“The Age of Enlightenment”

Hey guys! Welcome back! Today we are going to talk about the Enlightenment and what it accomplished.

 

The Enlightenment is a movement that occurred during the 17th and 18th centuries to emphasize reasoning and logic, which challenged the established traditions and authority (the church). These ideals were drafted from the Scientific Revolution. The Enlightenment had many characteristics that we are going to learn about.

 

Rationalism, reason, is the arbiter of all things.

Cosmology, a new concept of the existence of earth in the universe (earth is NOT the center of the universe).

Secularism, an application of the methods of science to religion and philosophy.

The Scientific Method, consisted of Mathematical Analysis, Experimentation, and Inductive Reasoning.

Utilitarianism, the greatest good for the greatest number of people.

Tolerance, meaning everyone can have free ideas and no opinion is worth beating your neighbor over.

Optimism and self-confidence, the belief that man is intrinsically good and the belief in social progress.

Freedom, bringing liberty to all men and making them free to express themselves.

Education of the Masses, this meant that everyone would get an education, not just the rich kids.

Legal Reforms, this means the people were treated with justice and kindness and NOT tortured.

Constitutionalism, there were written constitutions which listed citizens’ rights.

Cosmopolitanism, this means we all belong to the global community.

 

Later on, down the line an English philosopher by the name of Francis Bacon tagged along. He laid the foundation for the Enlightenment by supporting the idea of empiricism, and the idea that knowledge is power. He also supported separation between faith and reason which was a division of science from religion, enabling independent inquiry.

 

French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, René Descartes saw man’s ability to reason as the proof of their existence. He wrote “Discourse on Method” in 1637.He rejected all forms of intellectual authority (higher ups telling him what to think) which he used to prove the existence of God.

 

English philosopher and mathematician, Thomas Hobbes’ political theory portrayed politics as an exact science like geometry. He was an admirer of Galileo Galilei’s (man put on house arrest for telling the truth about the solar system) ideas concerning the nature of the physical and studies of motion. Hobbes wrote “Leviathan” in 1651.

 

A whole generation later, English philosopher and physician, John Locke developed a completely different notion of the basic nature of humankind, which was seen as innately good. When he witnessed the almost bloodless,” Glorious Revolution” in England he was convinced that people can live together peacefully.

 

This concludes today’s blog you guys’ bye!!