Ideas Of The Enlightenment Era

During the Enlightenment, revolutionary thinkers called philosophes brought about new ideas as to how to better understand and improve their society. They were all modern thinkers and had the best interests of society in mind. Although each philosoph had his or her own ideas, they all centered around one main theme: equality and human freedom.

Some of the leaders of the American Revolution were influenced by Enlightenment ideas which are, freedom of speech, equality, freedom of press, and religious tolerance. American colonists did not have these rights, in result, they rebelled against England for independence. In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote about American's natural rights to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." These ideas came from the Enlightenment, the ideals led towards the American Revolution soon after (Fisk). "The American Revolution must be considered as an anticolonial war for independence, not only a war of liberation from overseas rule but a war for freedom. The American Revolution was a movement to fulfill aspirations to acquire more property" (Morris, 3).

Throughout the Enlightenment, philosophes have made discoveries as well as have ideas that have revolutionized society as we know it today. The Enlightenment took place during the 17th and 18th century in Europe. During this period, philospohes, or philosophers, would discuss different questions and brought new, intellecutal ideas that brought out the Age of Reason. There is many different points of view of what the philosophes main idea was during the enlightenment. The main idea of the philosophes was greater individual freedom. This idea was a key part of their thinking in three areas: government, religion and women's rights.

The Enlightenment period was an extremely impactful revolution which caused changes in societies around the world. It began in 1651, people across the country took a stand against their unfair rights. In order to have a peaceful society, everyone must be treated with equality which can only occur if there is a fair government system in place. If people have to fight and kill to have their natural rights granted, something has to be done about it. The enlightenment period encouraged the people to share their ideas when before they felt they had no say. When the people come together to fight for something they believe in many good and bad outcomes can take place. This time period led to many changes that have drastic effects on history. As people joined multiple documents were created showing the impact of this time period. A couple of these influential documents was the English Bill of Rights, U.S constitution, and the Haitian Constitution.

The ideas of the Enlightenment inspired both the American and French Revolution. The Revolution was based on the principles of liberty, equality, and fraternity. Philosophers of the Enlightenment, known as philosophes, favored limited monarchy, freedom of speech, and equality. The Enlightenment was based on the ideas of John Locke who said that all men are born with natural rights of life, liberty, and property. He believed that human nature was basically good and that in a state of nature, without any government, people would be reasonable and cooperative and could both learn from their experiences and improve themselves. France’s government and society on the eve of the Revolution went against everything the Enlightenment philosophers favored.

One of the major concepts of the Enlightenment was that ideas shouldn’t be trusted or followed just because they were customary. Colonists started to realize that just because something had always been done one way doesn’t mean they have to do it that way. A second major concept of the Enlightenment was

The purpose of all great thinkers is to push the boundaries of the past’s beliefs and encourage a new generation to be receptive to the anticipated ways of the future. The Philosophes were a group of great thinkers during the Enlightenment period. Their ideas permeated society in a way that was revolutionary; they created a reaction and transformed the world, in the best way possible. The term ‘philosophe’ comes from the French word for philosopher. Though, ascribing this sole vocation to The Philosophes deeply undermines their work and communal impact. These intellectuals inspired an era of progression in all aspects of society. Coming down from the height of The Scientific Revolution, The Enlightenment Thinkers advocated rational thought

Enlightenment thinkers rejected assumptions such as accepting of ideas of the Church because the Church says they are correct and instead needed empirical and factual evidence to support their theories. Many theories and laws speculated during the Enlightenment proved to be true and became the basis for rational thinking. The Enlightenment was mainly composed of farmers, artisans, and well-educated colonists, who delved into subjects such as science and human intelligence in costly books and newspapers. Benjamin Franklin, a middle-class colonist, is widely considered as the essence of the Enlightenment, as he had a ravenous intellectual curiosity and believed in the use and application of science. This American movement strengthened colonists’ contempt towards English royalty, pushing for independence rather than being property of another country. Enlightenment thinkers presented many philosophies encompassing the rights of man and the duties of a government, such as John Locke, who contributed ideas of entitlement to life, liberty, and property and separation of powers were eventually incorporated into the current

To begin, Philosophes of The Enlightenment were truly remarkable. They are constantly thinking of ways to better the sake of the world. Voltaire, John Locke, Adam Smith and Mary Wollstonecraft all had one purpose, to unite everyone. The main idea that they were trying to imply is that everyone should interact with each other to make the world a better place. Religion should not be separated, government all be ruled by one branch, women be inferior to men and lastly the people who are living in a bad government should have right to abolish the government and prevent it from going bad.Concurrently, you might ask, why his was their main idea? It's quite simple, These 4 profound Philosophes were alive in an era that wasn't the best. There was chaos among the people and government, which led to society to begin to tear up. The Philosophes wanted to change that they wanted to live in a world where you can pass past a religion with a friendly hello not, "cut one another’s throats out".This idea was a key part of their thinking in three areas: change in Government, Unity of religion , and natural rights. All three of these main ideas had such a big impact on how time played a role in society.

In Europe in the late seventeenth to eighteenth century, The Enlightenment took place. The Enlightenment was a time when people began to question the status quo. Many creative philosophers -who were well educated people- would gather and talk about how things are and how they could be. Topics of discussion included views about the economy or government. Three of the most well known and influential philosophers during this time were John Locke, Voltaire, and Mary Wollstonecraft. John Locke was an English philosopher who thought that the government had too much control. He thought that if the government wasn’t so persistent in people's’ everyday lives, then society would become much better for everyone. Voltaire was a French philosopher

During the Enlightenment period, it was the age of reason. Where people understood and viewed things differently. However, centuries later from that time period (1700s) both America and France incorporated and reflected various enlightenment ideas and formed it into several documents such as the Bill of rights, Declaration of Independence both America and France, and the Constitution. These Enlightenment thinkers believed in our natural rights, our equality, and our freedom of speech, expression, and press. By having a unified government and society America and France decide to incorporate these ideas to change the fighting and all of the revolts and decided to get the freedom everyone deserves, except for women until later on. However, both America and France took bits of pieces of these ideas and slightly changed them. The one who reflected most of these enlightenment ideas was America.

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.

It wasn't until the American Revolution halfway across the world on the other side of the Atlantic ocean that the metaphorical seed planted in France finally sprouted. The Americans took these Enlightenment ideas of freedom, liberty and equality, and immediately put them into effective action against British oppression, and thus the American Revolution began. The American Revolution borrowed heavily from Enlightenment ideas. In fact, Thomas Jefferson, a key character in the the Revolution, based his ideas directly on the ideas of Locke, declaring that all men were equal. Although he altered these ideas slightly by stating a more radical idea that the people could overthrow oppressive government, his idea that the government exists solely to serve its people was nonetheless identical to that of Locke.

Each time period in history has had their own characteristics, key figures, and impact impact on the world. While each period is equally important to how we progressed from the past, the enlightenment period, from the 1700s to the 1800s, has contributed immensely to how everyday people go about their days. Without even realizing it, people have been molded by the enlightenment period, allowing themselves to face new ideas with an open mind . The grand designs of this period were empiricism, rationalism, and natural law, each still essential to the 21st century. Empiricism, the theory that all knowledge is gained through experience and that we are all born with a clean slate (tabula rasa in latin), has a large following. An example of

The Enlightenment era was a significant time period in which many advancements were made in the understanding of science and philosophy. Through science and philosophy the idea of human rights was first introduced. Philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes and John Locke wrote articles regarding the role of the individual and the role the individual plays in society. They elaborated on how governments are supposed to respect and honor the inalienable human rights attained during birth. The ideas that were presented during this time period have continued to have an impact in today’s society and provide an understanding of how humans around the world, regardless of gender, race, social status, and religion, deserve to be treated. Female genital mutilation is a procedure that is considered an important human rights issue in some parts of the world by the international community. Female genital mutilation or FGM is defined as a procedure involving partial or total removal of female genital organs . “Subjecting girls and women to female genital mutilation violates their rights that are protected in international and regional instruments .” It is a social ritual that is performed in 28 countries from Africa to the Middle East. 130 million women are affected by this harmful practice each year with most girls being 4-11 years old (See Figure 1). The prevalence of female genital mutilation in Somalia is the largest in the world with 98% (Figure 2). FGM has been considered a human rights