In the time of the Enlightenment Period many changes were happening in society. In the late 17th and 18th century people called The Philosophers, met in French salons and English drawing rooms to discuss what they believed in. They made many great things happen and strived their best to make what they believed in something possible. The Enlightenment Philosophers imagined they could change the ways of society in many ways. They concluded that they could improve the laws, rights of women, religious rights, and also economic rights.
Enlightenment was a time period that revolved around philosophy, science, and society, and is less focused on religion. Enlightenment includes a concept proposed by the philosopher John Locke that all humans, when they are born, are entitled to basic human rights. The Enlightenment also includes the thought that things in the universe are constant, leading away from such a strong reliance on God. The concept of Enlightenment inspired many proceeding declarations, including the USA’s declaration because it encouraged equality to all men. John Locke was an Enlightenment thinker who proposed that as humans, we are entitled to basic rights and that when we are born we are blank canvases and are thereafter altered by our surroundings.
The Age of Enlightenment lasted from the 1620s to the 1780s, and was a period of time where many great thinkers emphasized individual freedoms and logical reasoning. Enlightenment challenged many prominent organizations, such as the Roman Catholic Church and some governmental organizations. One Enlightenment thinker, Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Voltaire), thought that “government should be responsible for the people and supply to them freedom and happiness. The people thus agree to be governed on such terms1”. Voltaire believed that the government should cater to the people’s needs, and not control its citizens and take away their freedoms.
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.
The Enlightenment, which started in France and is associated with writers such as Rousseau and Voltaire, caused those under the thumb of monarchies to begin to recognize the inequality inherent in such systems. People of all classes, especially the middle and lower classes, began to use these ideas to formulate an ideology of resistance. They insisted on the implementation of new measures that would guarantee the natural rights of all citizens and believed that, as Rousseau wrote, “no man has any natural authority over his fellow men, and since force is not the source of right, conventions remain as the basis of all lawful authority among men.” . These ideas also shaped the American Revolution and the success of it went on to also inspire the French as
The Enlightenment was a period that was during the 17th and 18th century that highlighted the reason and the individual person rather than tradition. The Enlightenment occurred because after the French Revolution the people wanted to advocate reason, and wanted a way to establish a system of ethics, government, and religion. The Enlightenment took place in Europe. It began with the publication of Francis Bacon’s “Novum Organum” and ended with Immanuel Kant’s “Critique of Pure Reason”. The ideas influenced the United States by determining the almost every part of the colonial United States.
The Enlightenment was an extraordinary milestone in the history of mankind. Brilliant minds came together and started to realize that the world around them was built on science. Instead of assuming divine intervention was behind the miracles of the universe, they realized that there were logical explanations. Along with the ideas of reason and knowledge, the Enlightenment also began creating thoughts of liberty and equality. These concepts quickly caught on and after a number of years, they were inspiring the independence-seeking Patriots in the eighteenth century.
The Enlightenment was a period of great intellectual and cultural change that took place in Europe and the Americas during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. It was characterized by a new way of thinking about the world that was based on reason, science, and individualism, and it challenged the traditional ideas of authority and religion that had dominated the pre-modern era. One of the key changes brought about by the Enlightenment was the shift from a feudal and religious-based society to one that was more democratic and secular. This change was driven by a number of factors, including the rise of a new merchant class, the growth of cities and trade, and the influence of the printing press.
The Intellectual movement known as the Enlightenment occupies an important position in the growth of Western civilization. How it totally affected society, especially French society is a subject of debate, from the beginning of the Revolution to today. In fact, two schools of interpretation are involved. The first school is the conservative school, Edmund Burke is the best example.
Enlightenment ideas are the thinking and reasoning that helped found our modern world as we know it today. Society in America is heavily based on freedom and equality which during the Enlightenment was influenced by John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau. Locke said that all men were created equal, and that no man was more powered over another. The only exception to this rule was if the man was elected or chosen to be a leader, such as a Democracy. In today's world, we believe that all men are created equal and should be treated as equal.
Napoleon once said, “If you wish to be a success in the world, promise everything, deliver nothing.” It seemed that he was quite good at following his word as he disappointed the Enlightenment ideas that he promised to follow. The French Revolution was a conflict for equality and new ideas between the lowest social class and the nobility which lasted for ten years from 1789 to 1799. The war mainly stemmed from new ideas that the Enlightenment inspired discussing the natural rights of man. After the bulk of the fighting and political shifts of the French Revolution, Napoleon came to power through his military prowess.
The Enlightenment was a time during the 17th and 18th century in Europe when the ideas of philosophers about an ideal government and human nature in society were being developed. Although women did not have equal rights as men, women did have the power to influence ideas during the Enlightenment. This is because they took on several roles as leaders, where they had chances and opportunities to act as philosophers and share their new ideas on the society of France. In Salons, high class parties during the Enlightenment that was a place for nobles, and their intellectuals to share their opinions and have conversations with one another was where both men and women were invited to participate and exchange ideas.
Rousseau believed pity is a kind of natural disgust when we saw rational beings, especially human ourselves were suffering. Also, he stated that this kind of feeling “obscure yet lively in a savage, developed yet feeble in civilized man.” However, meditating on the past made Rousseau can’t follow his coevals –David Hume and Adam Smith to study pity as an empiricist or utilitarian. So Rousseau took the risk of being abandon by the academic and tried to avoid using the rational analysis on the historical facts but using his great imagination to discuss the origin of the pity among human, expecting an “experiment to understand the real nature of man.” Although he was not the only person who emphasized the importance of the pity in the Enlightenment,
He speaks about freedom and human rights. In the text’s main idea and thesis Rousseau mentioned that natural freedom is different than civil freedom. In addition, in my image I wanted to highlight the idea of the disappearing of nature’s freedom. So my image and the text are related because both talk about rights. I think Rousseau wanted to mention the idea of nature and how we should benefit the ecosystem.
The French Revolution was undoubtedly influenced by the political theorists of the Enlightenment. The ideas of two French political theorists in particular are easily seen throughout the French Revolution, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Baron Montesquieu. Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s thoughts and texts, such as the Social Contract, instilled the entitlement of basic human rights to all men. Rousseau’s concepts on rights combined with Baron Montesquieu’s ideas on government provided the backbone of a radical movement in the French Revolution known as the Terror. When one delves into the beginnings of the French Revolution, the motives and actions of the National Assembly, and the Terror of the French Revolution, one can obviously see the influence of two Enlightenment political theorists, Rousseau and Montesquieu.
