Age of Reason

1
Age of Reason

• Revolutionary Time Period

2
Scientific Revolution

• Work of Copernicus, Kepler, Newton, and Galileo
  destroyed the old notion that the earth was the
  center of the universe.
• Discovery of gravitational pull promoted a world
  view that the universe is controlled by natural
  law.
• Telescopes which made astronomical observations
  about the universe.
• New laws concerning laws of planetary motion.
• Heliocentric model of universe proven which
  renounces Catholic Church stance of geocentric
  model.
• Considering that the universe was greater than
  once imagined challenged the Biblical authority.
• Bible still an authority on matters of faith and
  morality, but not on science.

3
Deism

• A religious movement that originated 17th and
  18th century
• Asserts the existence of God or supreme being
• Proper source of religion comes from the exercise
  of human reason, observation of the natural
  world, and utilization of personal experience
  with emphasis on individual thought.
• Basic deistic religious truths
• God exists and created the universe
• God wants human beings to behave morally
• Human beings have souls that survive death (there
  is afterlife)
• In afterlife, God will reward moral behavior and
  punish immorality

4
deism

• Thomas Paine The Age of Reason
• I believe the equality of man and that
  religious duties consist in doing justice, loving
  mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow
  creatures happy.
• I believe in one God , and no more and I hope
  for happiness beyond this life.
• We believe in the existence of a God, and in
  the immortality of the soul.
• Founding Fathers
• These educated men, while product of Christian
  society, embraced new ideas
• Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, Thomas
  Jefferson, George Washington, etc
• Driven to found a nation on liberty and freedom
  of conscience.
• Major role in creating the principle of
  separation of church and state
• Influence in First Amendment clauses of religious
  freedom.

5
Deism

• The Clockmaker
• After creating the perfect mechanism of the
  universe, God allows it to run on its own.
• God does not interfere with humanity, and it
  makes no sense to ask Him to do so.
• Humanitys God-gift of REASON would enable man
  to discover both scientific and spiritual truth.
• All humans born with innate ethical sense and
  thus the ability to regulate and improve their
  lives.

6
Deism

• Decline
• Loss of confidence that reason could solve all
  problems
• Criticism that free thought would lead to atheism
• Remained a personal philosophy and never an
  organized movement
• Christian revivalist groups which taught that
  more personal relationship with God was possible.

• Modern Revival
• Attempts to integrate classical deism with modern
  philosophy.
• Religious thought should be free, and all creeds
  tolerated.
• Faith in the human capacity for reason and
  goodness
• Calvinist doctrines are false.
• Jesus was human and God did not demand that he
  die for man.
• Dualism does not exist..there is no devil

7
Supporting Philosophy

• Humanism
• All people have dignity, worth, and the ability
  to determine right from wrong by appeal to
  rationalism
• Sir Isaac Newton
• Through reason, a people could discover
  principles that would guarantee social and
  political harmony.
• John Locke
• A people should balance power of sovereign
  against power of government (Parliament) to
  ensure the preservation of material rights.
• Blank Slate
• Neoclassicists
• Reason valued and sought to discover the material
  laws by which an individual/nation could achieve
  peace and harmony

8
Literature

• Reason the ability of the human mind to form and
  operate on concepts in abstraction..with
  rationality and logic.
• In Literature, reason is often opposed to
  emotions, desires, drives, and passions.
• Rooted in reality rather than imagination or
  spirituality.

• Types and Purposes
• Pamphlets served practical and political ends
• Essays Federalist Papers explain ideas behind
  Constitution
• Broadsides poetic equivalent of pamphlets
• Personal narrative autobiographies
• Speeches great use of propoganda, rhetoric and
  logic
• Political documents Declaration of Independence
• Constitution