Enlightenment Period: The Enlightenment Period

Scientific discoveries were made and contributed to the growth of the people in Europe and America. The Enlightenment was a growth period in Europe and America, as people were told to rely on their own intellect instead of always looking to God for answers. Unfortunately, because of their existing class structure, religious positions, and authoritative rule, these new ideas in Europe could only be debated.

Because of the Reformation, many religious wars were occurring, and monarchs like Philip II “… believed that it was his duty to defend Catholicism against the Muslims of the Ottoman Empire and the Protestants of Europe.” (Pg. 591) Philosopher Voltaire argued for many freedoms. Many of them included the freedom of religion, he said, “… Christians should tolerate each other” (Doc 7). He also fought for other rights as well, Voltaire also fought for freedom of speech and press.

Yaakov Kessler Mrs.Legum AP World History Enlightenment LEQ After a dark period of time a new age of philosophers committed to bettering the citizens were born. The Enlightenment Period consisted of philosophers that advocated for political, social, and economic changes. The enlightenment thinkers motivated the revolutions of the 18 and 19th century by promoting Equal rights of Man and by preaching that governments should be managed by branches instead of a monarch. One of the most influential revolutions was the American revolution whereas the American colonists were fed up with the British and declared independence from them.

Documents: Document C, Document C, and Document H The Enlightenment was a period of time during the course of the years 1685 to 1815, where European politics, philosophy, science and communications were thoroughly remade. Thinkers question traditional rule and welcomed the concept that humankind could be enhanced through rational thinking. The period of 1685 to 1815 could be called the Enlightenment due to the ideas that originated from the era that were revolutionary. Examples of these can be seen from the ideas of the natural rights of man, the proper structure of government, and the cruelty of irregular criminal punishment.

With that, Enlightenment philosophers had incredible influences on the American Revolution’s politics, economics, social values, and culture. While all Enlightenment thinkers had

Count Charles’ Persuasion to Religious Governance In almost every Count that has ever been reigned in the middle ages, there is no leader like Count Charles, who takes a risky approach to governing a land with the idea of religion as an important aspect of his position. Count Charles, aka “Blessed Charles the Good” is well known for feeding the poor, promoting peace and security, but religion is definitely a big influence to his reign as the Count of Flanders. At first, before doing any research on Count Charles’ religious ruling, I would already believe that Charles is a spiritual nobleman that everyone would admire because of how devastated Flanders felt when they heard about his death in 1127. Fortunately, my thoughts on Count Charles

In Doc D, Voltaire views the belief in a higher power as the sole root in hindering the expression of individual thought. As of now, 1.1 billion people in the world today are atheist. Voltaire was not a direct influence on the turning away of God as it was mostly people's belief in science; however, he played a role in turning people away from obedience to the Church. Finally, the Philosophes, Montesquieu and Locke, wanted a

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.

The Enlightenment was created in France in the 1700’s. It was a movement in Europe that was about applying reason to all aspects of life. During this movement, Philosophers used five concepts that they built upon to create the Enlightenment; reason, nature, happiness, progress, and an envy for England's glorious revolution and their bill of rights. The Enlightenment was a European movement that sparked and challenged new ideas about the relationship of common people to their governments. Over a period of time Enlightenment ideas spread outside of Europe and created a change of governments around the globe.

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.

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.

“Given your definitions of religion and politics, where do you see parallels, and where do you see divergences, between the insights of King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail and Sophocles’s Antigone?” When I look at King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail and Sophocles’ Antigone, it is evident that concepts of religion and politics exist within these texts. Similarly, these pieces both contain elements, which I identify as my definitions of religion and politics. For example, King includes the rhetoric of religious figures (St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas) on the issues of just and unjust laws to justify non-violent law-breaking. In a similar way, this relates to my definition of the use of symbols and religious traditions, which shapes

Denis Diderot, one of the philosophers of the Enlightenment era, made him become one of the most intellectual individuals during the Enlightenment movement. Through his works, especially the Encyclopédie, Diderot found key information and recent scientific discoveries like the size of the universe. During this time, he ended up helping transform society’s view of the human being. In Diderot’s own beliefs, he was strongly against slavery. By expressing his concern, Diderot urged people to think and join him in the struggle for social and political change.

In conclusion, the Enlightenment was vital to the American Revolution and the creation of American Government. The Enlightenment beliefs that influenced the American Revolution were natural rights, the social contract, and the right to overthrow the government if the social contract was violated. The Enlightenment beliefs that aided to the creation of the American government were separation of powers, checks and balances, and limited government. As stated before, without the Enlightenment there would not have been a revolution, resulting in no American Government. The Enlightenment’s influence on the creation of America is irrefutable.

He describes the objection as, “all men desire the apparent good, but have no control over the appearance, but the end appears to each man in a form answering to his character” (1114b).   This view argues that all people pursue that which seems good, but some people cannot see the true good, which is out of their control.   The immediate implication of this objection, if it is indeed true, suggests that “no one is responsible for his own evildoing” (1114b).