The+Enlightenment

=The Enlightenment= //...from the way needles are made to the way cannons are founded...//

The Enlightenment was the period of time during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries marked by the increased use of reason to answer philosophical questions. It was characteristic of the people during this time to remain skeptical of the truths that previous generations had believed in. They believed that it was their job to “enlighten the masses” in order to improve society. As an enlightened society, it would be much easier to prevent poverty and oppression in society. Enlightenment philosophers also believed that once society was engaged in reason and knowledge it would only be a short time before humanity as a whole would make great progress.

Enlightenment Philosophy: Rationalism
Rationalism was the main belief of philosophers during the Enlightenment Period. Rationalist philosophers believed that people couldn’t rely on their senses to learn things about the world; instead they must use intellectual and deductive reasoning to solve problems. One of the main projects of philosophers during this time was to show that a “supreme being” exists through reasoning. This firm belief in the definite power of human reason led to the title “The Age of Reason”. The philosophers felt that their duty was to lay the foundation for morals, religion, and ethics in accordance with reason.

Representative Philosophers

 * **Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu 1689-1755**
 * Montesquieu originated the idea of "division of powers", the governmental system involving a legislative power, a judicial power, and an executive power. The three branches share and divide the power to prevent an absolute ruler from taking over.

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 * **Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet) 1694-1778**
 * A powerful political writer, Voltaire was a brilliant philosopher who focused primarily on societal freedoms. He believed very strongly in each person's right to specific freedoms within the government, like the freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and the right to a fair trial. Voltaire faced much opposition from the French government, but held fast to his beliefs in spite of the hardship he endured because of them. He wanted change in society, and would do anything it took to get it.



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 * **Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1712-1778**
 * Rousseau was an Enlightenment philosopher best known for his popular saying, "We should return to nature". He focused on the negative effects that civilization has on the "natural good" of mankind and proposed that people should strive to maintain the childlike innocence they are born with for as long as they can (316). He saw civilized culture as tainted and recognized that it was society's influences that corrupted innocent youth.

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 * **Immanuel Kant 1724-1804**
 * Kant started out as a professor at a university, teaching philosophy, and went on to become “one of the most influential thnkers of modern Europe”, according to Wikipedia.com. His main goal in his philosophical studies was to prove that Christians had the right idea, to show that the foundations of the Christian faith held true. He believed we experience the world and gain knowledge about our surroundings through sensory perception, but also that the way we perceive the world is influenced by our reason. He believed that each person can only know what life is like for himself, because everyone experiences the world in a different way, according to the influences in his life. In the end, Kant determined that “where both reason and experience fall short, there occurs a vacuum that can be filled by faith” (331).
 * Kant’s other big philosophical project included his theories on moral law. He penned a set of rules that he believes everyone should be following in order to feel morally right within themselves. The first part of his moral law reads: “Act as if the maxim of your action were to become through your will a Universal Law of Nature” (335). This means that if anyone else would fall into the same situation as you, you would want him or her to follow your example and act in the exact same way. The second part of Kant’s moral law says, “Act in such a way that you always treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never simply as a means, but always at the same time as an end” (335). This means that people shouldn’t use others or themselves simply as a means to achieve somehting.

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Additional Links
http://www.philosopher.org.uk/ Visit this site and follow the links to learn more about the Enlightenment and associated philosophers. https://www.wsu.edu/~brians/hum_303/enlightenment.html This site includes a complete history of the Enlightenment, covering everything from the period's roots to its most popular philosophers. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/15970/introduction_to_enlightenment_thought.html Check out this site, an introduction to Enlightenment thought and the French Revolution. http://www.hernandofla.com/litenlightenment.htm The most popular literary works from the Enlightenment era are outlined on this site.

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