The Enlightenment Research Paper

The Enlightenment

The Enlightenment, also known as the Age of Reason, took place in the eighteenth century. It was a time period with cultural and social changes that encouraged reason and individualism. The Enlightenment was a period of moving away from religious thinking and moving towards scientific ideas. These scientific ideas did not consist of difficult scientific discoveries, but instead consisted of using reason to look for the truth that was not already given. The Enlightenment was about putting the freedom of reason into action and listening to one’s own mind, not another’s mind. This scientific method was used for all things social, including values, economics, ideas, ethics, and behaviors. It opposed accepting traditional ideas

In 1764 Voltaire wrote an essay titled “Prejudices.” In the essay he defines prejudice as “an opinion without judgment.” He explains that by the time an individual is old enough to have his or her own opinion, the individual has already been told what to believe, who to respect, and what are considered vices opposed to what are considered virtues. He continues with describing various prejudices such as prejudices of the senses, physical prejudices, historical prejudices, and religious prejudices. He strongly urges people to find their own individuality and to not be ignorant to these prejudices that were decided without their

All three of these philosophers encouraged individuals to be aware and to understand. The people of France captured the ideas of Kant, such as becoming mature, thinking for oneself, and releasing oneself from the control of one’s guardian, which in this case was the monarchy. Voltaire influenced the revolutionaries by encouraging them to not be ignorant to the prejudices that they had been taught. The third estate had been living under the control of the monarchy for so long that they were not aware of the many injustices that they had been endearing. Also, David Hume influenced them when the first estate understood that the commoners were driving the society by being the producers of the economy. The third estate was the only state that produced anything, therefore the first and second estate were unnecessary parasites that only consumed and collected taxes from serfs. The people of France wanted the monarchy to be destroyed and replaced with a