Enlightenment : A Time Of Reason And Enlightenment In The Age Of Enlightenment

The philosopher, John Locke believed that people should have governmental freedoms. Locke stated, “should also be equal one among another without subordination or subjection”(DocA), meaning that nature created all people equally and that the government should not downgrade people. Locke wanted people to have the freedom to have any chance at a governmental position, because nature created all people equally. He believed that if a new government was necessary that people have the right to create a new government, “they have not only a right to get out of [a failed government], but to prevent it”(DocA). Locke also believed that all people are born equal and that society has the freedom to change the government in question.

The Enlightenment period, known as the Age of Reason, was the period during the 18th and 19th century. It was known as one of the greatest moments in history, the time of transformations, reformations, revolutions and many other critical events that ever took place in human history. It is also credited for all of the revolutions that helped to change and enlighten mankind. The Agricultural Revolution paved the way for the Industrial Revolution through its population growth by increasing the food supply. The outcome of the advancement of agriculture is due to the development industrialization. When it comes to economic development in different countries, Agriculture has always been the most important role. When agricultural production increases, the average income of the rural communities, industrialization, and urbanization also lead to an increased demand in industrial production. A lot of small farmers and peasants were unemployed and lost their land to rich landholders and because of this, labor was increased and the production of food was lower causing the standard of living to be higher. During this time, England seemed to be more socially and economically wealthy and had everything they needed to fuel the industrial revolution. At the same time, England’s cottage industry was not able to fulfill its demands because of its increasing population. The population was doubling and the ratio of demand to supply increased tremendously. Therefore, people had to focus more on

The Age of Enlightenment was arguably one of the most defining eras in history regarding the transition of cultures from pre-modern traditions to current modern thought and philosophy. The Enlightenment came about through many intellectuals’ desires to separate from centuries old political and social traditions, such as absolutism and divine right. The movement advocated the use of reason rather than focusing on religion and began to break away from the bonds of religious tyranny, as well as long-standing notions of sovereignty. The Enlightenment age was the means for these intellectuals to publish their philosophies and theories, which in turn initiated revolution in political and social practices throughout Europe and consequently the entire

The Enlightenment period, also known as The Age of Reason, was a period of social, religious, and political revolution throughout the 18th century which changed the thoughts of man during this “awakening” time. It was a liberation of ignorant thoughts, ideas, and actions that had broken away from the ignorant perception of how society was to be kept and obeyed thus giving little room for new ideas about the world. Puritan society found these new ideas of thought to be extremely radical in comparison to what they believed which was a belief of strong rational religion and morality. Enlightened society believed that the use of reason would be a catalyst of social change and had a demand of political representation thus resulting in a

The Enlightenment period, also known as The Age of Reason, was a period of social, religious, and political revolution throughout the 18th century which changed the thoughts of man during this “awakening” time. It was a liberation of ignorant thoughts, ideas, and actions that had broken away from the ignorant perception of how society was to be kept and obeyed thus giving little room for new ideas about the world. Puritan society found these new ideas of thought to be extremely radical in comparison to what they believed which was a belief of strong rational religion and morality. Enlightened society believed that the use of reason would be a catalyst of social change and had a demand of political representation thus resulting in a time

The Enlightenment era was a new intellectual movement that stressed reason and thought and the power of individuals to solve problems. Even though different philosophers approached their goal differently, they achieved it none the less. They all approached their goal differently due to their different upbringings, their different backgrounds, and most importantly their different environments. A few among the many enlightened thinkers were Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Baron Do Montesquieu, and Jean Jacques Rousseau. While some of their idea’s are not used in modern society, they were all instrumental to the modern society we live in today.

The Enlightenment was a philosophical time period that was placed in the eighteenth century. It was also known as the “Age of Reason”. Most thinkers argued that the things of nature could be understood by using human reason. This time period is when people began to question certain authorities. People began to notice that the sake of humanity could be fixed or saved by using reason to think and improve society. Although they sometimes differed in favoring inductive or deductive reasoning, Enlightenment thinkers often worked towards the same general goal which was changing society for the better by using science, logic, and education.

During the late 17th-18th century Enlightenment, people began to question the norms that had previously blindly accepted. Philosophes emerged, trying to find new ways to understand and improve their society. Using observation and reason, these philosophes uncovered natural laws of existence - patterns in nature and human behavior that could be used to understand the truth of all things and could improve human activities. All four of the Enlightenment philosophers emphasized people’s personal freedom in choosing their own political, religious, economic, and societal alignments, as long as in attaining their natural rights, people didn’t infringe on others’, because in doing so, they will benefit the whole society.

The ideals of the Enlightenment are the basis of our democracies and universities in the 21st century: belief in reason, science, skepticism, secularism, and equality. In fact, no other era compares with the Age of Enlightenment. Classical Antiquity is inspiring, but a world away from our modern societies. The Middle Ages was more reasonable than its reputation, but still medieval. The Renaissance was glorious, but largely because of its result: the Enlightenment. The Romantic era was a reaction to the Age of Reason – but the ideals of today’s modern states are seldom expressed in terms of romanticism and emotion. Immanuel Kant’s argument in the essay ‘Perpetual Peace’ (1795) that ‘the human race’ should work for ‘a cosmopolitan constitution’ can be seen as a precursor for the United Nations.

During the course of this class, there were five major literary movements that was covered. Those movements were the Enlightenment, Romanticism,Realism, Modernism, and Postwar. Each movement has it own distinct characteristic and reformations. For my paper, I specifically want to go over the question ; how has reason moved from the Enlightenment era to Romanticism era to Realism era to Modernism era to the Postwar era? Over the various readings in this class, I am going to go over examples that displays how reason was viewed in each movement.

John Locke believed that people were born free and equal with three natural rights: life, liberty and property. He had a positive view on human abilities and believed that humans can achieve anything they set their minds to. He believed that a person cannot put themselves into slavery and it is against human nature to subject oneself to absolute power because humans empower themselves. Therefore, according to the ideology of Locke, the ideal form of government is one run by the people because they have the natural rights to govern themselves and look after the welfare of society. He considered it the role of the government to protect the rights of the people. If the government violates the social contract,

The Enlightenment was a golden era of rebirth and growth for the people of Europe. During this time the printing press was in mass use, and for the first time in history, books were available for all classes. Education was a big idea of the age, and with a new source of information, ideas were distributed to the masses. Great philosophers were now able to be heard, and their concepts could now spread across the county. John Locke was one of the many great speakers of his time who talked about the ideas of equality and that people were molded by life so they should not be controlled by the government. He was the first person to speak out about the outrageous amount of control that leaders had over their people. This concept helped influence the American Revolution, and build their government, by creating the idea that everyone should be equal, and people should not be abused by their leaders. Another excellent leader during the Enlightenment era was a man by

He believed that all men were equal by nature, and that we must consider, “all men are naturally in… a state of personal freedom,” explicating that nature allows all to be free. He also says all humankind are deserving of the same rights and equality despite of who they may be, saying, “Creatures of the same species and rank… should also be equal…” In addition, Locke elaborated on his beliefs that people should be involved in their government. He states, “When the government is dissolved, the people are at liberty to provide for themselves by erecting a new legislative,” suggesting legislative and executive branches of government.

Americans in the Enlightenment period strongly connected themselves with the classical age in terms of how they approached their art. The Enlightenment period lasted for about 150 years, from approximately 1700 -1850. Throughout this time period many artists took inspiration from the classical age which occurred in ancient Greece and Rome hundreds of years before. We can see examples of this in buildings like The White house and Monticello in America, and Kedleston Hall in England. These three buildings, though located in very different parts of the world, all have a number of aestheticly similar attributes.

The Great Enlightenment caused a great influx of independent thinkers and progressive ideas in the Western world. Through new philosophies coined by Locke, Voltaire, Descartes, Montesquieu, and many others, a new age in society was jumpstarted. Through the Age of Enlightenment, many revolutions were sparked in several areas of life. Enlightenment was a loose revolution made of scattered “philosophes” that caused a change in life as it was known. The Age of Enlightenment could easily be defined as the most pivotal event in history due to its mass effects on education, individuality, and theoretical advancements.