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Compare And Contrast Essay On The Enlightenment

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The Enlightenment was a movement between the 17th and 18th century that focused more on an individual view with reason, rather than simply a traditional view. Most of the views of the Enlightenment focused on the goodness of human rationality, and is believed to be the illuminated view that contrast views of the dark Middle Ages. This period of time brought on a religion of its own known as Deism. Most men of the Enlightenment quickly took onto Deism. Men like John Locke, Voltaire, Montesquieu, and many others.
Deism is recognized as a religion, when in fact it is more a perspective on the behavior of God. Like Christians, Deist do believe in a supreme God. They would agree that one great spiritual being created the heavens and earth in his image, but that would be as far as they agreed. While Christianity perceives God as a being that is constantly interacting in the lives of every single living thing on the earth; Deism sees God to be like a Clockmaker. God creates the things we perceive as reality, but he isn 't constantly interfering. They believe that he pays it no mind, besides checking to make sure it is still running every once in a while.
This idea coincided with the focus on individualism, and allowed …show more content…

Since the Deist believed that God had very little influence in the world, it was reasonable to want a divide between the two things. Religion is a very grey topic with no definite right or wrong. Everyone believes completely different things, and there is no way to prove who is right or wrong. Humans strive for that understanding of what is the absolute truth. We enjoy knowing we are correct, and physically need to have a contradiction. Whether humans like it or not we will always strive for the best answer, and without being wrong the fun of learning would be gone. The purpose of searching for an answer wouldn 't exist, and we would never

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The Great Awakening and Enlightenment were two very different cultural phenomena that happened during the 1700s but they both had a similar effect on colonial society. The Enlightenment was based on reason, science, rationality and progress. Benjamin Franklin, an Enlightenment thinker from Pennsylvania, believed that science could benefit society. Other Enlightenment thinkers had rational views of God and viewed him as a clockmaker that controlled the universe.

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Deism basically puts men at a more equal level with God. Many people looked at Deism as more of a philosophy than an actual religion. It was very popular during the mid-1700's through early national revolutionary periods and most of them were Protestant. Some popular Deists were Benjamin Franklin and Thomas

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During the 17th-18th century, a movement referred to as The Enlightenment arose in the efforts by philosophers to reassemble European politics, beliefs, science, and communications. The purpose was to solve problems in the world with reason. An example of philosophers can be seen in Baron de Montesquieu’s view on wanting a separation of powers; Adam Smith’s thought of laissez-faire where the government allows business to operate with little or no government interference; and John Locke’s idea that everyone has the right to life, liberty, and property. John Locke influenced the foundation for people believing in natural rights. This stimulated an outbreak of revolutions such as The Revolutionary War, French Revolution, and The Saint Domingo

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In the 17th and 18th century the Enlightenment was a period of intellectual movement encompassing reason, individualism, and skepticism. The Scientific Revolution, which came from the enlightenment, resulted in new scientific findings, particularly in astronomy, which changed long-held beliefs about how space affects the natural world. These new revelations led people to doubt the established political and social hierarchies. The Enlightenment challenged traditional notions of hierarchy, including the king's 'divine right' to govern, the nobility's privileges, and the influence of religion on politics. Additionally, it served as an inspiration for the values of choice, equality, and independence as well as the fundamentals of human reason

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The Glorious Revolution of 1688 and the Enlightenment both desired to improve European society, however the level of religious tolerance during the Glorious Revolution differed from the Enlightenment. The Glorious Revolution of 1688 and the Enlightenment both desired to improve European society’s disposition to inherit natural rights. The level of religious tolerance during the Glorious Revolution, which favored Protestant beliefs over Catholicism, differed from the Enlightenment. The Glorious Revolution of 1688 and the Enlightenment both desired to improve European society’s disposition to inherit natural rights by implementing the enlightened ideal of liberty. In 1688 King William III promised to “secure the whole nation” of all their

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The religious movement came over from Europe. The Enlightenment focused on reasons, science, rationality, and progress. The Enlightenment believed God made all men equal and that governor is born by the people. The Great Awakening cut across social, economic, and educational lines. It encouraged people to question the moral and

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Enlightenment was a concept that inspired a new way of thinking of the people. In the newly formed United States of America, enlightenment shaped the way the new government was run. Scientific reasoning was applied to politics, religion, and science. Enlightenment saved music, art, and literature programs in colleges. Enlightenment in Europe led to drastically altered views on philosophy, politics, and communications.

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During the seventeenth century, many of Europe’s diverse and numerous countries were going through countless political, economic, and cultural transformations. The Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment were two of the greatest, most important changes of the early modern era which greatly altered the course of history in most of Europe. People were starting to question and challenge widely accepted beliefs and applying approaches to knowledge rooted in human reason to the physical universe and human affairs. The study of history often focuses on these events and its effects on Europe, excluding or ignoring its effects on places outside of Europe. The Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment both sparked interests in science in China and

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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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Though existence of deities is a controversial topic among cultures around the world, the comparison of two religions in particular show the different outcomes of belief. Hinduism originated in 3102-1300 BCE in the Indus River Valley; Hindu belief says religion was a way of liberating the soul for the illusions and disappointments of (everyday) existence. Buddhism, on the other hand, originated in Nepal; Buddhists followed the Four Noble Truths: in life there is sorrow, sorrow comes from selfish desire, if desire is overcome sorrow is overcome, this can be achieved through the Eightfold Path. Though there are several differences between the two religions, the largest contrast would be within the belief and social system. Buddhists do not believe in a god, while Hindus, on the other hand, are polytheistic which why Buddhists do not have a caste system and Hindus do.

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The human spirit is “of divine origin and good,” while everything in the world of matter, including the body, is “inherently earthly and evil.” (Religious Tolerance) This leads to the concept of two creator gods: the Supreme Father of Truth, who is responsible for the spiritual world, and the Demiurge, who created the earth and its life forms to trap the spiritual elements. The latter, the lower God, is viewed by Gnostics as “fundamentally evil, jealous, rigid, lacking in compassion, and prone to genocide.” (EAEC)

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Atheistic thought had appeared sporadically before major monotheistic religions like Christianity and Islam were introduced; entertained thoughts of a perceived reality guided by no god of any kind are seen in the writings of the Roman philosopher Cicero around 80 B.C.E. (James). It was around this time, especially with the intellectual enlightenment the Romans and Greeks experienced, that philosophers examined the logical organization of atheism and its implications for worldviews and religions. Since then, atheism has come a long way, notably finding itself at odds with the Catholic Church in developing Europe. Surges in atheism is found in history to be correlated rather strongly with events such as the Renaissance, Scientific Revolution, and Age of Enlightenment, where rational thought and human ability was extolled beyond religions at this time (James). This occurred as a concentration of human thought would lead to natural human questioning, causing atheism to gain attention.

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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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“God, who has given the world to men in common, has also given them reason to make use of it to the best advantage of life and convenience” (Locke, 35). The Scientific Revolution concentrated on understanding the physical world through astronomical and mathematical calculations, or testable knowledge. The Enlightenment focused more on “Spreading of faith in reason and in universal rights and laws” (Worlds Together, Worlds Apart, 535). While the Scientific Revolution preceded the Enlightenment, both time periods sought to limit and challenge the power of the Church, through the spread of science, reason and intellect, and political philosophies. The Scientific Revolution began with Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1542) and Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) wanting to understand the movement of the planets beyond what they authorities had told them.

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