...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...
Words: 1078 - Pages: 5
...The Age of Enlightenment The self-proclaimed Age of Enlightenment, also known as the Age of Reason, was a period notable for its substantial cultural and scientific developments, that took place mainly during the eighteenth century. It was a time when the scholarly class of Western Europe left behind Church dogma in the process of formulating philosophical ideas as well as scientific theories. It was substituted with reason. Notably, political ideas that were extremely radical for the time propagated throughout Europe and eventually led to the revolutions of France and the United States. Also, modern science further implanted itself into the mainstream. The roots of the entire movement date back to the time of the great Ancient Greek philosophers and scientists, specifically to such great thinkers as Aristotle and Plato. In Western Europe, from the time of the Middle Ages until then, Aristotelian science had remained the extent of scientific knowledge. It had long been lost due to the chaos of the Dark Ages, but it was “rediscovered” in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries through contact with Muslim influence and Byzantine scholars. During the late years of the Renaissance and the Age of Enlightenment, scholars set out to improve upon Aristotelian and Platonic ideas. [1] The Renaissance gave a basis for the Age of Enlightenment to continue on. The Humanist movement during the Renaissance started to slightly move away from the Church. Although most Humanists were...
Words: 2105 - Pages: 9
...Abstract The Enlightenment era is made up of on rational thought, ideas and reason. Many men contributed to this, but a few amongst them are Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin. Their wisdom and ideas make up the Enlightenment era to which is the backbone of today’s society. The Enlightenment Starting in the mid 1700’s to 1800’s a movement had set in based on rational thought and reason, it was known as the Enlightenment era also known as the Age of Reason. This era created ideas that shaped the political, economic and social institutions in the United States. Men in this era such as Thomas Paine, who was a politician and philosopher, Thomas Jefferson our third president as well as an apostle of agrarian, and Benjamin Franklin, author, scientist, philosopher, and statesman. All these men emphasize the importance of using reason and logic instead of superstition or ignorance. They focus on creating and writing, science, politics and other subjects in this era which influence decades to come (Age of Enlightenment, 2011). In today’s society these ideas have become relevant. Thomas Paine influences the Enlightenment politically and socially, because of his beliefs he was damned by many people in both America and England. Thomas Paine was born in England; he was a corset maker and excise officer in England, although showed interested in philosophy and science. He later in life then met up with Benjamin Franklin in London and soon after he sailed to Philadelphia...
Words: 1088 - Pages: 5
...Today, the age of enlightenment is commonly thought of as a large shift in political and social views that sparked great leaps for social justice, equality, and science. The age of enlightenment is often studied alongside the French Revolution as a marker of the period and the shift in social and political beliefs. While most textbooks focus on a pro enlightenment view, following the French Revolution, there is a much more diverse set of opinions that are often ignored. These opinions can be broken into four categories of thought. Those who believe the enlightenment was created with reason, those who believe it was a natural process, those who believed the enlightenment created a docile society, and those who thought that the enlightenment was destructive. These four beliefs, while being diverse in thought, are geographically diverse being rooted in Germany,...
Words: 1424 - Pages: 6
...Top Ten Assignment The Enlightenment and Romanic Ages produced numerous masterpieces in art, music, architecture, and literature which people still enjoy today. These opus magnums along with the philosophies during the two periods are reflections of the developments in world events and cultural patterns. This paper will present two pieces of art, music, architecture, literature, and philosophy from the Enlightenment and Romanic Ages that best represents the developments patterns from that time. Philosophy in the Enlightenment Age focused on an individual’s right to life and liberty. One example of a philosopher from this age is Thomas Jefferson. He famously wrote the Declaration of Independence (1776) that the Continental Congress signed declaring the United States free from the oppression of England. The document begins with, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” (us history, 2013). Another such example of philosophy during the Enlightenment Age are the works of Thomas Paine. He wrote two of the most highly influential pamphlets at the start of the American Revolution. One such pamphlet is Common Sense (1776) (us history, 2011) the all-time bestselling book that advocates America’s independence from Great Britain. Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine were chosen as examples because we believe the Declaration...
Words: 1558 - Pages: 7
...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...
Words: 1593 - Pages: 7
...: The Old Regime and The Enlightenment The year 1789 marks big changes in Europe. 1789 was the beginning of the French Revolution and the end of The Old Regime in France. Even though changes and new beginnings were soon to come, The Old Regime wasn’t easy to get rid of. France was considered to be the most powerful, populous and most prosperous country in Europe. Lots of French culture was admired and copied. French was considered the language of aristocracy and royal courts all over the continent. France was also very influential with their palace built by Louis XIV in Versailles, the palace was so beautiful that other countries built their own palaces with the same idea and design. During The Old Regime, the palace symbolized the wealth and the value of the absolute monarchy. The absolute monarchy composed of king and queens who inherited their own position and would eventually pass down their title to their eldest son or daughter. The kings and queens believed in Divine Rights, which is God’s agents on earth to serve the people. The Old Regime was introduced by the revolutionaries of 1789, it was based on a social hierarchy in which was determined by birth, not by your hard works or talents. The top of the human chain was the king, which was God’s divine representative. Louis XIV’s great great-grandfather once said L’etat c’est moi, which means I am the state. Underneath the king, the French society was organized into three estates with different social responsibilities...
Words: 1274 - Pages: 6
...still a long debated topic of interest when it comes to the idea if the French revolution was a bourgeois revolution or did other events come into play. Throughout 1787 and 1789 ‘one step led to another through a series of moves and counter-moves that later proved to have been an escalation’ of problems already highlighted earlier on in the history of France. To begin with, we analysis the idea presented in the original question of to what extent was the French revolution of 1789 a bourgeois revolution. When it comes to the events that led to the French Revolution ‘the origins must therefore be sought not merely in the general conditions of Europe, but in the specific situation of France’. This was due to the ongoing conflict between the ‘vested interests of the old régime and the new rising social forces’ which were much more prominent in France. These new rising social forces are more than likely the bourgeois class so this clearly highlights the fact that the French revolution was indeed to with if not caused by the bourgeois. It has also be stated that the French revolution was purely down to an uprising which instated the ideology and literally actions which allowed the ‘middle class to assume power by overthrowing the political and social order of the ancien régime’. This blatantly refers to the bourgeois class and therefore demonstrates the fact the French revolution was in fact a bourgeois revolution. The idea that the French revolution was a bourgeois revolution has...
Words: 1749 - Pages: 7
...The so-called long Age of Enlightenment in Europe, stretching from the mid-17th century into the 1830s, engendered new political, economic and social ideals and generated knowledge across the arts and sciences. But part of its impetus was outside of Europe. Dorinda Outram likens the European Enlightenment to" a world drama of cross-cultural contact" that "triggered anxieties" for Europeans about the nature of being civilized (Outram, 2004). To the 17th century English philosopher John Locke, an early archetype of an enlightened thinker, the discovery of the New World of America "enlarged the sphere of contemplation" about "civilized man" and his "savage ancestors" (Locke, 1690). There was more to discover. The scientific journeys of exploration around the Pacific in the 18th century by James Cook, another archetypal figure of the Enlightenment, were significant in creating the imagination and knowledge of the age. Although the Enlightenment was a European phenomenon, its scope became global as the scholars of Europe attempted to classify and order the peoples, plants and animals of other worlds as well as map their landscapes. Maori scholar Linda Tuhiwai Smith succinctly sums up the process: "They came, they saw, they named, they claimed" (Tuhiwai Smith, 2001, p. 80). 'Discovery' was the watchword of the Enlightenment (Porter, 2000), realised only by a few Europeans but imagined by many others and evident in the fashion for paintings of drawing room explorations with globes ahd...
Words: 606 - Pages: 3
...Vienna, the leniency European nations took toward France contrasted the strong defensive measures they took to check France. The French Revolution led to reactionary conservatism in Europe. Reactionary conservatism that focused on upholding tradition contrasts the increase in radicalism that characterized the French revolution. One conservative, Metternich, is comparable to Thomas Hobbes as they both supported monarchy as a way to maintain order. Metternich was Austrian. There was great disunity in Austria during this time period because of various ethnic groups that all wanted independence, reflecting the disunity of the Holy Roman Empire during the Reformation. The conservatives increased censorship that contrasted the liberty and natural rights of the Enlightenment. The type of traditional, autocratic monarchies that the conservatives supported also contrasted the enlightenment support for constitutional monarchy and natural rights. In South America, revolts were inspired by the Enlightenment like the other revolutions were, but the French and American revolutions started in the middle while the South American Revolutions were pushed from below. In 1815, France and England had relatively liberal governments that supported natural rights and had constitutional monarchies. This contrasted the rest of Europe which was characterized by traditional absolutist monarchies. Despite the relatively liberal nature of government in France and England, voting rights were extremely...
Words: 1631 - Pages: 7
...Scottish Enlightenment The Scottish Enlightenment was a period in the 18th century often described as Scotland’s ‘Golden Age’. It was an intellectual movement that ranged across the fields of philosophy, chemistry, geology, architecture, poetry, technology, economics, sociology, medicine and history. Sharing the humanist and rationalist outlook of the European Enlightenment of the same time period, the thinkers of the Scottish Enlightenment asserted the fundamental importance of human reason combined with a rejection of any authority that could not be justified by reason. They held to an optimistic belief in the ability of humanity to effect changes for the better in society and nature, guided only by reason. This latter feature gave the Scottish Enlightenment its special flavour, distinguishing it from its continental European counterpart. In Scotland, the Enlightenment was characterised by a thoroughgoing empiricism and practicality where the chief virtues were improvement, virtue, and practical benefit for the individual and society as a whole. The Enlightenment culture was based on close readings of new books, and intense discussions which took place at intellectual gathering places in Edinburgh as The Select Society and, later, The Poker Club as well as within Scotland’s ancient universities such as St Andrews, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen. In these places great thinkers sought to understand the natural world and the human mind like Sam Smith and David Hume The Scottish...
Words: 293 - Pages: 2
... philosophy, and literature for the Enlightenment and Romantic periods. Each item will show the impact it had on the society today. ART Enlightenment Period Jean-Pierre Houel’s picture The Taking of the Bastille showed a great historic event. The painting showed the Bastille, which was symbolic of France’s royal authority figure, destroyed in the French Revolution. It conveyed the emotion and importance of that particular event. The painting, Joseph Bonnier de la Mosson, created by Jean-Marc Nattier was important piece of art. The painting was indicative of the Enlightenment school of thought because it showed a scholarly, well-dressed man reading a book. Romantic Age Joseph M Turner’s The Chancel and Crossing of Tintern abbey, looking toward the East Window was inspired to paint the Tintern Abbey after visiting the site. The abbey was popular to many Romantics. It inspired the famous poem Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tinten Abbey. The painting itself show the smallness of man, wilderness of nature, and unstoppable power that reclaimed The Tinten Abbey’s edifice. Wanderer above the Sea of Fog, by Caspar David Friedrich was a quintessential Romantic painting. It displayed infinite potential and possibility of man and the mysterious grandeur of nature. The painting also depicted the romantic idea of nationalism and a philosophical revolt...
Words: 880 - Pages: 4
...civilizations practiced what we now refer to as applied science and mathematics. The discoveries made during these times were sought for practical uses. Counting could’ve been the fundamental beginning of recording information. (Isenhour, 2013) Babylonians, Egyptians and other ancient civilizations practiced astronomy and engineering. Astronomy was and is still useful for the prediction of seasons and defining times for planting and harvesting. Geometry was used to construct buildings and design irrigation ditches and also is the main foundation for mechanical engineering. In 600 B.C. and up, there was increase of a metallurgical culture and it hasn’t stopped until this day. Metallurgy and metallurgical advances divide history into great eras such as the Stone Age,...
Words: 945 - Pages: 4
...Jewish History Notes * Sept. 4 * * Three Ways to Look at History: * These are three different ways of interpreting historical events: * 1) Divine Causation (hasgachah pratit) is a theological term which refers to the sovereignty, superintendence, or agency of God over events in people’s lives * 2) Human Causation suggests that events in people’s lives are a result of the outcome of human involvement, i.e., God either does not exist or does not involve himself in the affairs of humans. * 3) Chronologically suggests no causation of any kind. Events take place divorced from each other, i.e., there is no cause and effect. * * * * How do we know if an event really took place? * Here is the criterion often used to determine if an event really took place. Note: If this criterion is not met it does not mean that the historical claim is false. * * 1) Multiple Attestation rests on the premise that, the more independent testimonies to a tradition there are, the greater is the probability that it is authentic i.e., more than one independent source refers to the same person, place or thing. 2) Contradiction is when a source mentions a person, place or thing in a way that serves not to benefit the author in any way Sept. 7 What is a fact? 1. Something demonstrated to exist or known to have existed: Genetic engineering is now a fact. That Chaucer was a real person is an undisputed fact. 2. A real occurrence;...
Words: 2585 - Pages: 11
...This essay explains three key features of the Age of Enlightenment that include liberalism, rationalism and equality. These key features will be explained in terms of how they reflect specific assumptions about children and education. Furthermore to evaluate how these ideas have impacted children’s education in both the past and the present. Liberalism requires members of society to develop liberal ideas such as individualism and independence amongst the likes of John Locke who wrote a book called ‘Some thought Concerning Education’ (1893) which emphasises the significance of early education in the home. “upbringing in the home is crucial for the development of good character” (May, 1997, p. 3). Rationalism is another imperative feature of the Age of Enlightenment as people used theory to make sense of human development along the likes of Rousseau. His book, ‘Emile’ is about the development of a young boy becoming a man using his ideas for child rearing. “education should be a response to the child’s curiosity and interest to natural world.” (May, p. 39-40, 2005) This theory was put into practice by Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi who was so impressed with his ideas that “he attempted to rear his child according to Rousseau’s principles” (May, 1997, p. 11). The Enlightenment implies equality necessary for females to be educated alongside men to allow for equal opportunity. In Wollstonecraft’s book ‘A Vindication of the Rights of Women’ (1792) she protests for women’s rights...
Words: 1186 - Pages: 5
