En·light·en·ment noun 1. the action of enlightening or the state of being enlightened. 2. the Enlightenment, a philosophical movement of the 18th century, characterized by belief in the power of human reason and by innovations in political, religious, and educational doctrine.
The dictionary definition of enlightenment interests because it has two explanations. The first is reasonable; the second though, is debateable. How enlightened was the Enlightenment? Because the enlightenment was a time of experiment and discovery, trial and err, and an overall chance to think for oneself--at least for the middle and upper classes, there are factors that are clearly more enlightened than any other previous time period, but there are others that need
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Race and religion. As europe was starting to warm up to different religion and the freedom of worship the jews (who have never had good luck) fell short again. They were either expelled from a country (ahem, France) or closely watched. King Frederick the second of Prussia felt the need to specify when writing a testiment with clear suspicion in tone (Doc 8). But the Austrians were much warmer welcome with an edict of toleration setting out clear guidelines and none of the attitude that the rest of europe coped (Doc 14). At this point the Jews were used to being knocked around by everybody else and were eager to follow these guidelines rather than bite the hand that feeds them. Some thinkers were even beginning to open up to other religions such as Judaism and Islam. For example, Voltaire saw nothing wrong in brotherhood to others (Doc12). but religion was not the only issue going down; racism was a HUGE deal even in the 18th century. Negroes were insulted in every way possible by many and we even made fun of and dehumanized in public works like encyclopedias and not just people's opinions. A grotesque entry in an early Encyclopedia britannica is a gruesome example of this: “They are strangers to every sentiment of compassion, and are an awful example of the corruption of man when left to himself”. (Doc 20). Also they are rudely categorized as everything inhuman in almost every twisted document about them--as you can see in an essay by Immanuel Kant (Doc 19). Finally though, an act to abolish the slave trade was put in place in 1807, and though it did not outlaw slavery in the colonies, it did stop the kidnapping and bringing overseas of blacks to the Americas (Doc 21). A step in the right direction.Though there was some effort to change these issues, this is not an enlightening moment in history and therefore putting the argument making this time “enlightening” farther