At the end of the 17th century there is a distinct shift in the culture of Western Europe in regards to the manner in which people observe the universe around them. The people inspiring this all-encompassing movement are many individual philosophers. Each of these individuals focus their mental efforts in hopes of changing the societies in which they live. Many of them encourage their contemporaries to reexamine the lense through which they understand the world. The intellectuals involved in the Age of Enlightenment hoped that people would use reason and logic in order to explain the world around them instead of traditional superstitious and religious conventions (Kors). Philosophers such as Immanuel Kant, John Locke, John Dewey, Francis Bacon …show more content…
In placing the legend in an underdeveloped and rural town, Conan Doyle associates the story with an unfavorable environment. This legend does not exist in London, the symbol of civilization and education. Furthermore, Sir Charles Baskerville’s belief in the hellhound that ultimately causes his death, “The old man’s heart was weak and that a shock would kill him.. He had heard also that Sir Charles was superstitious and had taken this grim legend very seriously” (Conan Doyle, 202). While this a brief excerpt from the text, it captures the position that believing the in the supernatural has negative consequences. In this, Conan Doyle calls to mind the writings of the Enlightenment philosopher John Dewey who states, “Intelligent furthering of culture demands that we take some of them off, that we inspect them critically to see what they are made of and what wearing them does to us” (Dewey, 123). In this quote Dewey suggests that certain environments produce the tendency to believe one kind of explanation and that the only way to progress is to examine this belief and determine whether it is plausible. Unfortunately, the people of the Baskerville are unable to see the cause of death for Sir Charles as anything except supernatural. It is because of this that Mortimer asks Sherlock Holmes to take on the case. By introducing Sherlock to the case, Conan Doyle is able to expand upon the Enlightenment ideals in the