HS-102 Readings

The Enlightenment

WHAT WERE THE NATURE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT IN THE 18TH CENTURY?

The Enlightenment, an intellectual movement in 18th century Europe, was stimulated by the scientific revolution.

Stunning successes in understanding the physical world through processes of logic and observation encouraged the belief that similar progress might be made in the area of political economy and social relations.

Like the scientific revolution, the Enlightenment involved an application of the natural, humanistic attitudes typical of theRenaissance.

The Enlightenment or the Age of Reason are names given to the predominant intellectual movement of the eighteenth century. It was an intellectual movement among the upper and middle class elites. It involved a new world view which explained the world and looked for answers in terms of reason rather than faith, and in terms of an optimistic, natural, humanistic approach rather than a fatalistic, supernatural one.

These are characteristics which it shared with the earlier intellectual movement known as the Renaissance. Indeed, the Enlightenment may be understood as a logical continuation of the Renaissance. There is, however, an important difference. While the Renaissance was closely related to a search for the accumulation of past knowledge, the Enlightenment clearly involved a conscious effort to break with the past.

This statement must, however, be qualified by saying that the period of the High Renaissance also broke new ground, , in particular, in art and literature. It must also be said that, in spite of the optimistic, future-oriented view of the Enlightenment, the rejection of the value of the past is selective. The comparatively recent medieval past was thoroughly condemned, but the classical past of the ancient Greeks and Romans was venerated.

A major cause for the Enlightenment was the Scientific Revolution which, because of its many achievements in science, gave rise to the expectation that similar breakthroughs might be achieved in the social and political arena if only the same methods were applied.

Link:
The Enlightenment - Suffolk County Community College