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Introduction: After the prolonged and disparaging Thirty Years War, philosophers took up a new notion of life and how, what and why things are the way they are in the world. Many also took into effect believing in scientific reasoning’s over biblical outlooks, looking for logical answers to all the many mysteries of the world and the afterlife. Enlightenment philosophers also constructed ways in which they thought people should act. For example, philosopher Voltaire explained his reasons for how “people should be citizens of the world” (Voltaire, “Patrie, in the philosophers dictionary”, 1752). THESIS:
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.
During the 18th Century, the Enlightenment was introduced in Europe. This new movement brought about modernization of thinking about government and individualism, and reevaluated previous beliefs. The Enlightenment had many new Philosophers who helped spread their views on government. Philosophers were similar in ideas about the rights of citizens and people’s choice of which government they want, however they differed on the reason government existed and governmental power. Overall, the ideas were a substantial departure from previous ideas about human equality, absolute rulers, and the court system.
The Enlightenment period gave way to many great thinkers, known in this era as philosophes, who fought to improve society through reason and their influential statuses. The main idea of Enlightenment thinkers, such as John Locke, Voltaire, and Mary Wollstonecraft, was to change perspectives on topics of interest, that were previously discredited, in society. John Locke, who wrote the Second Treatise on Civil Government of 1690, founded the ethical idea that all men were entitled to their natural rights. Natural rights, from John Locke’s point of view, could be defined as fundamental principles possessed by each man that is set forth by nature itself. The idea of all men being equal in “what state all men are naturally in, and that is, a state of perfect freedom to order their actions, and dispose [manage] of their possessions and persons, as they think fit, within the bounds of nature…
During the seventeenth century many ideas emerged that changed the way people saw the world. The Enlightenment is consider one of the breaking points in human history, the knowledge from that time influenced directly in how the events of the eighteenth, nineteenth, and consequent centuries develop till today, important ideologies like Republic emerged during this time. The introduction of the “reason” was one of the most important concepts of this movement. The “reason” proposed the arriving of a judgment through the analysis of evidence that is why the first ideas of the enlightenment were scientific ones, like Sir Isaac Newton. But this changed by the eighteenth were the philosophical ideas focused more to the human existence.
John Locke, also known as the Father of the Enlightenment, believed that everyone had natural rights: life, liberty, and property. These principles were adopted in the Declaration of Independence and is the foundation of the government today. Through the Enlightenment, new and improved ideas were founded, but one major part of Europe’s society took a major hit. Through logical reasoning, people began to question the teachings of the church. Despite these questionings, many religious figures reminded the people of who God is.
While influenced by others the human race is individually minded, and has been able to obtain much knowledge at a substantial rate because of enlightenment. Throughout history man was able to shape the face of the earth by controlling others, but until the age of enlightenment man was not fully aware of the accomplishments he could achieve. In this period the ideals of society having a voice, changed history through bringing light to the genius and talent of not one but the vast majority of the world. To challenge one’s self-worth enlightenment must be achieved through leaving a cowardly stage to become mature. Presently, the enlightenment ideals have given many people around the globe a chance at a free life through natural rights and tolerance,
The period of the Enlightenment began around 1650 and lasted until the end of the eighteenth century yet its’ ideas pervaded for a much longer time after. A great philosopher, or philosophe as the French referred to them as, defined the Enlightenment as “man’s release from his self- incurred immaturity.” What he meant by this was that people were stuck in a state of immaturity because they were not thinking for themselves. However, they could “release” themselves from this immaturity by using their own reason and thoughts.
The Age of Enlightenment or Age of reason was a developmental philosopher movement in the 17th –century. The movement highlighted reason and individualism rather than tradition. Its purpose was to challenge the traditional rituals and open minds to a new way of thinking and rationalizing. Contrary to what some people may think these ideas, theories and new way of thinking are still relevant in today’s society. These men had a profound impact on government and their ideas helped shape the government into what it is today.
The European Enlightenment (also known as the Age of Reason) took place before 1750 and was shaped by the principles of the Scientific Revolution that embraced human reason. Enlightenment thinkers believed that principles of reason and nature should be applied to the governance of a country (popular sovereignty), people’s natural rights, social contract, and societal structure. These theorists of the Enlightenment challenged accepted and traditional thinking (monarchial governments, aristocratic power) and established politics and society based on the laws of reason and nature. Nevertheless, these Enlightenment ideas motivated and influenced feminist movements and the Atlantic Revolutions. Although conservatives sought to preserve the traditional
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 before it had brought forth the idea that man had a right to control his or her own destiny. This idea started a fire that would carry across Europe, and would eventually set off the gunpowder that had existed in France for many years. The French people were tired of struggling to live while their despotic rulers, the aristocracy, lived in splendor and lavishness. Because of the Enlightenment, according to historian and thinker William Doyle, “no distinction was now drawn between despotism, tyranny, and absolute monarchy” (Doyle 67). The people of France made this their opportunity to subject “him and all other officials to a constitution”, and “replace the rule of arbitrariness by the rule of the law”, i.e. the law created by the general will (Doyle 67).
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.
The Enlightenment gave people power to make the changes they wanted for independence and politics using intellect and reason, their natural right. The norm of a society that is modelled today became reason over
The Enlightenment was a period during the 1600 and 1700s where authority, power, government and law was questioned by philosophers. The causes of the Enlightenment was the Thirty Years’ War, centuries of mistreatment at the hands of monarchies and the church, greater exploration of the world, and European thinkers’ interest in the world (scientific study). A large part of the Enlightenment was natural law, which was the belief that people should live their lives and organize their society on the basis of rules and precepts laid down by nature or God; the principles of the Enlightenment in the 1600s through the 1700s influenced the development of the USA by advocating religious and social freedom, freeing the people from oppression, and providing
