition. Visitors can follow the paths of illicit editions of the writings of Voltaire or Rousseau, for example. A trail for children in the inclusive exhibition booklet encourages them to learn through self-discovery and shows that questions about the Enlightenment are also relevant to them. An Audio Guide in German and English that also includes audio descriptions offers background information on selected objects in the exhibition as well as interview clips with the exhibition team.

Hirmer Verlag is publishing a richly illustrated book on the topic in German and English with contributions by international scholars and philosophers including Roger Chartier, Robert Darnton, Peter E. Gordon, Jürgen Habermas and Emma Rothschild. In October the digital DHM format More Story also provides an introduction to the exhibition in German and English and offers extensive background information and interviews. Beginning in November, a multifaceted accompanying programme supplements and delves more deeply into the topics of the exhibition.

Extensive Outreach and Inclusive Educational Programme

What is the meaning of (in)equality, tolerance, culture and education, human rights, gender models, individuality and reason? What did they mean in the 18^th century, how do we understand them today, and what connection do young people now have with these topics? In the framework of the exhibition, the DHM – supported by the German Federal Cultural Foundation – has been working on a broad basis with young people from Berlin and inclusive school classes in Berlin and Brandenburg. The aim of this cooperation is to gain further understanding of the perspectives of the young participants through workshops and months of working together and in this way to integrate them into the exhibition and its various programmes. In this way it is hoped to break down the barriers that exist towards the institution “Museum” and to invite a young, diverse group of people to participate and help shape the museum’s activities.

A special room in the exhibition is devoted to the topic “Children’s books – then and now”. A group of prospective teachers at the Berlin Pestalozzi-Fröbel-Haus have looked into the illustrations in children’s books of the Enlightenment era, starting with the “Elementary Book” from 1774 by the reform pedagogue Johann Bernhard Basedow. They studied the long-term influence of illustrations and ideas of the period and how they are perceived today. By comparing them with current picture books, the group brought out the changes and continuities in educational models.

The Berlin “Shadow Museum”, an alternative youth panel, dealt with the emergence of new discussion areas during the Enlightenment. They focused on questions of inclusion and exclusion: Who was allowed to participate in the debates of the 18^th century and who not? Who is allowed to today? How does knowledge come about and how is it transmitted? Are today’s museums modern discussion areas? The room they curated offers visitors the opportunity to reflect on and discuss the exhibition topics and contribute their own thoughts.

Participants of the Lohana Berkins educational centre examined the question of the effects of mercantilism and colonialism on the biographies of Latin American immigrants in Berlin. They prepared texts dealing with various topics of the Enlightenment that are still relevant today. The texts will be published in a German- and Spanish-language brochure.

In a cooperative project, an elective course at the Alfred Nobel School, the art school Young Arts Neukölln, the film director Anna Carolina Arndt, and the department of Education and Communication of the DHM produced the film “(auf)geklärt” (“(en)lightened”) on the topic of human rights, which can be seen in the exhibition.

Under the motto “Enlightenment NOW” the DHM will be open on three evenings – 22 November 2024, 24 January and 21 March 2025, with free admission – to discuss various questions concerning current views on enlightenment from a young perspective. A scholarly “slam”, performative tours, a quiz with prizes, stage performances, live music, improvisation theatre, creative programmes, talks and other events promise informative and entertaining evenings.

A scholarly conference on 21 February 2025 will summarise the results of the project. Invited are historians and other experts from Germany and abroad to discuss the topic of Outreach in museums and cultural institutions, and to exchange information about their experience in this area. Didactic digital materials will document the results for future reference.