...Student McResearcher Mr. Milroy Honors World Literature [DUE DATE] The Enlightenment and the Atlantic Revolutions Before the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment movement in the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, divine reasoning and superstition were the explanation for unknown events, leadership, and government. Kings and emperors were justified by the gods or God of the people. People were killed due to accusations of witchcraft because there was no other explanation for the peculiar event that took place. Religion was the center of almost everyone’s life, and it explained many unknown elements of the world, such as creation. However, with new ideas and a scientific background, the world went through drastic changes. The Enlightenment, with its new radical ideas, particularly about government and human reason, served as the basis and...
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...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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...their own definition of truth and lead them to enlightenment. Growing up Siddhartha was the perfect son; he was smart, kind to his family, and good looking. However to Siddhartha that wasn't enough, he wanted to reach enlightenment the universal understanding of life; he wanted the truth. Realizing that he will not find the truth within his home, the Brahmins, Siddhartha changes course and heads to the Samanas, with Govinda on his tail. Living with the Samanas, Siddhartha follows their ways of teaching by the belief that true enlightenment comes when the Self is destroyed or completely negated. His main goal is to become empty, lose his dreams, wishes, passions, and become one with the earth in hopes his innermost will awaken. Govinda...
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...philosophies from the Enlightenment period. The Enlightenment was an intellectual movement which took place during the seventeenth and eighteenth century. As a historical category, the term "Enlightenment"refers to an intellectual and philosophical movement that dominated the world of ideas . It is one of the few historical categories that was dominated by the people who lived through the time period. "The Enlightenment” focused more on the use of reason and secularism. The Enlightenment had its ties in several areas, including science, questions about religion and travel literature. All people being equal was a new concept to the Enlightenment people. Equality would...
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...When the Light Shines on Literature The Enlightenment Era is a period of philosophic and scholarly excitement which took place globally in the early eighteenth century. In a historical context, the American Enlightenment led to the American Revolution, American Independence, and the creation of the Constitutional Republic of the United States America (Bailyn 26-27). Influenced by those of the European Enlightenment, such as John Locke and Isaac Newton, and fueled by the colonist’s growing frustrations with the English Crown, the literary soil of the New World was a fertile garden. From this newly enriched land sprung both flowers of poetry and the nutritious fruits of the realistic pen that were deeply inspired by the American Enlightenment. The literature of the Enlightenment period was powerful indeed, as it motivated people to think and to take action. Two superlative examples of American Literature and the influences of the Enlightenment Era are Philip Freneau’s poetry and Thomas Paine’s prose. The influence of enlightenment ideas is in the works of both of these important literary figures. Philip Freneau was the poet of the American Revolution (Bowen 213). From Freneau’s naturalistic poetry, such as “The Wild Honeysuckle, we can see the Enlightenment idea that nature is a revelation of God that holds instructions for mankind. “The Wild Honeysuckle" was America's first major poetic account on the themes of life and death. The poem begins by discussing the types of death...
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...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...
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...This essay seeks to define why the Scottish Enlightenment theorists rejected previous attempts at social theory and instead formulated their own social theory. It also seeks to define what was scientific about their approach compared to other theorists who formulated other social theories. Firstly the enlightenment will be defined and previous attempts at social theory outlined. Secondly the theorists social theory will be outlined and finally a discussion of why their approach could be considered scientific. This essay will argue that it was the theorists’ departure from conjecture and sermon which made their theory so radical for its time, and their application of the new framework of Newtonian science which allowed their application to be considered scientific. The enlightenment was a period of philosophical thought and intellectual development which began in the eighteenth century (Ritzer, 2010). The enlightenment theorists sought to combine empirical research with the developing model of Newtonian science. The theorists were convinced that the world around them could be understood using reason and research and that the institutions which governed social values and societal norms were rooted in irrationality and actually acted to inhibit human development (Ritzer, 2010). The theorist’s arguments clashed with the conjectural and traditionally espoused history of the social institutions such as the Church and the political regimes of the countries they operated in (Broadie...
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...Immanuel Kant coined the motto of the Enlightenment to be “Dare to Know!” That being said, one can describe The Enlightenment as series of philosophical, cultural, and social movements in thought, which occurred during the late 17th century to through the 18th century. (Gay, 1966). The Enlightenment changed Europe and made Europe more modern through emphasis of knowledge and questioning the way that society was structured. The changes are seen through the debate surrounding religion, shifts in societal thinking, and the ideas of Philosophes. The Enlightenment changed a lot about Europe to make it more modern. One way that Europe developed during this time was, many people started to view religion in a different light. Specifically, this change and view was seen with Christianity, people started to question whether Christianity should control how society believes the world should function. From this, theists and deists emerged, theists did not want to outright get rid of Christianity but rather remove the irrational portions of the religion;...
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...were impressed by scientific discoveries in the natural world. They believed they could also uncover the scientific laws that governed human life. After discovering the laws of the universe, people could use the knowledge to help society improve. As the Scientific Revolution advanced, many educated Europeans came to believe that “reason” was a better guide than faith or tradition. To them, “reason” was the light that burned the darkness away and showed the way to the truth. Hence, the 18th century was labeled as the Age of Enlightenment. The Age of Enlightenment is one of the main causes of the the American and French revolutions, it is also considered as a predecessor to the Industrial Revolution. The Age of Enlightenment was influenced by the ideas of several different revolutionary thinkers, but two of the biggest thinkers of the seventeenth century, Isaac Newton and John Locke, are often referred to as the “father of Enlightenment”. The American Enlightenment, more moderate than in...
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...On merriam-webster.com the word enlightenment is defined as “the state of having knowledge or understanding : the act of giving someone knowledge or understanding”. When applied to an era, such as The Age of Enlightenment, it denotes a cultural and intellectual increase. The Age of Enlightenment was located in Western Europe and was fueled by the desire of people to question anything and everything. Before the Enlightenment nobody questioned hypotheses of the past because there was a feeling of regression as time passed. As Enlightenment thinkers questioned many thoughts through their literature one that appears numerous times is the idea of good and evil. During The Age of Enlightenment writers like Moliere and Voltaire really explored the idea of good and evil. Moliere explores the idea of good and evil through his play Tartuffe. In Tartuffe Dorine speaks about Orgon saying “But what's evil is seeing the deception and upheaval of the master and everything he owns”(P.20 L.37). When Dorine says this it sounds as if Orgon is turning evil, which challenges the traditional beliefs that humans are naturally evil. For example, during Medieval times the popular belief was humans needed to believe in God and follow biblical rules to save their souls. By the...
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...The Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution are two fundamentally different events. The focus of the Enlightenment was primarily intellectual. Thinkers and intellectuals were primarily focused on “reason, individualism, and progress.” (Thackeray, 1998, p. 83) The Industrial Revolution was primarily economic. The Industrial Revolution was a period of time marked by continuous increases in productivity despite outside factors such as population increases. (Thackeray, 1998, p. 140) A fundamental area of divergence between the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution is political. The Enlightenment thinkers were fostering the idea of natural rights. Specifically, this idea was a product of John Locke; a major player during the Enlightenment. (Thackeray, 1998, p. 79) The Industrial Revolution and its associated technological advances took in a more sinister turn in Africa. The European powers used the technology to enslave and...
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...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,...
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...The Enlightenment and the Great Awakening affected American colonists society. The Age of Enlightenment stressed the energy of human motivation to shape the world, to better instruct men and ladies. The Great Awakening bound areas together, and furthermore acknowledgment of religious resistance. These two developments of the eighteenth century significantly affected American culture and how individuals think prior and then afterward these events. The Enlightenment changed individuals' view on national issues, religion, and human instinct, and The Great Awakening acknowledged religious resilience. As a matter of first importance, the Age of Enlightenment primarily impacted taught individuals in the American states. Despite the fact...
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...The enlightenment is a social and intellectual movement that on its face seems extremely critical of contemporary social and political institutions, and the point that Kant is writing is extremely critical of traditional authorities. In Immanuel Kant’s essay ‘‘What is Enlightenment?’’ he is explaining what the meaning of Enlightenment is and how the general public could reach this. At the same time he is trying to reassure those authorities that the movement is not threatening and it's not something that needs to be oppressed. For him the enlightenment is “the human being’s emergence from his self incurred immaturity”. Simply meaning that an individual is able to grasp his own understanding without guidance from another man. Though the Enlightenment movement delivered the motivation to have courage to separate from one's guardians it doesn't rationalize that an individual's own reason to come to a conclusion will always be influenced by societies and cultures....
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...Siddhartha went through life having one goal, to seek enlightenment. Through his journey, he encountered obstacles that he had to overcome. Each one of his different lives that he lived helped him to reach enlightenment. He lived through his father’s beliefs, the beliefs of the Samanas, the luxurious life, and the life off a ferryman. Each one of these journeys taught him something new that he had not known before. One way Siddhartha tried to attain enlightenment was through his father’s beliefs. Siddhartha realized in able to attain enlightenment, he would have to go on his own path and leave his father’s side. His life with the Samanas taught him many skills that helped him later on in life. He learned to fast, wait, and think which made him very unique from most people. After spending many years with the Samanas, he believed it was time to move on to the next phase of his life. In next part of his life, he lost his vision of reaching enlightenment. He spent so much time following the Samanas ways of living and never reached enlightenment. He became trapped in the life of luxury and riches. He learned to be a business man and make money through work. He slept with women and drank wine. All of these little new parts of his life contributed to the loss of his vision towards enlightenment. He met a girl named Kamala which brought out feeling he had never felt towards a person in his life. His relationship with her became intimate and actually helped lead...
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