Create a new account

It's simple, and free.

The Enlightenment

The Enlightenment is the period in European thought characterized by an emphasis on experience and reason, with a mistrust of religion and traditional authority, and the gradual emergence of the ideals of liberal, secular, democratic societies. The movement can be discerned in England

in the seventeenth century with the writings of Francis Bacon and Thomas Hobbes; it is seen in France with the new emphasis on unaided reason as expressed in the works of RenT Descartes. The full-flowing of the Enlightenment came in the eighteenth century, especially in France, Scotland, and Germany, where the philosophy of Immanuel Kant is particularly significant. 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 U.S. Constitution, while not a utilitarian document, is often cited as a concrete embodiment of the ideals of the Enlightenment.

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. A principle offered by Descartes explains the nature of the Enlightenment as he refers to the task of the will being to guide the path of knowledge so that we can confront this knowledge with the demand for clear and distinct ideas. It is through this principle that Kant sees the true nature of the age. Kant stated,

Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed nonage. Nonage is the inability to use one's own understanding without another's guidance. This nonage is self-imposed if its cause lies not in lack of understanding but in indecision and lack of courage to use one's own mind without another's guidance.

Kant expresses the view that the public can enlighten itself if it is given the freedom to do so, and this wo...

Page 1 of 8 Next >

More on The Enlightenment...

Loading...
APA     MLA     Chicago
The Enlightenment. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 10:15, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1692728.html