The Age Of Reason Of The 17th Century And The Age Of Enlightenment

Introduction

In 17th century, Isaac Newton and Rene Descartes are not only known to have simply disagreed on their scientific theories, but also to strongly disagreeing on the basic method of developing theories. While Descartes deduced physics from axioms, Newton induced his laws from observational evidence.

The Age of Reason of the 17th Century and the Age of Enlightenment, a century later along with the great advances in science, the growth of religious tolerance and the rise of liberalism marked the real beginning of modern philosophy. As such, this period can be seen as an ongoing battle between two opposing principles that is between Rationalism and Empiricism. This revolution in philosophical thought was sparked by the French philosopher and mathematician René Descartes, the first figure in the movement known as Rationalism, and much of subsequent Western philosophy can be seen as a response or a reaction to his ideas. His method was to get rid of everything about which there could be even a suspicion of doubt to arrive at the single unquestionable principle that he possessed consciousness and was able to think "I think, therefore I am" in Latin "Cogito ergo sum"

When François Marie Arouet de Voltaire (1694–1778) was visiting London, he found that philosophy like many other things there had changed significantly. He had left the world a plenum, and now he now found it was a vacuum. At Paris the universe was seen composed of vortices of subtle matter but nothing