The Enlightenment : The Central Ideas Of The Enlightenment

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 is said to have begun in the 1680’s, the same decade that the “Glorious Revolution” occurred, which crowned daughter of James II Mary and her husband Prince William of Orange Monarchs of England. This turning point in English history can be considered part of the Enlightenment due to the switch from an Absolute Monarchy to a Constitutional Monarchy and the passing of the English Bill of Rights in 1689 after William’s ascension to the throne.

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.

During the 17 and 18th century there was, the Enlightenment Period(a.k.a The age of Reason.) There were a lot of new ideas presented to the public that have changed the world. What was their main idea; and what were they asking? These philosophers were all talking about different things, but their focus was mainly on people and our traits. During this time period the philosophers (Voltaire, Locke, Smith, & Wollstonecraft) were really talking about the same thing. Things that these philosophers were talking about was that we should have the right to a freedom of economics. More ideas these philosophers had in mind was that people should have the freedom of religion and if in any cause the government fails the people should have the right to take over and recreate a new government.

He argued that people are entitled to life, liberty, and property. Many revolutionists pulled from his ideas and wanted to put them into effect with their efforts. Revolutionists wanted everyone to be educated and be able to think for him or herself. They thought this would transform the old regime states that emphasized nobility and their privileges. These societies were brought over to the New World and were grounded in hierarchy. People were starting to talk about liberty and equality in different ways. Slaves were also fighting for equal rights and to be accepted in society. These new ideas however were being discussed around the same time the slave trade was at its height. The Enlightenment allowed for individuals to have more rights and reform a society with no hierarchal power.

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.

Have you ever thought about how our society became how it is today? The enlightenment was time period during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries when thinkers called philosophers tried to find new ways to help and improve their societies. These philosophers used reason and observation to think of ideas to change many different areas of society. Philosophers during the enlightenment believed they could improve society in three different areas, government, religion, and the role of women.

The Enlightenment helped to lead to revolutionary thought in Europe by teaching Americans and Europeans to have independent thought and to question authority. Two famous Enlightenment thinkers were Benjamin Franklin and John Locke. Franklin pointed out that the Enlightenment encourages individuality and equality. Locke believed in natural law and natural rights for all people. The Enlightenment also supports reason and science, progress, and knowledge. Americans decided they had a responsibility to question authority and think independently.

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.

One of two central ideas of the Enlightenment was that religion was to be more introspective. This changed how the church ruled everyday life, it became less about what they said was right and more about what each person believed was right as people began interpreting God’s words for themselves. This also fostered the idea of improvement, because in becoming introspective, religion became about how each individual person could improve and be a better version of themselves. Another important idea that came along with this was the use of reason to explain things instead of accepting things because someone else said so. This secularized such fields as science, medicine, and politics, as well as everyday life, and led to the decrease in the use

The ideas from the Enlightenment and its thinkers greatly influenced the world today, everything from our ideas of modern government to our view of everyday life. Important Enlightenment philosophes such as Locke, Montesquieu, Hobbes and Voltaire established controversial ideas and theories on human nature, natural rights, and how government should be run and which form of it was superior. These ideas were all never even thought of before, and shattered many of the previous notions of ideas, such as ideas of how to run government, that had already been established and taken as a standard for several hundreds of years.

I have always been very interested in the Enlightenment period and European life in general. So when we were assigned the packet and questions, I was excited to go over what we had already learned a few years ago. I have always enjoyed comparing people’s beliefs and stances on certain issues. The most interesting stance in the packet was about the philosophes and how they advocate for reason. Learning about the five concepts that formed the core of their beliefs was intriguing to me because I have never studied the philosophes in depth. Even though the philosophes was only a small portion of the packet, I was thrilled to attain new information about the Enlightenment.