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Were The Ideas Of The Enlightenment Actually Revolutionary?

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Were the ideas of the Enlightenment actually revolutionary? In the following essay that will be analyzed, what was revolutionary, were Enlightened thinkers “dangerous” as revolutionary implies? To an absolute ruler at the time the answer is yes, these men were challenging everything you knew and with that your power and position. To the average person the answer would be no as the leaders of the movement were only asserting your freedom. Are fundamental human rights revolutionary?

Immanuel kant, “what is enlightenment?” enlightenment is man leaving his self immaturity. People aren’t enlightened because kant believed that the way of maturing was the way to enlightenment was to be free. Maturity is not caused by lack of intelligence, but by
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The American Revolution embodied the principles of the Enlightenment and freedom from tyranny which represented social change from other forms of government, therefore it was certainly revolutionary at the time. Document 1 supports the opinion that the American Revolution was revolutionary because it represents the people's desire for freedom from tyranny by pulling down the statue of the “tyrant” king . Document 2 also supports the opinion that the American Revolution was revolutionary because it promoted the most far thinking beliefs of the Enlightenment, including equality, a government ruled by the people (Democracy), and the rule of law. With the Declaration of Independence, an entirely new nation was erected and an adoption of democracy

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The enlightenment was an intellectual and philosophical movement which dominated the world of ideas in Europe during the 18th century. The core ideals that the philosophers had were that all men were born equal, with certain unalienable rights. The enlightenment influenced many other countries to push for a more fair government. The enlightenment also influenced the political ideas of colonists who pushed for independence in Britain. Although Jefferson, Bolivar, and L’Ouverture made several major changes to the government, these leaders did not entirely reflect the enlightenment in their leadership as evident by the treatment towards women, people of color, and the non-wealthy.

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En·light·en·ment noun 1. the action of enlightening or the state of being enlightened. 2. the Enlightenment, a philosophical movement of the 18th century, characterized by belief in the power of human reason and by innovations in political, religious, and educational doctrine.

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Documents: Document C, Document C, and Document H The Enlightenment was a period of time during the course of the years 1685 to 1815, where European politics, philosophy, science and communications were thoroughly remade. Thinkers question traditional rule and welcomed the concept that humankind could be enhanced through rational thinking. The period of 1685 to 1815 could be called the Enlightenment due to the ideas that originated from the era that were revolutionary. Examples of these can be seen from the ideas of the natural rights of man, the proper structure of government, and the cruelty of irregular criminal punishment.

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The Enlightenment philosophers wrote about common everyday things that everyone experiences in a single day. “ Enlightenment is man’s leaving of his self-caused immaturity” [what is Enlightenment? Source 1]. In this case all they are saying is that in order for a man to be considered Enlightened he has to grow up and be a man, no more childish stuff. “ ...laziness and cowardice...freed from alien guidance...gladly remain immature” [what is Enlightenment?

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The term “Revolutionary” is an instantaneous change or shift that promotes equal rights, liberty, and freedom. So, while some may argue that the revolution was a turning point for America, The American revolution in this case is not revolutionary since slavery was still present, minority groups did not gain rights, and British ideals and tactics were still being used in the new government. One of the crucial pieces of evidence that this “revolution” could not be considered revolutionary is because of the slavery still taking place even after the war ended. Throughout the revolt against British rule in the 16th century, the American people fought under the banner of truth, justice, and liberty for all people, However, the only people that indeed

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Was the American Revolution really Revolutionary? The American Revolution began in 1775 and ended in 1789 with the result of the Constitution being ratified. A revolution is a forcible overthrow of a government or a social order in favor of a new system. The American Revolution was revolutionary because rebellion was included by the angry citizens despising British rule, economics, and a change in politics.

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Different factors had a part to play in starting or even propelling ‘the Age of Enlightenment’, including the rule of the Church and State which experienced a power struggle among them, in addition to the Western discovery of latest societies with noticeably exclusive cultural traditions and norms. Many intellectuals felt unhappy with the fixed social styles amongst their very own collectives, and angry at their governments' refusal to provide non-public rights. The lasting political effect of the Enlightenment can't be overstated. At the least three fundamental political revolutions came about throughout this time period in Britain, America, and France.

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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.

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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.

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Historians have argued whether the American Revolution was a conservative attempt to protect the colonist’s traditional rights as Englishmen or a radical attempt to implement dangerous enlightenment ideas. I believe that the American Revolution was a radical attempt to implement dangerous enlightenment ideas. Colonists new government, their acts of treason and new identity were mostly based on enlightenment ideas. Colonial leaders used Enlightenment ideas to vindicate freedom from Britain(Fiore Notes).

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Although the process to enlightenment is extremely difficult, the end result, if you do reach the ultimate state, is worth the lifetime that you have dedicated. When you have reached enlightenment, you have the knowledge, the right frame of mind to live your life the right way. To make a good decision, you must first have the correct information. This is what enlightenment is. You can make smart, wise decisions with who you support in politics, what you will fight for, and who you will allow in your life.

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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

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Enlightenment is just a total realization of being what we are anyway. Since it is just a realization, we are it, and it does not matter if we know it or not. We do not need to do anything, as we are already what we are. Whatever the definition of Enlightenment, it involves being whole; end of separation; everything is one; everything is together.

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His answer, “Enlightenment is man 's emergence from his self-imposed immaturity,” in this statement the reader can incur that Kant believed that unless we reach enlightenment we aren’t able to reach a maturity level to take care of ourselves, we as humans put ourselves in the position of immaturity, we have full control over where we stand in life, but some chose to be immature and unenlightened. Kant believed that in order to reach enlightenment we need to be able to do things for ourselves, if we aren’t able to we are immature and not capable of reaching

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