The Era of Enlightenment was a cultural movement in Europe that favored reason in place of belief. It challenged the accepted views of the time which, in turn, endangered the power of absolute rulers and their system of government. This era influenced a majority of the European population, however, the monarchs of the time did not exemplify those same ideals. Catherine II of Russia’s views on serfs and peasants are a great example of a ruler defying the enlightenment movement. In her “Decree on Serfs” she states that “serfs and peasants...owe their landlords proper submission and absolute obedience in all matters” , essentially saying that serfs of the time should be completely obedient to their masters (Doc. 6).
Yaakov Kessler Mrs.Legum AP World History Enlightenment LEQ After a dark period of time a new age of philosophers committed to bettering the citizens were born. The Enlightenment Period consisted of philosophers that advocated for political, social, and economic changes. The enlightenment thinkers motivated the revolutions of the 18 and 19th century by promoting Equal rights of Man and by preaching that governments should be managed by branches instead of a monarch. One of the most influential revolutions was the American revolution whereas the American colonists were fed up with the British and declared independence from them.
European politics, philosophy, and science were radically changed during the 17th and 18th centuries during a period called the Enlightenment. Enlightenment thinkers throughout Europe questioned cultural norms and embraced the notion that humanity could be improved through rational change. Science had been mostly a male field of study during this age. It was extremely rare for women to enter this field, but during the Enlightenment, the idea that the minds of women can equal that of men became more popular. Many people believed that women did not have the intelligence to be involved in science, while some others believed that even if women could be held on the same intellectual level as men, it was socially unacceptable; on the other hand,
During the Renaissance people began to stray away from the Catholic Church, and began thinking for themselves. While doing so people began to reconnect to old Roman traditions. Subsequently, the Enlightenment was born soon after. The Enlightenment was a new way of thinking also known as The Age Of Reason. John Locke and Thomas Hobbes are two famous philosophers from the Enlightenment that are known for having two different view on government.
In chapter three we learned about the colonies and how they were established and what aspects of development helped the colonies thrive. In the discussion one of the topics we were asked to discuss about asks what two things united the colonies and colonists in North America. During the seventeenth and eighteenth century in North America there were two events that occurred that unified the colonists and colonies. They were the Enlightenment and The Great Awakening. These events gave the people of the colonies to have logical/ intelligent questions, individual freedom, and religious freedom.
Of all the actions, writings, empires, rulers, and wars; I believe the age of enlightenment changed the world the most. Enlightenment, meaning to illuminate or inform. The age of European Enlightenment brought about some of the biggest changes the world would ever see. Its concepts would illuminate, transform, and inspire people across the planet. From ending the idea of “divine right” to changing the way in which people viewed rights, no other movement would have such a long and dramatic effect on the world.
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.
That is an interesting question. In reading more about the 'Rationalist Option ' from our text, gave me more understanding of its principal aspects, or a distinct feature of the Enlightenment age. This Enlightenment Age consists of the use of reasoning by using their minds more than technology; example, using calculators instead of using our mind to figure math problems. Many Philosophers believe in the power of the mind to think, understand and form judgments by process of logic which learned and engaged in philosophy or as an academic discipline (Oxford Dictionary, 2017). Philosophy is the act of studying of how to understand our existence and how to come to know what is good, true and real.
The Age of Absolutism is defined as a time period in Europe in which monarchs gained all of the power and wealth over the state for themselves, expanding the idea of single rule. The Enlightenment, on the other hand, is defined as a movement during the 18th century that rejected traditional social, religious, and political ideas, and introduced a desire to construct governments free of tyranny (or single rule). Document 3, a primary source written by King Louis XIV of France in 1660, is describing the idea of monarchy stating,“ The more you grant . . . [to the assembled people], the more it claims . . . The interest of the state must come first” (Document 3).
Since the late 17th century, America has experienced new developments due to the act of The Enlightenment. The new thoughts, theories, and ideas of enlightenment shaped political attitudes. It was people like John Locke that continuously verbally fought about how the government should protect the rights of citizens. The citizens could rightly replace the government if the government has at all failed to do their job properly. United States constitution truly reflect the enlightenment principles.
In conclusion, the Enlightenment was vital to the American Revolution and the creation of American Government. The Enlightenment beliefs that influenced the American Revolution were natural rights, the social contract, and the right to overthrow the government if the social contract was violated. The Enlightenment beliefs that aided to the creation of the American government were separation of powers, checks and balances, and limited government. As stated before, without the Enlightenment there would not have been a revolution, resulting in no American Government. The Enlightenment’s influence on the creation of America is irrefutable.
The Enlightenment was the most interesting time period for me. It was the age of reason. Where people started to question authority and started to believe in new things. The Enlightenment opened a path for independent thought, mathematics, astronomy, physics, politics, economics, philosophy, and medicine had expanded. Everything mathematical and science was complied into the encyclopedia that even to this day we still use, but online now.
The Enlightenment, or the Age of Reason, first emerged in Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and subsequently shaped the contemporary world of science, technology and civil liberties [citation]. Two leading figures of this period were German philosophers Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) and Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-81). The Enlightenment promoted the universal standard of Pure Reason above all else, Kant however took issue with the concept of ‘universal’ only translating as meaning ‘European’ and ‘pure’ as meaning never having met or studied anything else. Lessing, also a great figure of the Enlightenment who at the time would have known nothing of our postmodern relative truth predicaments, found in truth a degree of social
Josh Cox Western Civ: Early Mod. To Present June 17, 2015 The 18th century was known as the Age of Enlightenment. During this time in American history political, legal, social, and cultural concepts were greatly advanced and used worldwide. In the 18th century the advancements in political ideas change the way we governed the people.
The Age of Enlightenment, sometimes called the Age of Reason, refers to the time of the guiding intellectual movement, called The Enlightenment. It covers about a century and a half in Europe, beginning with the publication of Francis Bacon 's Novum Organum (1620) and ending with Immanuel Kant 's Critique of Pure Reason (1781). From the perspective of socio-political phenomena, the period is considered to have begun with the close of the Thirty Years ' War (1648) and ended with the French Revolution (1789). The Enlightenment advocated reason as a means to establishing an authoritative system of aesthetics, ethics, government, and even religion, which would allow human beings to obtain objective truth about the whole of reality.
