I Think Therefore I Am: All the Philosophy You Need to Know by Levene Lesley

Author:Levene, Lesley [Levene, Lesley]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

THE AGE OF

ENLIGHTENMENT

A

massive

outpouring

of

intellectual, scientific and cultural

activity in the eighteenth century

both fostered and was fed by a

range of philosophical ideas, all of

which competed with each other in

applying the analytical methods

Isaac

Newton

had

used

so

successfully in the natural world to

the study of mankind. The sense that

the dark clouds of ignorance could

be

dispelled

by

a

rigorous

questioning of traditional values

explains why the period is known

as the Age of Enlightenment. From

now on, reason was to be the only

yardstick, and who better to come

up with a systematic approach than

philosophers?

Unsurprisingly,

different

philosophers

reached

different

conclusions based on their own

definitions

of

reason,

so

enlightenment took many forms, and

it is clear that ideas of great moment

were being discussed. Freedom and

democracy were up for discussion,

plus further questioning of religious

beliefs

and

authority.

Taken

together with ideas about the

contractual basis of rights, they

would lead to all sorts of political

upheavals:

the

American

and

French revolutions, to name just a

couple.

There was no going back. As

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