ABSTRACT
Interpretations of the Enlightenment in the Iberian world have often reflected the vision shared by Macedo and Almeida. The Iberian world fully participated in the Enlightenment, and it did so in ways that reflected the particular priorities, possibilities, participants, and practices that characterised Spain, Portugal, and their far-flung colonies. In both Spain and Portugal, the Enlightenment emphasis on secularism, reason, and the rebuke of inherited privilege inspired dramatic reforms that were meant to reverse the ebb of wealth and power. Enlightenment influences inspired royal efforts to cultivate not only the talents of elite virtuosi but of poorer subjects too, as part of attempts to focus their minds and energies on pursuits that might serve a public good. If engagement with the Enlightenment in Spain and Portugal gave new life to existing investigative traditions and institutions, it is also true that in the eighteenth century the sciences became a part of Iberian culture in new ways.
