¶ … Enlightenment worldview and how it impacted society and human relations
The Enlightenment's emphasis on a rational understanding of the human condition marked a fundamental break with the previous worldview of the Middle Ages which preceded it. Rather than faith, the Enlightenment placed a new emphasis on scientific observation and rationalism as the best way to understand the world. It also stressed the value of human beings and the world of the here and now versus the hereafter. This disdain for tradition and celebration of reason led to a political revolution in both philosophy and government. More and more people questioned the divine right of kings and demanded a voice for the people in the way their government was legislated.
The scientific revolution of the sixteenth and seventeenth century "undermines not only the ancient geocentric conception of the cosmos, but, with it, the entire set of presuppositions that had served to constrain and guide philosophical inquiry."[footnoteRef:1] Rather than conceiving of the universe as a mystery understandable only by God, Enlightenment scientists strove to understand the world from observations, facts, and calculations. "Newton's system strongly encourages the Enlightenment conception of nature as an orderly domain governed by strict mathematical-dynamical laws and the conception of ourselves as capable...
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