Rationalism In The Age Of Enlightenment

Empiricist philosophers such as John Locke believe that knowledge must come from experience. Others philosophers such as Descartes believe that knowledge is innate; this way of thinking is used by rationalist. In this paper I will discuss the difference between Descartes rationalism in his essays "The Meditations" and Locke's empiricism in his essays "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding". I will then lend my understanding as to what I believe as the ultimate source of knowledge.

The Age of Reason was during the 1700. American’s thinking and literature was based on facts and reason instead of the bible. Their thoughts were on freedom from Britain. During the Age of Reason, they lived by guiding principles such as respect, honesty, courage, grit, and perseverance.

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 was a period of time where people began to change the way they thought about government and made reforms towards the betterment of society. Before the Enlightenment, Europe was controlled by absolute monarchs; kings and queens who are in complete control. Among these were the 5 Great European Powers; France, Britain, Russia, Prussia, and Austria. When philosophers such as Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Voltaire, and Beccaria preached new ideas that threatened these monarchies. John Locke believed in the natural rights; rights to life, liberty, and property.

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.

However, the philosophes of the Enlightenment believed in rational thinking. Enlightened thinkers believed truth could be discovered through reason and logic. These opinions would evidently show that the philosophes did not believe in emotional driven decisions, but rather in logical thinking. John Locke, for example, strongly believed that all humans are rational individuals, as well as Renè Descartes, who also believed that problems

The study of philosophy has existed since the beginning of time because of human curiosity. It fueled the minds of countless philosophers, all in pursuit of understanding the world through the five branches Epistemology, Metaphysics, Ethics, Politics, and Esthetics. Throughout the age’s different theories and beliefs of philosophers contributed to our current understanding of the world. During the different eras philosophical beliefs influenced events and documents of the time. The Enlightenment Era, often called the Age of Reason, brought about many astonishing works deliberating the nature of human beings. As times progressed to the age of Enlightenment the different ideas surfaced changing the way humans thought of themselves. Philosophers of the time believed in the essential goodness of human nature, this was based on the scientific and technological achievements. However, Rousseau claimed the development of civilization corrupted the natural goodness of humans. The beliefs during the age of Enlightenment were presented that we are creatures with the ability to reason and human nature is essentially good, contributing many ideas. Each Philosopher of the Enlightenment Period with very different works; Diderot, Rousseau, and Voltaire largely impacted and influenced the world from the Enlightenment period to today across many spectrums.

The Enlightenment era, occasionally referred to as the Age of Reason, was a union of thoughts and behavior that occurred all through the eighteenth century in Western Europe, England and American colonies. Scientific rationalism was the trademark of everything that is related to the Enlightenment era. Enlightenment thinkers alleged that the advancement of industries and science promised a new age of equality and advancement for human race. People raveled more and more goods were produced for less money. The greatest hindrance of human understanding proceeds from incompetency, dullness, and deceptions of the senses; meaning, things that appeals to the senses overshadow things which do not appeal to the senses, although they be very important.

The ideas of the enlightenment during the eighteenth century was to promote reason, logic and freedom of thought over dogma, faith or religion, and especially the way government back then was running in Europe. It was revolutionary era because all the philosophers, and other smart thinkers at the time gathered their new opinion or ideas together to shift the way people, politicians or government, and religious figures thought about the rules of life in the universe.

Enlightenment began as an intellectual movement in the 17th and 18th century among European philosophers. It emphasized individual reason over tradition. In other words, enlightenment is illustrated by a belief in the authority of and need for human reason, particularly in regards to politics, education, and religion. The ideas of enlightenment were explored predominately by philosophers like Kant, Goethe, Voltaire, Rousseau, and Adam Smith. Living towards the end of the age of Enlightenment, Emmanuel Kant wrote about his experiences and understandings in regards to enlightenment, the threads of these ideas can be seen through the writings of other philosophers like Hume, Schleiermacher, and Herbert of Cherbury.

The Early Modern Western Enlightenment was an intellectual movement in the 17th and 18th centuries. The objective of the Enlightenment was to create authoritative ethics, and knowledge based on an “enlightened” rationality. The leaders’ that were part of this movement were directing the world towards progress and out of a long period of irrationality, superstition, and tyranny; which began during a historical period called the Dark Ages. Therefore, it provided a framework for the American and French Revolutions, as well as the rise of capitalism and the birth of socialism. Most of the ideas in the 18th century are common laws today; like freedom of speech, freedom of religion and the responsibilities of rulers to their people developed during this time. As well as a huge increase in scientific inquiry.

Enlightenment and reason, at the turning of the 17th century, were key factors in creating the world in all aspects of the way it exists today. Its rationality based philosophy produced questions, and criticisms towards the current methodologies and ideologies, that broke into the chaos that eventually spread like wildfire on a global scale. The key philosophers that influenced the enlightenment with their works include, but not limited to, Francis Bacon, Rene Descartes, John Locke and Baruch Spinoza. 1 The Declaration of Independence and the eventual writing of the Constitution of the United States of America, 1776-1787. Both can be traced back to having been influenced by the works of those philosophers.2 The same can be said for the likeminded civilians of French society of the time that were suffering under the rule of their monarch King Louis XVI.

Descartes can quickly be labeled as the leading spokesman for rationalists’ theories. He believes that senses do not provide consistently reliable feedback, and therefore, cannot be the determining source of knowledge (Vaughn 215). So, he relies on reason to act as the foundation for all of our knowledge. Through this foundation, Descartes hopes to permanently remove any trace of skepticism and establish a solid base that all other knowledge can be based on (Vaughn 215). Some analysts prefer to picture Descartes’ preferred method of knowledge as an inverted pyramid, with minimal blocks, truths, providing the foundation and support for all other ideas and truths (Vaughn 215).

Answer question 1 in Preston (2001, p. 39). Preston is a required reading. "Why should I be moral...Where do I think my own values come from?" The entry should be no more than 200 words. Do not delete this instruction.

The Enlightenment period was a revolutionary time where scientific and rational thought became the chief values of society. Thinkers such as John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau were signposts of this era, inspiring populations locally and abroad. This revolution of ideas led to political and societal upheaval throughout the Western world. This essay will argue that the Enlightenment principles of rationalism and universal rights shaped modern Europe and North America through the rejection of absolutist government and the movement towards an equal society. The effect of these Enlightenment ideas is evident throughout the ‘Declaration of Independence’, written by Thomas Jefferson and the Congressional Congress in 1776. These same ideas