The Era Of Enlightenment: The Age Of Reason

The Enlightenment was a movement that shunned superstition and was more in favor with a scientific explanation of the world. The Enlightenment was also known as the Age of Reason or Age of Enlightenment. It started in Europe and America around the 17th and 18th centuries. The Enlightenment was about people who used their critical thinking skills to argue knowledge, education, politics, religion, and art. The enlightenment produced an increased number of inventions, books, scientific findings, political laws, and revolutions.

CANDIDE AND ENLIGHTENMENT In this essay, I will read Candide in the light of Enlightenment philosophy and also with reference to Kant's answer to the question “What is Enlightenment?” Although Candide (1759) and the short essay by Kant “What is Enlightenment?” were written during different decades of eighteenth century but both of them reflect the age of Enlightenment in their works. This essay is divided into two parts: Part I discusses about the age of the Enlightenment and Kant's essay on Enlightenment, Part II discusses Candide in the context of Part I where Voltaire’s views against optimism and his character Candide's journey towards the Enlightenment are discussed.

The age of reason and enlightenment was a period where people were trapped and confined to one way of life, one way of living or job. An example of this is in a fascist society where you bow down to one person and one person only. John Locke, Mary Wollenstone, Voltaire, Adam Smith were all philosophers in the Age of Enlightenment. John Locke wrote in 1690 The Second Treatise on Civil Government this showed what his opinion on government is. Voltaire’s Letters Concerning The English Nation says that if many religions in a government that allows it. The people will be at peace and not concerned with each other. The philosophers during the enlightenment period who were looking for one thing the natural laws of philosophy, human thinking. Just like Isaac Newton found what gravity is. They strived to find how the human mind thought of the world and politics. The ideas that the philosopher said in their documents are; economic rights, religious

The Enlightenment gave people power to make the changes they wanted for independence and politics using intellect and reason, their natural right. The norm of a society that is modelled today became reason over

Before the Enlightenment, europe ruled by an absolute monarch, which ruled by divine right (The idea that God gave them all their power and authority.) There was no freedom of religion or separation of state. The peasants, which made up the majority of the population being between seventy to ninety percent, had little to no money and had no concern about politics. Around the late seventeenth and eighteenth century the Enlightenment began also known as the age of reason. The Enlightenment was the time of applying reason to the human and natural world. The key ideas of the enlightenment were separation of powers,freedom of religion, women’s rights, and the spread of ideas.

The Enlightenment was a period of time that stressed the importance of reason and individual ideas. Many philosophers published works criticizing a country’s monarch or divulging the flaws they saw in a system within the government, such as the justice system. The Enlightenment also stressed the importance of education, and as a result of this, literacy rates experienced a major upward trend. Now able to read the philosopher’s works, a larger sum of people now were educated on the corruptions within their government. This caused a questioning of traditional practices, and people began to believe they could revise their government. These new ideas played as a catalyst to acts of resistance, or in a broader retrospect, the French Revolution.

The Enlightenment began in Europe during the late 1600’s after the restore from the dark ages. This was a time of reason when philosophers gathered in salons to discuss ways of learning and challenging new ideas. Philosophers, like Voltaire,created the idea of freedom of speech and Baron de Montesquieu developed the idea of separation of powers in governments. It was the philosophers goals to improve to society by creating new concepts and solutions to solve problems and influence future generations. John Locke introduced the Idea of “Natural Rights”, giving everyone life.

(1) “The movement known as the Enlightenment included writers living at different times in carious countries. Its early exponents, the philosophes, popularized the rationalism and scientific ideas of the 17th century. They exposed contemporary social and political abuses and argued that reform was necessary and possible.” (The Heritage of World Civilizations). This led to tremendous rethinking of religious and moral matters as well as scientific theory.

Enlightenment was a time of embracing logic and reasoning whilst rejecting untested beliefs and superstition. This time period occurred from the year 1694 until 1795. During this time writers used their medium of the written word to express their beliefs based on logic while denouncing old-world ideologies . During Enlightenment human nature was often put under scrutiny as thinkers strived to find what qualities resulted in the best possible human. In this piece of writing, the reader will be able to see the opinions of human nature held by three great thinkers from this time period: Voltaire, Jonathan Swift and Daniel Defoe.

“The most perfect education, in my opinion,is…to enable the individual to attain such habits of virtue as well render [her] independent” (Doc D). The Enlightenment was a time period from the early 17th century to the late 18th century. There were many philosophers who contributed to making The Enlightenment. John Locke was a man who wanted freedom of government during 1690 (17th century) in England. He wanted this because he believed everyone was born with natural rights and the government should respect them and whoever didn’t, the people would have the right to impeach them.

The Enlightenment Period was the reformation of society, politics, and the economy. The Enlightenment Period was occurring throughout Europe during the 18th century. Traditional views were challenged by science and reasoning. Philosophers who had a great impact during the Enlightenment period included: John Locke, Voltaire and Montesquieu, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Adam Smith. John Locke proposed that everyone was born free and had certain unalienable rights. Locke’s philosophy can be observed through sections of the United States Declaration of Independence.

The Enlightenment was a European intellectual movement of the late 17th and 18th centuries that emphasized the use of reason and individualism. It was mostly influenced by Descartes, Locke, and Newton. The idea of enlightened absolutism valued reason rather than faith. Enlightened monarchs had total control but embraced rationality. Being an enlightened ruler meant allowing religious tolerance, freedom of speech, and the right to hold private property.

From the late 1500’s to the late 1700’s, the Enlightenment period occurred. Thinkers and philosophers across Europe created ideas that changed the way people thought. For example, John Locke thought of the idea that everyone had natural rights. These rights consisted of the right to life, liberty, and property. Voltaire had the idea that the power lies in the hands of the people and their elected government. Benjamin Franklin, who had a great influence on the new government in the Americas as he told the ideas of government structure that he thought was better. Without these three people and their thoughts, the world wouldn't be the way it is today.

The Age of Enlightenment has transformed the world into the interactive, academic, global community it is today. Over a few centuries, many thinkers, scientists, and other Enlightenment figures shared their thoughts on important matters and refused to be silenced. These people transformed the political, social, and moral norms that many people had consented to. The Age of Enlightenment emphasized fairer government, exchange of ideas, and doing things out of curiosity.

The Enlightenment was a very important time for history. It was a time when people started to discuss the rights and freedoms that they believed that they or others deserved. The Enlightenment was a an International movement that occurred during the seventeenth and eighteenth century. It happened along with the rise of scientific thinking, religious thought and discussed the importance of nature and the natural order as a source of knowledge. They emphasised the idea of intellectual freedom and human rights which led to a conflict between the supporters of these new ideas and the political and religious establishments that had .