The Role Of Rationalism In The Age Of Enlightenment

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Historians refer to the climate of thought in eighteenth-century as the Enlightenment. It is a movement happened in the United Kingdom, and developed in France. Rationality was characterized as the main characteristic in the Age of Enlightenment, the philosophers during the enlightenment ages always stressed the ideas that traditional authority like theocracy and royal power is not always correct, therefore humans could and should improve themselves through reason. They also viewed that the natural world was governed by mathematical and scientific laws, which could be understood by humankind through doing researches themselves rather than depend on traditional authority wielded by established religion. Rationalism played an important role in directing human thought and actions, improving science and making political changes in Europe and North America as well as …show more content…

The idea of social contract stressed the equality of human beings between a people and its rulers. Such concepts were expressed in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen during the French Revolution, which is frequently linked to the French Revolution. The French revolution happened in French rather than the United Kingdom is because of their different social situations. Different from French, the power of the empire was controlled strictly by the parliament since Glorious Revolution in the United Kingdom. Oppositely, the capitalist in France, don’t have the same political status as their economic status is rising, which triggered the in-satisfaction of the citizen.in n the night of 4 August 1789 the National Constituent Assembly abolished feudalism, sweeping away. During the course of a few hours nobles, clergy, towns, provinces, companies and cities lost their special