Age Of Reason

The Age of Reason

Ideals of liberty and equality help to fuel major revolutions in the Western world. In this Age of Reason, or Enlightenment, great thinkers questioned the ideas of authority and government leading to a radical transformation in both colonial America and France. The American Revolution and the French Revolution are directly linked to Enlightenment ideals and inspired these great revolutions, and great dictators such as Napoleon Bonaparte, whom was a product of the Enlightenment. This time of guiding intellectual movement is emphasized by reason and individualism rather than tradition. With the help of the Scientific revolution that explains the natural world, intellectuals challenged the way people saw the world around them.

These men include, Voltaire, Diderot, Montesquieu, Rousseau etc. whom created an informal society of men whom helped create the intellectual framework on which the Enlightenment was centered upon. He and others during the ‘High Enlightenment’, applied the notion that the universe could be rationally cataloged. During Diderot’s period the signature publication was his “Encyclopedie” (1751-77), that compiled all the leading authors of that time period to produce a book of human knowledge. One influential French philosopher, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, expressed that humans were born good in nature but were corrupted by complex historical events in civil society. His ideals were showcased as Napoleon Bonaparte, attracted to Enlightenment themes, became leader of France. He outraged many forces by abolishing guilds, and angered the clergy by abolishing church courts, tithes, monasteries, convents and ecclesiastical states and seized church property. From the Enlightenment perspective, he functioned as a benevolent dictator, who embraced many of the modern ideals while using the full force of government to impose

In response to the existing evils and hardships within France and colonial America. Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher who is considered the center of modern philosophy, defines Enlightenment in his essay, “An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment?” (1748). He says that the Enlightenment is mankind 's release from self-incurred immaturity; “Immaturity is the inability to use one’s own understanding without the guidance from another.” Urging the idea of individualism through one 's own intellectual powers, and how this leads to a better and more fulfilled human existence. He sums up the Enlightenment era with a few words, “Dare to know, have courage to use your own