The Enlightenment or the Age of Reason

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The Enlightenment or the Age of Reason

• AMERICAN LITERATURE I

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A philosophical movement of the 18th century,
particularly in France but effectively over much
of Europe and America.
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Major BeliefsThe enlightenment celebrated
reason, the scientific method, and human beings
ability to perfect themselves and their society.
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It emerged from a number of 17th century
intellectual attainments

• The discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton, the
  Rationalism of Descartes and Pierre Bayle, and
  Empiricism of Francis Bacon and John Locke.

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The major champions of its beliefs were the
philosophes, who made a critical examination of
previously accepted institutions and beliefs from
the viewpoint of reason and with confidence in
natural laws and universal order.
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The philosophes agreed on faith in human
rationality and the existence of discoverable and
universally valid principles governing human
beings, nature, and society.
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They opposed intolerance, restraint, spiritual
authority, and revealed religion.
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They were Deists, a religious belief of
those who believe in a God who rules the world by
established laws but not in the divinity of
Christ or the inspiration of the Bible.
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They believed, instead, in natural religion,
based on reason and a study of NATURE as opposed
to revealed religion.
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MAJOR BELIEFS1. The Bible is not the
inspired word of God it is good so far as it
reflects natural religion and bad so far as it
contains additions made by superstitious or
designing persons.
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2. Certain Christian theological doctrines
are the product of superstition or the invention
of priests and must be rejected for example, the
deity of Christ, the doctrine of the Trinity, and
the theory of the atonement for sins.
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3. God is perfect, is the creator and
governor of the universe, and works not
capriciously but through unchangeable laws
therefore miracles are rejected as impossible.
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4. Human beings are free agents, whose minds
work as they themselves choose even God cannot
control their thoughts.
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5. Because human beings are rational
creatures like God, they are capable of
understanding the laws of the universe and, as
God is perfect, so can human beings become
perfect through the process of education.
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6. Practical religion consists in achieving
virtue through the rational guidance of conduct,
as exemplified in the scheme for developing
certain moral virtues recorded by Franklin in his
Autobiography.
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In many ways, the thought processes of the
seminal figures of the Enlightenment point the
way to modern science and culture.
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They considered the state a proper instrument of
progress.
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In America Franklin, Paine, and Jefferson were
profoundly influenced by Enlightenment principles.
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J. THOMSON 1805

• BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

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THOMAS JEFFERSON
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THOMAS PAINE
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Francois Marie Arouet 1694 - 1778
Pen name Voltaire
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The Enlightenment was the intellectual
ferment out of which the French Revolution came,
and it gave philosophical shape to
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• the American Revolution and the two basic
  documents of the United States, the Declaration
  of Independence and the Constitution.

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Without the Enlightenment, it can be
speculated that the United States may not have
come into being, that science would never
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have made the impact that it has on the world,
and that we could still be living in a type of
medieval antiquity.