The Enlightenment and Moral Theory

During the period known as the Enlightenment, moral theory centered on issues of reason and the degree to which moral theory derived from the application of reason. The question was whether moral precepts were brought into being by the application of reason or pre-existed and were only discovered by reason. The Enlightenment was the period in European history when writing and thought in general was characterized by an emphasis on experience and reason. This meant there was a mistrust of religion and traditional authority, and one result was the gradual emergence of the ideals of liberal, secular, democratic societies. The Enlightenment is associated with a materialist view of human beings, an optimism about human progress through education, and a general utilitarian approach to society and ethics. The emphasis on learning in the Enlightenment would contribute to the development of various systems of learning, the founding of universities and colleges, and the development of philosophical systems such as the one offered by Kant. Freedom is all that is required, says Kant, and he means here the freedom to use one's reason. One link found among the systems developed by Hobbes, Hume, Kant, and Mill is found on their reliance on reason and their mistrust of emotion as a source of morality, though they differ on the degree to which the basis of morality is innate or based on experience.

Hobbes was the first to apply the basic assumptions of science as it was known in the se

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ideas. In moral reasoning, he makes a distinction between reason and sentiment, and he notes that there has been some controversy over whether morals are derived from reason or from sentiment, and Hume denies that morals can be the result of reasoning. He says that there was a controversy over whether morals were derived from reason or from sentiment, meaning whether morals develop by means of a chain of reasoning and argument or from some feeling or internal sense. Hume says this question also relates to whether morals can be seen as the same to every intelligent being or as something that changes from person to person according to experience (167). Hume first rejects reason as the source of moral theory. If we remove sentiment from moral decisions, those decisions lack the power to regulate our activities (169). Hume says morality is determined by sentiment (171). He does give reason a role in making moral decisions, but sentiment precedes reason in this process so that what is important first is how we feel about an object or action and so whether we attribute blame or approbation (172). Hume, like Hobbes, begins with an analysis of human psychology. Hume sees the contents of the mind as perceptions, implying that the

Category: Philosophy - T