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The Enlightenment Movement in the 18th Century

Explore the Age of Enlightenment, a period characterized by reason, progress, and social reform. Learn about key figures like Immanuel Kant and concepts like empirical knowledge and social perfectability.

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The Enlightenment Movement in the 18th Century

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  1. SPIELVOGEL CHAPTER 17 THE 18TH CENTURY: AN AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT

  2. “DARE TO KNOW” – Immanuel Kant

  3. THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT • The 18th century = the Age of Enlightenment • Also known as the Age of Reason • The motto of the Enlightenment – “Dare to Know” • The Enlightenment was built on and followed the Scientific Revolution – 1. use reason to understand the nat. world 2. use reason to understand human society

  4. The core of Enlightenment was reason, rationality, logic, human ability • Key words/key ideas of the 18th century: • Reason • Hope • Progress • Natural law

  5. The Enlightenment project • Know and understand society using reason • Improve/reform society • Human progress • Social and human perfectability??? -> social engineering

  6. ENEMIES OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT • The dead hand of tradition • Organized religion/the church

  7. THE POPULARIZATION OF SCIENCE • Popularize = to make more widely known • Science was spread to a wider segment of educated society by popularizers • Bernard de Fontenelle • scientist-philosopher who linked science of 17th century to the philosophes of the 18th cent • Author of Plurality of Worlds • Translate the new science in a clear/entertaining way

  8. A NEW SKEPTICISM • Pierre Bayle • Leading critic of traditional religion • Attacked -> superstition, religious intolerance, and dogmatism • Advocated religious toleration • Author – Historical and Critical Dictionary

  9. THE IMPACT OF TRAVEL LITERATURE • Exposed Europeans to new cultures, ideas, and behaviors • Showed Europeans that their ways were not the only ways = cultural relativism -> other fields other grasshoppers • Europeans began to compare their civilization with others

  10. “the noble savage” • The term noble savage (French, bon sauvage), expresses the concept an idealized indigene, outsider (or "other"). • The idea that in a state of nature humans are essentially good.

  11. THE LEGACY OF LOCKE AND NEWTON • Locke and Newton = the inspiration for and idols of 18th century Enlightenment thinkers • Isaac Newton – greatest figure of the Sci. Rev. • John Locke – political thinker and philosopher

  12. Essay Concerning Human Understanding • EMPIRICISM = knowledge comes through experience and observation • Theory of knowledge – epistemology • Rejected innate ideas – not born with ideas • We are born as a tabula rasa = blank slate • Knowledge comes from exp./observation • We are products of our environment

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