The Idea Of Enlightenment

During the period in English colonial history where the frameworks for democratic societies were forming, specifically the years between 1607 and 1765, two events had massive influence over said development: the Enlightenment and the Great Awakening. The Enlightenment gave way to the kinds of rationale that would later spark the American Revolution and the Great Awakening would give the inspire American citizens to question their authorities and how fit they were to rule.

Critics propose that just because something cannot be confirmed, does not mean that it is not acknowledged or that there is no reason in trusting it. Rene Descartes wanted certain knowledge to be absolute, although this is not the only option, and others would claim that justified knowledge is adequate. Other philosophers claim skepticism is imperious because a skeptic cannot know that skepticism is absolute.

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.

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.

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.

Political leaders in the colonies lost power when their institutions of local government were abolished or absorbed under the government of the Dominion. In general, colonists felt that the new political system, which centered on a royal governor rather than colonial assemblies and town meetings, took away their rights and represented political tyranny.

The ages of Great Awakening and Enlightenment were two of the earliest movements in the early colonies. These movements proved that people can be influenced in many different ways in relation to politics and religion. The Great Awakening called for the revival of the evangelical movement, while the age of Enlightenment took the focus off of the traditional church and dared colonists to apply individualistic views of religion, thus birthing many new religious denominations that challenged traditional religious doctrine. Both ages influenced the colonists to help shape our country. It is evident that the Enlightenment movement had a more profound effect on foundation upon which the United States was built; this young nation prospered under this new found form of religious freedom.

In the 18th century, Enlightenment and the Great Awakening changed the idea of freedom for the colonists. The Great Awakening was a time of religious revival in the colonies. Enlightenment was an intellectual movement in the 18th century which emphasized economic and political freedom. American and British tensions grew in this time period due to Britain wanting America to be under the king’s control. Enlightenment, the Great Awakening, the Founding Fathers, and different social groups changed the ideas of freedom and equality. During the American Revolution, the idea of freedom changed from Enlightenment and the Founding Father’s ideas of economic freedom, to equality in social groups such as slaves, Native Americans, and woman.

Liberty, equality, and justice-these were the enlightenment ideas that made the modern day United States of America. They heavily influenced the progress of the American Revolution and drove the colonists towards the initiation of the contemporary United States of America we know today. The origins of these ideas began with French intellectuals, thus making them major influencers in this revolution. The American Revolution ended two centuries of British rule and created the present-day United States of America. It was due to the desire of American independence that the colonies realized they wanted a change therefore the colonists decided to revolt. Colonists began to be outraged by the harsh policies that the British would put on them. The

The Enlightenment is intriguing period lasted from 1600 to1800.French historians traditionally place the period between 1715, the year that Louis XIV died, and 1789, the beginning of the French Revolution. The Enlightenment is known in French as the ‘’Siècle des Lumières’’ (Century of Enlightenment) was a philosophical and architectural movement which dominated the world of ideas in Europe in the18th century.

The Enlightenment happened during the 1700s when Europeans scientist and philosophers begin to question about everything and began to understand the world based on reason and at this time stood out several people like Galileo Galilei, Nicholas Copernicus, Issac Newton, Adam Smith and many others. They made great discoveries that changed the world and the form of government.

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the scientific revolution brought about a slow change in societies’ thinking regarding math, earth science, physics, and astronomy. Early on, new ideas about our universe were not widely accepted, especially from the church. This soon changed due to the hard work and perseverance of several scientists and philosophers who unbeknownst to them brought about an era known as the Enlightenment.

The Declaration of Independence was written by Thomas Jefferson and became a very important document on July 4, 1776. The 16th grievance says,”For imposing taxes on us without our consent:”. This went against social contract because, for example Obama care, they are raising taxes to support those in the program. The 11th grievance says,”He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies without the consent of our legislatures”. This went against natural rights because even though there was peace, there was invasion in civilians personal homes. The 14th grievance says,”For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:”. This went against natural rights by giving the troops’ security,

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 is the understanding of social life and the basics of human nature through our own logic. Humans have the ability to educate themselves and make progress in their own life decisions. Hence the change of human knowledge, such as the ability to make an understanding of reason and logic. For instance, when having faith in solving society’s problems and to encourage change to better the publics eye. Enlightenment, is to inform and convince others of one’s ideas. For an example, religion is something to inform people to and to “enlighten” them to understand and believe or even convince of the idea of religion.