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What Are The Philosophers Trying To Change During The Enlightenment

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The age of Enlightenment was the period of social awakening. The Enlightenment took place in Europe during the late 17th and 18th century. During that time philosophers were figuring out ways to improve society. What were the philosophers trying to change ? During the Enlightenment the philosophers were also trying to make improvements in society. Their main idea was to improve the society to get people their individuality and give them the rights they deserve. They wanted people to have an individual choice when it came to government, religion, and economy. Some of them also wanted the equality for women.
John Locke believed that Society had the right to government. When he says “...a state of perfect freedom … within the bounds of the law of nature…” he means that people …show more content…

Mary proposes that women should be let free to do anything they need to do to reach their specific goals. “... the only method of leading women to fulfil their peculiar duties is to free them from all restraint …”. Wollstonecraft also believes that men and women should be able to do the same things and pursue the same goals if they desire. “...both sexes must ast from the same principle…”. She had reached all these conclusions by her experience and reason. Voltaire was another philosopher, he that believed that people have the right to choose their own religion in society. He also believed that if there would be a multitude of different religions in one area then there wouldn't be so many fights started by two different religions. “...if there but two, the people would cut one another’s throats; as there are such a multitude, they all live happy and in peace.”. The thought that the Royal Exchange in London was a great example because everyone would gather from different parts of the world and with different religions and learn about each other's differences and also exchange

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Locke states that they must “give up the equality, liberty, and executive power they had in the state of nature”. This is for the intention of better preserving himself. Locke favored representative government, where citizens are permitted to vote and elect members to represent the public in government. 3.

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Some were different, however they were very much similar. One of the many ideas were that the people created the government and also that all men have their natural rights. . John Locke included that all men have natural rights: life, liberty, and property. (Doc 1) This idea then influenced a well-known president: Thomas Jefferson.

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Around this era of the late 1700’s, the citizens of the newly independent nation of “America” were in the process of ratifying their government from the Articles of Confederation to the current Constitution which allowed for a democratic republic. The people in support of this ratification were the “Federalist” whom often used pamphlet writings known as the “Federalist Papers” to persuade and inform the public of their ideas and Constitution ratification. The most influential paper among the 85, is the Federalist paper #10 that disproves the Antifederalists’ argument that a republic of any kind would fall from the pressure of multiple divisive opinions among its citizens. Given the nature of humans by God, creating factions based on similar

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During the Enlightenment many new ideas inspired the government and the people to come together to better society. People such as John Locke, Beccaria and many others had different ideas of how to reform the government during the Enlightenment period, which lasted from 1685-1815. The ideas created by the philosophers of this time included new beliefs and new laws. This ultimately leads to new relations forming between the government and the people. The propositions proposed by the Enlightenment altered the association between government and society by uniting the ideas of the government and the people, promoting the tolerance of all religions, and giving justice to the people.

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Of course, every person born into this world can be said to be "born free," and mankind did possess these natural rights as an entitlement at every stage of his development, including the earliest; but primitive (and later) societies inevitably prevented the full enjoyment of these rights. It is only in the later stages of his development, in a highly developed civilization based on principles and laws, that mankind has had the opportunity for actually establishing and enjoying these rights in their fullness, and the story of mankind is the story of the struggle to establish government that recognized these natural

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John Locke, Voltaire, Adam Smith, and Mary Wollstonecraft all said that society can be made better by giving the people free will. John Locke was a great example of the philosophers who wanted the people to have freedoms. Locke thought that the government should be people focused and that the people need to have a say. Locke recommended a legislative and executive branch of the government. (Doc A) Locke believed that the king should have very limited power, giving Parliament more.

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Enlightenment The enlightenment was a time in which leaders and philosophers promoted ideas during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that influenced people's thoughts concerning politics, social justice, human progress and religion forever. As said by Philosopher Immanuel Kant, “Enlightenment is defined as the upset of the established order/the awakening of one’s mind/forsaking society’s imposed mindset and establishing one for yourself.” (Document 12) These scientists like Issac Newton and writers like John Locke were challenging the old ways and because of that people became socially aware.

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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,

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The Enlightenment was created in France in the 1700’s. It was a movement in Europe that was about applying reason to all aspects of life. During this movement, Philosophers used five concepts that they built upon to create the Enlightenment; reason, nature, happiness, progress, and an envy for England's glorious revolution and their bill of rights. The Enlightenment was a European movement that sparked and challenged new ideas about the relationship of common people to their governments. Over a period of time Enlightenment ideas spread outside of Europe and created a change of governments around the globe.

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For example Locke, argued that people should be allowed to choose their own government, as it will have a greater chance of not failing. Locke said, “The people are at liberty to provide for themselves, by erecting a new legislative,... for the society can never,... lose the native and original right it has to preserve itself, which can only be a done by a settled legislative and a fair and impartial execution of the laws made by it” (Document A). John is stating that it shouldn't be the government who makes all the decisions but the people as it is their right to do so. John Locke was just one of the four figures in the enlightenment that made an impact.

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Wollstonecraft said, “The only method of leading women to fulfil their peculiar duties is to free

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I agree that the Enlightenment was force for positive change in society. The Enlightenment was one was the most important intellectual movements in History, as it dominated and influenced the way people thought in Europe in the late 17th and 18th centuries. We will look at how it ultimately influenced the American and French Revolution which is still strongly governed by these ideas and principles today. The Age of Enlightenment was a European movement which emphasizing reasoning and individualism in preference to tradition.

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Additionally, the education received by women would contribute more to the society and to men. “To improve both sexes, they ought to be educated together” (Wollstonecraft, 1792). Her solution not only provides more equality and rights for the women, but it also ensures that the men’s ego would be protected and not feel threatened. Mary Wollstonecraft believe that women play a role in why women are perceive this way by the society. Firstly, some women are comfortable with their lives as they marry well and has power, while others accepted the way the world works and conforms according to the societal pressure.

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Another thinker from the Enlightenment is Francois Marie Arouet, better known as Voltaire. Voltaire was a french philosopher as well as an author. He believed in many freedoms such as: freedom of speech, freedom of

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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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