Path to the Enlightenment
What with the ideological turmoil occurring prior to most of 18th century Western Europe, the Age of Enlightenment was but an inevitable outcome. Religious and political thoughts littered Europe by the spades, and with the foreign revolutions and tensions that led up to questioning both divine right and religious authority. The Reformation, along with the discordant feelings toward the monarchy, became important turning points in history. Instead of blind faith, the Enlightened man turned to reason and science and believed in the utopian harmonic ideal. But exactly how did this Enlightenment come about?
Enlightenment was a movement that "strove scientifically to uncover religious truths rising above individual sectarian disputes" (Zhivov). Also simultaneously known as the "Age of Reason," the Enlightenment culminated in a set of values that sought to question the traditions, customs, and moral beliefs of the cultural environment. While the schools of thought differ from country to country, and from philosopher to philosopher, the idea of using rationality and science (Hermetic science at the time) to explain belief was the crux of the Enlightenment. Philosophers such as Immanuel Kant and Michel Foucault had differing views on the purpose of the Enlightenment, but the overall idea remained the same.
For Kant, the Enlightenment was "humanity's exit from a state of immaturity, [striving] toward wisdom and transition from blind obedience to authority to rational compliance with rules" (Gordon). It was a "coming of age" for humanity, focusing on the use of consciousness and logic reason as opposed to the blatant ignorance...
Enlightenment worldview is the root of the "liberal social order," and is predicated on the belief in "the natural unfolding of human progress," (Kagan, 2012). Preceded by a Church-dominated orthodoxy, the Enlightenment directly threatened the political power of the Church, the main cause of rising fundamentalism in the defense of orthodoxy. However, the relationship between religion and the Enlightenment was not one of direct contract and opposition to create two
Enlightenment In the late 17th and early 18th centuries, a scientific revolution occurred which gave humankind a much better understanding of the universe and its functioning than ever before. One of those scientists was Isaac Newton, who, in addition to his work with gravitational laws, also developed principles of light and refraction. From this revolution in science came an intellectual and cultural movement who's name came from a metaphor based in
As far as the philosophy of Montesquieu, it is crucial to note that the principle of the checks and balances of the governmental branches was also included in the Constitution. The Framers also adopted Rousseau's idea that the power of the social contract is directly derived from the people. This is best illustrated by the introduction of the Constitution: "We the People of the United States, in Order to form
Enlightenment and Scientific Method Robert Hollinger, in his essay "What is the Enlightenment?," notes the centrality of science to the "Enlightenment project," as he defines it, offering as one of the four basic tenets that constitute the "basic ideas of the Enlightenment" the view that "only a society based on science and universal values is truly free and rational: only its inhabitants can be happy." (Smith 1998, p. 71). As Smith
Revolution could never be warranted under Hobbes' scheme; the contract implied that the sovereign power could do no wrong as it had been given full right to act for the populous. Locke took parts of the social contract theory, but had a far more liberal approach. He believed, like Hobbes, that the reason for the establishment of a government or any sort of civil society was to find a
Works Cited Baumgarten, Linda. (2002). What Clothes Reveal: The Language of Clothing in Colonial and Federal America: The Colonial Williamsburg Collection. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Bilhartz, Terry D., and Elliott, Alan C. (2007). Currents in American History: A Brief History of the United States, Volume 1. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe. Crunden, Robert Morse. (1996). A Brief History of American Culture. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe. Fisher, John Hurt. (2001). "British and American, Continuity and Divergence"
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