...The Small Enlightenment in Prussia and German States The Enlightenment was an expansive intellectual, philosophical, cultural, and social movement that spread throughout much of Europe during the 1700s. The Enlightenment was largely made possible by the Scientific Revolution which began in the 1500s and represented the biggest departure from The Middle Ages. After millenniums of obedience to the Church people started to break away from a long spell of ignorance and began to question ideas relating to society and nature. A period also known as ‘The Age of Reason’ saw the emergence of intellectuals advancing knowledge unlike ever before. What resulted were pivotal discoveries in the fields of mathematics, astronomy, physics, politics, economics, philosophy, music, and medicine that shaped the Western world for decades and centuries to come. While The Enlightenment didn’t help produce a revolutionary outcome such as in France, Prussia and German states still experienced a fair share of intellectual development during this time. Since Germany was divided into a multitude of smaller states, with different languages and influences, The Enlightenment didn’t have a full blown effect. Moreover, the combination of popular discontent with the Church and a fury of dissatisfaction among the nobility and middle class such as in France wasn’t entirely present in Prussia. Nonetheless, Frederick II the Great, the King of Prussia, borrowed ideas from other parts of Europe in an attempt...
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...In his essay titled "What is Enlightenment?" Immanuel Kant defines enlightenment as "man's leaving his self-caused immaturity." (145) In order to fully comprehend his definition, one must first clearly understand Kant's use of the term "immaturity." He explains that immaturity is not thinking for oneself because of a "lack of determination and courage to use one's intelligence without being guided by another." (145) To Kant, immaturity is the individual's fault. He explains that a pattern of immaturity is difficult to break, because it becomes comfortable for the individual to rely on others for knowledge. (145) The chief example that Kant provides to illustrate this point is domesticated animals. As an allusion to the role of government on its citizens, he explains that the animal's guardian domesticates it, and then warns it of the dangers of straying from his or her guidance. However, as Kant explains further: "this danger is not really so very great... [but] an example of this kind intimidates and frightens people out of all further attempts." (146) Much like the guardian in Kant's domesticated animal example, governments sometimes facilitate an individual's immaturity by providing the individual with a ready-made set of beliefs to which he or she can cling. (148) Kant identifies a clear distinction between the individual's pursuit of enlightenment as opposed to that of the public: "It is difficult for the isolated individual to work himself out of the immaturity which...
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...SBUS10040 Foundations of Management Thought Bachelor of Commerce International, University College Dublin Tutorial CRN: 74866 Tutor Name: Carolin Grampp Student Name: Brian Allen Student Number: 12459812 Submission Deadline: 7th November 2013 Essay Title: critique scientific management-as promoted by Frederick Taylor- and rational legal bureaucracy-as described and analysed by Max Weber- highlighting how they are both outcomes of enlightenment thinking. Your essay should draw on the assigned readings, as appropriate, from week two to week seven. Word count: 1000 “By submitting your work via this SafeAssign link you declare that all materials included in this submission are product of your own work and that due acknowledgement have been given in the text and in the bibliography to ALL sources, be they printed, electronic or personal. You also declare that you will not facilitate plagiarism by making your work available to others through hard copy distribution or other means. Furthermore, you declare that the submitted material has not been submitted for grading purposes in the past, be it for this module or other modules that you have undertaken as part of your studies.” Date: 6/11/13 Signature:Brian Allen Reflection: In general I found myself more capable...
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...Ramy Gabal ENG2850 Professor Hale Sirin Due: February 26, 2015 An Essay on Religion During the late 17th and 18th centuries, a powerful movement spread across Europe that fundamentally changed European society. Widely referred to in hindsight as the Enlightenment, this era in European history showed a great emphasis on the glory of reason and science, dramatically shifting from the emphasis on religious doctrine that empowered Europe for centuries. Through this period of Enlightenment, new ideals were reflected amongst European society. Writers, scholars, and philosophers began writing fondly of the world and man’s capacity to understand the world around him without blindly following religion. Instead, people were encouraged to apply rational thoughts to understand nature and guide their human existence. Authors used their unique styles to criticize religion by identifying the pious man as a hypocrite. These different styles working toward similar goals can be seen in the very different expressions of the theme of religion versus rationality in Jean-Baptiste Molière’s Tartuffe and Alexander Pope’s An Essay on Man. Jean-Baptiste Molière, generally considered the greatest French comic playwright of all time, was born into wealth, his family being that of the noble court of Louis XIV. Due to his regal upbringing, Molière was afforded access to the best education of his day, studying under the Jesuits at the College of Claremont. Rather than accepting a position in the...
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...Immanuel Kant’s essay An Answer to the Question: ‘What is Enlightenment?’ is a work that creates a sense of dependence and independence.” The motto of the Enlightenment is therefore: Sapere aude! Have courage to use your own understanding.” (Kant 54).Kant plainly tells the audience that we as human beings aren’t able to function in society properly and yet dares us to go out of our comfort zone. Kant presents the problems with society and the people within then encourages the people to better people because Kant knows the potential that each of the people in society holds. Is Kant’s an essay a call to democratic thinking? Kant’s essay dares us to be wise which is a call to go out and be an individual; go into the world and think for you. As a society we are still being spoon feed everything we don’t like change, we don’t like being told to do something different because we don’t know or what the unknowing. “Instead, new prejudices, like the ones they replaced, will serve as a leash to control the great unthinking mass.” (Kant 55). Society constrains the thinking process, we see what we can do and we replace the old with the same new thing or we choose not to change a thing. Kant essential words tell us that we need to be given freedom we can’t be prepared for it. Kant’s work provides examples and different experiences that can happen between the population of the society and the different aspects of the society compared to the government and how the government operates separately...
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...Essay question: | E. Imagine you are the host of a popular TV or radio talk show. Choose at least three theorists whose work we have read for this course (e.g. Kant, Foucault, Marx and Engels, Althusser, Said, Haraway, Decartes, Bordo, Fanon, de Beauvoir, Smith, Hobbes, Locke, Mitchell, Weber, Kropotkin, Brown) to invite to your show. Ask the theorists to debate one of the following topics: (a) Antiterrorism legislation in Britain; (b) the use of stop and search powers; (c) racial and class discrimination in the criminal justice system; (d) the English Riots that took place during the summer of 2011 | Debate: | A debate on the right to revolt: The English riots that took place during the summer of 2011 | Host | Thank you for tuning into Provoke, the live show that asks the questions that provoke your thoughts and gets you thinking. My name is Alison and I will be your host tonight. Our guest panel consists of 3 influential theorists: English philosopher and physician, John Locke, who has been credited for the enlightenment thinking and the construction of social contract theory. Karl Marx and Frederick Engels (1964), who attack class distinction and the ruling class as an unjustified dominant force in society. Last but not least, Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher who wrote the essay “What is Enlightenment?”, arguing that “enlightenment is man’s release from his self-incurred tutelage” (Schmidt, 1996, p. 58).Tonight’s debate will focus on the on the English riots, which...
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...Immanuel Kant A Famous Philosopher 10/21/2012 Kelley Huttar Immanuel Kant (1724 – 1804): Immanuel Kant was a modern day German deontologist from Prussia and became one of history’s most famous Philosophers. A deontologist is someone who believes in acts that are strictly right or wrong. Kant was an influential thinker and one of the last philosophers of the Enlightenment era. However his work in epistemology (the study of knowledge) and theology (the study of religion) are still influential to current philosophers of our time. He was also known for his beliefs in ethics and his knowledge in astronomy. Kant was an independent person, meaning he did not let others influence his way of thought. He created his own moral values and acted alone in his findings and did not look for outside criticism. He believed that other people’s emotions and view towards a subject could impact one’s moral values and behavior. He was admired by his friends for this quality, and because of this he became famous for the concept known as the categorical imperative (Evers). Theory Developed and Its Example: Categorical Imperative: Kant developed a theory on morality that is known as the categorical imperative. This theory implies that one should only act on his or her own morals. Kant believed a person has a duty to be moral in every sense as he believed this was a moral requirement. He also believed that an action one takes must be moral enough for the entire universe to agree...
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...The European Enlightenment is the well known era in Western society. The Enlightenment was a study conducted by the philosopher Immanuel Kant in 1784. Kant's essay addressed the causes of a lack of enlightenment and the conditions that were necessary to make it possible for people to enlighten themselves. Kant held it necessary that all church and state to be abolished and people be given the freedom to use their own intellect. Hobbesian social control theory was a ideological invention that came about during the pre 1750s. The social control theory is a view that a person’s moral and political obligations are dependent upon a ‘contract’ or an agreement among that to form a society in which they live in. However, social contract theory is rightly associated with modern moral and political theory and is given its first full exposition and defence by Thomas Hobbes. After Hobbes, John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau are the best known proponents of this enormously influential theory, which has been one of the most dominant theories within moral and political theory throughout the history of the modern West. More recently, philosophers from different perspectives have offered new criticisms of social contract theory. In particular, feminist’s philosophers have argued that the social control theory is an incomplete picture of people’s moral and political lives and may camouflage some on the ways that people live and their classes. Hobbes manages to create an argument that makes civil...
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...Immanuel Kant, who was baptized Emanuel, was a philosopher born April 22, 1724 and died at age 79. He was born in Prussia, now called Russia, and had ten siblings. He never traveled far from home and was an excellent scholar. He went to college, was a teacher, and influenced many philosophers including Fichte and Hegel. He never married but was outgoing and personable. Even when his father died he was a private tutor to earn money for his family. He excelled in science and math. His major works included Critique of Pure Reason which tested the limitations of reason itself, Critique of Practical Reason which concentrated on ethics, and Critique of Judgment which investigates aesthetics. There are too many works to mention throughout his life that put into words his thinking, understanding, suggestions of life’s questions. As he was an influence to many, there were many that influenced him. Kant worked a decade to tweak his previous work, Inaugural Dissertation, where he never explained how individuals obtain data and also how we develop the data acquired. David Hume awakened him from his slump in 1781 he responded with Critique of Pure Reason. He produced many works in the years to follow. Kant claimed that just because something is not proven real doesn’t mean that it’s not real. In his essay “Answering the Question: What is Enlightenment?” he stated “if one cannot prove that a thing is, he may try to prove that it is not. And if he succeeds in doing neither...
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...Throughout, Immanuel Kant’s essay, he addresses the causes for a lack of Enlightenment in society, and the requirements a person must meet in order to gain it. Also he emphasizes a direct critique of church, education and state with regard to how it tells citizens to think, he argues that any lack of Enlightenment is really due to lack of courage on the thinker's part. For instance, all this restraints makes us incapable of actually thinking for ourselves and consequently it limits our actions. However, at the same time education, rules and the knowledge that have influenced our society has also allowed us to protest or at least think different. On one hand it has been a limitation, but to others has inspired us. It also has offered the opportunity to keep an open mind about things that are not certain. If we are able to understand, then we can make our own decisions about life and the pursuit of happiness. Definitely, knowledge offers different perspectives and the possibility to stand for what you believe to be right. Furthermore, if there were no laws established by the government, there would be chaos and uncertainty. But that doesn’t mean that people have to be submissive and accept everything without having a say in it. Now as we saw in the past, there have been some laws that have been established by elected officials, for example segregation back in the days in American history. It was considered to be breaking the law to protest against it, but if there were no...
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...unconditional goods. But happiness is a "self-generated" good in that it "derives its value strictly from its inherent properties;" whereas virtue is an "other-generated" good in that it derives its value from happiness, precisely from its conduciveness to happiness. Virtue is an instinct in all humanity which can be aroused through self-examination. This universal truth is accessible to everyone who thinks and question. Socrates assumes that any person with whom he talks has the resource to answer his question correctly, that is, that no specialist knowledge is required. Socrates thought that knowledge is virtue, and virtue leads to happiness. It makes sense to think that moral people know what morality is. If you know right from wrong, then you might be able to choose to do what you know to be right. It also makes some sense to suspect that our beliefs about right and wrong influence our decisions. If we believe its right to help a drowning child, then it would be fairly shocking to decide not to do so—and it would less surprising when we decide to help the child. It is quite a shocking statement to say that virtue always leads to happiness. Criminals commit crimes that hurt others to help themselves. To think that their crimes would make them unhappy is a strange thought. However, it isn’t too shocking to think that helping others can make us happy, so doing the right thing might be more fulfilling than committing crimes. Perhaps the most shocking thought that Socrates...
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...THE LIBERAL REVOLUTION -UNDER THE IDEA OF ENLIGHTENMENT "Dare to know! Have courage to use your own reason!"-Kant Contents ENLIGHTENMENT AS AN IDEA: 3 FRENCH SOCIETY: 3 THE LIBERAL REVOLUTION: 3 CRITICISM ON THE IDEA OF LIBERALISM: 4 CONCLUSION 5 BIBLIOGRAPHY 6 ENLIGHTENMENT AS AN IDEA: “Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed nonage… Sapere Aude! Dare to Know! Have the courage to use your own understanding is therefore the motto of the Enlightenment.” Immanuel Kant (Columbia.edu) The eighteenth century Enlightenment proved to be a movement of the intellectuals who dared to prove all the aspects in life scientifically. These individuals were greatly affected by the scientific revolution. They were, in addition, advocating the appliance of the scientific methodology to the understanding of life. Throughout the age of enlightenment, science became popular and there were many philosophers like John Locke, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Adam Smith, Montesquieu, etc who applied the natural laws to the social life. These people and their writings had a huge impact on the French Revolution. FRENCH SOCIETY: Prior to the revolution, the French society was buried under the burden of taxes-levied by the State, rents paid to the lord, contributions collected by the clergy, as well as under the forced labor exacted by all three. People were reduced to foraging for food because of the recurring famines. The famines were caused by both manmade...
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...this work. NAME OF STUDENT…………………………………………………………. SIGNATURE…………………………………………………………………… DATE: …………………………………………………………………………… SUPERVISOR………………………………………………………………….. SIGNATURE…………………………………………………………………… DATE: ………………………………………………………………………….. 3 ABSTRACT The importance of a philosophical study dealing with moral issues, especially the principle of autonomy is indisputably great. It is a common agreement that morality is located within the scope of duty. Kant corroborates this held agreement by stating the categorical imperative which every human is obliged to act upon. He conceived this categorical imperative as the moral law which all those who claim to be moral beings have to live on. However, he also affirmed that only autonomous beings can be moral. Moreover, Autonomy seems to be opposed to any idea of law. It is important to note that Kant conceived autonomy as auto-legislation, auto-determination of the moral subject while the categorical imperative requires a total submission of the same subject. What is categorical imperative? What is moral autonomy? How can a person be autonomous and...
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...young student of middle-class origins, a person of sensibility and talent, whose life is ruined by the ill will of a cynical aristocrat. The novel features a complicated plot with many separate lines and many characters. This book inspired the leftist critic N. A. Dobroliubov to epitomize Dostoyevsky's leading quality as his "pain for man, his impassioned defense of the moral and human worth of downtrodden people." In 1863 Dostoyevsky promptly disillusioned his supporters in the liberal camp with his next work, "Winter Notes on Summer Impressions," an essay concerning his tour of Europe. In this essay, he attacked the west European dream of the triumph of reason. He resisted the idea...
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...Ellis Simerly III AP European History Chapter 17—The Age of Enlightenment: Eighteenth Century Thought Chapter Overview: The Enlightenment is a movement of people and ideas that fostered the expansion of literate sectors of European society and that economic improvement and political reform were both possible and desirable. Contemporary western political and economic thought is a product of Enlightenment thinking; therefore, some historians believe the process of Enlightenment continues today. Inspired by the scientific revolution and prepared to challenge traditional intellectual and theological authority, Enlightenment writers believed that human beings can comprehend the operation of physical nature and mold it to achieve material and moral improvement, economic growth, and administrative reform. Enlightenment intellectuals advocated agricultural improvement, commercial society, expanding consumption, and the application of innovative rational methods to traditional social and economic practices. The spirit of innovation and improvement came to characterize modern Europe and Western society. Politically, the Enlightenment had a direct impact on some rulers--in eastern and central Europe—whose policies came to be known as enlightened absolutism. Section One: Formative Influences of the Enlightenment Section Overview Chief factors that fostered the ideas of the Enlightenment The Newtonian worldview the political stability and commercial...
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