What Is Enlightenment Essay Research Paper What

What Is Enlightenment Essay, Research Paper

What is Enlightenment.

In the eighteenth century in France Britain and Germany a general

intellectual move towards greater reliance on the human sciences and their

relevance to the boundaries of existing knowledge began.

This movement was referred to as “The Enlightenment”. As the name

suggests the movement set out to shed a greater on humanity, human nature

and the nature of existence. A great desire was shared to determine the

extent of our knowledge of the world and for ways to gain a greater

understanding of it.

This movement relied on a mass rejection of tradition and already called for

the removal of all established conceptions and prejudices commonly held.

The Catholic Church, and indeed all religions came under heavy scrutiny

and rejection due to their all pervasive grip on all matters educational,

scientific and philosophical. Religious morals and guidelines also came to be

disregarded in philosophical terms.

Science, logic and rationalism became the principal tools of philosophy in

this era as was evidenced by the new methods employed in argument,

debate, analysis and critique.

Tradition in all its forms, be it religious or scientific was eschewed in favour

of a clean slate from which to begin re-assessing what we can know.

Although Descartes was the first Philosopher to employ reason as a tool and

Francis Bacon greatly influenced Enlightenment thought it is John Locke,

an English Protestant philosopher based in Amsterdam who is perceived to

be the father figure of this movement. In France a legion of intellectuals

known as the philosophes became a phenomena, and globally thinkers such

as Hume and Kant helped define the enlightenment movement.

In order to understand what the Enlightenment is one must consider the

historical period it influenced and took its influence from.

SOCIAL CLIMATE AND CULTURE.

The enlightenment took place against a historical background of momentous

cultural change. The reformation of the fifteenth century and the great split

of the Catholic Church into Roman Catholicism and the various forms of

Protestantism led to much intellectual chagrin with the prevalent Churches.

The main effect of the reformation was its undermining of clerical authority

in all things intellectual, artistic and philosophical. This factored greatly in

paving the way for the rejuvenating Renaissance period experienced in

Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

During the Renaissance scholars began to study in their own right, free of

the shackles of religous sponsorship and its entailing limitations. This form

of study and self-improvement is exactly what the enlightenment was

intended to allow the common man. One of the implications of the

movement is that any man can better himself through education. As such

modern science and philosophy prospered and flourished and began to

advance at a more rapid pace than had ever been seen before. A scientific

revolution took place. This revolution further tore down reliance on

tradition.

Man began to re-assess his position in nature through scientific method.

This reliance on scientific method became all pervasive in the philosophy of

the time.

Furthermore the enlightenment heralded in a more rational time in political

thought and came at a time of great revolution. In England inspired by this

new Enlightenment thought, the Monarchy abdicated its sovereignty to the

English Parliament in sixteen-eighty-eight, indicative of a re-appraisal of the

belief that the monarch was God’s voice on earth and ruled by divine right.

This led to a time of great growth and change in England. England

established the first “Bill of rights” protecting its subjects and itself. London

became a cosmopolitan capital and a centre of great learning and innovation.

The country experienced an Agricultural revolution as a result of the rapidly

advancing scientific progress brought about through the Enlightenment.

In France a similar growth period was being experienced. Paris became the

focal point of all enlightenment thought. Philosophical texts the world over

were being universally written in French, which was seen as indicative of

the

new intellectual sophistication growing around the world in this time

period. Paris had become the epitome of cultural sophistication and was

seen as the pinnacle of what society can be. It set the tone in literature, art,

fashion and science. Within this newly intellectual society an elite group of

prevalent thinkers, known as the “Philosophes” became key to the spread of

the enlightenment and its ideals.

THE PHILOSOPHES AND THE ENLIGHTENMENT’S OBSESSION WITH KNOWLEDGE.

The Philosophes were Parisian noblemen who shared a common interest in

all things philosophical and scientific. Th

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