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Analysis Of The Enlightenment: Discoveries, Revolutions, And The Ideas

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Recommended: Relevancy of the scientific revolution to the enlightenment

Edina Salihovic
Professor A. Pell
History 101
20 March 2015
The Enlightenment: Discoveries, Revolutions, and the Ideas The Enlightenment was a period during the seventeenth through eighteenth century that lead to many philosophical, scientific, intellectual and cultural thinking. This period is also said to be called “The Age of Reason” because it was a time in medieval Europe that emphasized logistics and challenged religion with science. It soon began to create a new, more modernized Europe. Some Important figures of the Enlightenment were John Locke, Francis Bacon, Renee Descartes, Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Isaac Newton, Galileo, and Charles-Louis Montesquieu. However, these are not the only precursors during this era, there are actually many more. This important age in history would serve to later influence and impact the world on a variety of scales. From John Locke’s influence on the US Declaration of Independence to his influence on the French …show more content…

He is also the founding father of modern political philosophy. He believed that reason is what distinguished men from beasts. That the ability for a man to be able to reason was the greatest sense of control one can hold. Hobbes also believed that to allow men a voice in their own government would only lead to conflict. He believed that humans were selfish creatures who craved power and wealth and that forms of governments were created to protect people from their own evil desires. He did not believe in a democracy instead he thought a country needed a king to lead. However, he did believe that electing a group of diverse representatives would prevent the king from his desires. He keyed the phrase “voice of the people”. His most famous work, Leviathan, theorized that the perfect form of government started with a “social contract”, giving away your rights to a sovereign. He argued that this would provide civil peace and social unity in a

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“That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” (Jefferson 120). This man believed the same as hobbes, that there needed to be something to control and regulate what was needed for a population to live

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Thomas Hobbes despite his good looks, he surprisingly spooked the world with his views. Thomas Hobbes believed in total monarchy just like the many dictators we had in history. As you know it all resulted in wars and chaos. Thomas Hobbes believed that humans were crazy people and which needed to be ruled by a king or queen.(Leviathan) He wrote numerous books, one book which was certainly the best out of his collection was leviathan.

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Enlightenment The enlightenment was a time in which leaders and philosophers promoted ideas during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that influenced people's thoughts concerning politics, social justice, human progress and religion forever. As said by Philosopher Immanuel Kant, “Enlightenment is defined as the upset of the established order/the awakening of one’s mind/forsaking society’s imposed mindset and establishing one for yourself.” (Document 12) These scientists like Issac Newton and writers like John Locke were challenging the old ways and because of that people became socially aware.

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The Enlightenment took place during the 17th and 18th Century in Europe. It was a time in which philosophes questioned social norms and found their voice. These three philosophes argued that all individuals both men and women should have more freedom. The Enlightenment was a time period in which people questioned the government, religion, and gender. John Locke, one of the four philosophes was a huge figure in the Enlightenment as he questioned the ways of the government and how it run.

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Thomas Hobbes He liked to study various types of government. He thought that the government of a monarchy was better than democracy because he had no doubt that they were naturally wicked and were not to be trusted to govern. He believed that it was better to have a governor like a king that would know how to act like a leader and rule a country.

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The Enlightenment, also known as the “Age of Reason,” occurred in the eighteenth century and was a period in which ideas concerning God, nature, reason and humanity were combined, and these ideas instigated revolutionary developments in art, philosophy, and politics. The Enlightenment was crucial in determining aspects in terms of politics, government, and religion. Enlightenment thinkers such as John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Charles Montesquieu influenced the Founding Fathers and their ideas were found in the Declaration of Independence. The most important influence that shaped the founding of the United States came from John Locke, an Englishmen who redefined the nature of government.

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Different factors had a part to play in starting or even propelling ‘the Age of Enlightenment’, including the rule of the Church and State which experienced a power struggle among them, in addition to the Western discovery of latest societies with noticeably exclusive cultural traditions and norms. Many intellectuals felt unhappy with the fixed social styles amongst their very own collectives, and angry at their governments' refusal to provide non-public rights. The lasting political effect of the Enlightenment can't be overstated. At the least three fundamental political revolutions came about throughout this time period in Britain, America, and France.

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To begin, Locke and Hobbes were two outstanding thinkers who argued in different ways, Hobbes believed in the legitimacy of absolute monarch and Locke believed in a government based on the will of the people being governed. They both represented a growing trend in European society in the 17th and 18th centuries to use reason as the final judgment of things, including the conduct of kings. They contributed to modern political science, and they both had similar views on where power lies in a society. Hobbes has influenced to some degree what can be done to change a government by the people, the contributions Hobbes did led to the foundation of what today is the conservative party. On the other hand, Locke was very influential in shaping modern politics, our current view of human nature, the nature of individual rights, the popular constitutions that exist today and the building blocks of the liberal party.

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The Enlightenment was a time period in which people began to embrace individuality and many Enlightenment thinkers arose. The Enlightenment was a movement that was highly based upon reason and logic. It occurred around the mid-1700’s and helped develop a new way of life. John Locke was an influential thinker during this time. John Locke is a french philosopher and writer who developed Natural Rights.

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The Enlightenment was a period of time that stressed the importance of reason and individual ideas. Many philosophers published works criticizing a country’s monarch or divulging the flaws they saw in a system within the government, such as the justice system. The Enlightenment also stressed the importance of education, and as a result of this, literacy rates experienced a major upward trend. Now able to read the philosopher’s works, a larger sum of people now were educated on the corruptions within their government. This caused a questioning of traditional practices, and people began to believe they could revise their government.

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He wrote many things that inspired the Constitution, including the belief that all people are born with certain inalienable rights like life, liberty, and right to own property, “every man has a property in his own person…the labor of his body and hands are properly his” (71). Unlike Hobbes, Locke believed people were not inherently evil, they could govern themselves, and did not need a sovereign power. Locke also had a different idea of what the state of nature was. He believed that it was a world of perfect liberty in which citizens can conduct their own lives as they see fit, “the state of nature has a law of nature to govern it which obliges everyone”; the state of nature was not a world of chaos and all-out war, as Hobbes would suggest (69). Hobbes believed that the only way to prevent the war against man was to create a strong government with absolute power that focused on keeping people in line.

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In conclusion, the Enlightenment was vital to the American Revolution and the creation of American Government. The Enlightenment beliefs that influenced the American Revolution were natural rights, the social contract, and the right to overthrow the government if the social contract was violated. The Enlightenment beliefs that aided to the creation of the American government were separation of powers, checks and balances, and limited government. As stated before, without the Enlightenment there would not have been a revolution, resulting in no American Government. The Enlightenment’s influence on the creation of America is irrefutable.

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Thomas Hobbes believed that there was power in being in a government ruled by many, for each man could be both sovereign and servant of his society. With the purpose of

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I The Age of Enlightenment also known as the Age of Reason is a name given to the period of Western Civilisation that followed the Renaissance. The Enlightenment occurred roughly from mid of 17th Century upto the end of 18th century. In the words of M. H. Abrams, “The name Enlightenment applied to an intellectual movement and cultural ambience which developed in

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Thomas Hobbes is a political philosophy from the age of enlightenment. He is considered the founder of modern political philosophy. The work that he is most known for is Leviathan. This work was completed in 1651, and in it he discusses his view on the role of government in human lives based on his view of human behavior. Through this thought process, Hobbes comes to the conclusion that if humans seek peace, forfeiting your rights to a ruler, and keeping covenants, society will be taken out of a “state of nature.”

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