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The Enlightenment #5
Notes on the Enilightenment/Age of New Reason
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What were the origins of the Enlightenment? | The scientific and intellectual revolutions of the 17c. |
| What did the Enlightenment thinkers feel? | That change and reason were both possible and desireable for the sake of human liberty. |
| What did the Enlightenment philosophers provide? | A major source of ideas that could be used to undermine existing social and political structures. |
| Rationalism | Logical reasoning based on facts. |
| Cosmology | New world view based on Newtonian physics. Analysis of natural phenomena as systems. |
| Secularism | Application of scientific theories to religion and society. |
| Scientific Method | Experimentation, Observation, and Hypothesis. |
| Utilitarianism (Bentham) | Laws created for the common good and not for the special interests. The greatest good for the greatest number. |
| Optimism and Self-Confidence | Anything is possible (a reversal of medieval thinking) |
| Tolerance | A greater acceptance of different societies and cultures. |
| Freedom | A mind as well as a society free to think, free from predjudice. |
| Philosophers | Men who sought to apply reason and common sense to nearly all the major institutions and mores of the day. |