AMERICAN RATIONALISM 1750-1800

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AMERICAN RATIONALISM 1750-1800
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RATIONALISM

• RATIONALISM the belief that human beings can
  arrive at truth by using reason, rather than by
  relying on the authority of the past, on
  religious faith, or intuition.

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A REACTION AGAINST PURITANISM

• By the end of the 17th century, REASON began to
  present a challenge to the unshakable faith and
  inflexible customs of the Puritans.

VS.
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A REACTION AGAINST PURITANISM

• Arthur Miller claims the Salem witch trials
  developed from a paradox (Miller 141).
• The Puritans lived under a theocracy and a rigid
  set of rules designed to prevent anydisunity
  that might open their community to destruction
  byideological enemies (141).
• But soon the repressions of order became more
  harmful than the very dangers against which the
  order was organized (141).
• The witch trials endednamely, because individual
  voices of REASON forced the community to wake up.

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Unlike the Puritans

• Rationalists believed all people were able to
  perfect themselvesthrough good works and
  self-effort

I will not drink more than one Dr. Pepper today!
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• Philosopher Saint Anselm of Canterburys idea "I
  believe so that I might understand
• is replaced with
• Philosopher René Descartess idea "I think,
  therefore I am."

REASON and LOGIC become more important than only
living by FAITH and RELIGION
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• THIS PERIOD IS OFTEN CALLED THE AGE OF
  REASON OR THE ENLIGHTENMENT
• Less focus on hell or life after death and more
  concern with creating a better life on earthand
  yet, Christian beliefs still play a central role
  for the thinkers of the time.

I believe in one God, and no more and I hope for
happiness beyond this life. THOMAS PAINE THE
AGE OF REASON
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GODS GIFT TO HUMANITY WAS

• Reason the ability to think in an ordered,
  logical manner enabled people to discover both
  scientific and spiritual truth.

Reason and free inquiryare the natural enemies
of error, and of error only. Thomas
Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia
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THOMAS JEFFERSONS BIBLE

• Jefferson changed parts of the Bible to create a
  new versionparticularly the parts that tell
  about the life of Jesus.
• He removed the supernatural aspects miracles,
  angels, and the divinity and resurrection of
  Jesus.
• He wanted a Bible that showed Jesus as a great
  moral teacher, but nothing more.

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HOWEVER, JEFFERSON ALSO PROMOTED TOLERANCEOF
PEOPLES RELIGIOUS BELIEFS
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DEISM

• From the Latin root deus, meaning God.
• A belief that emerged in the 17th and 18th
  centuries that humans can know God through reason
  and the observation of nature, rather than by
  revelation, the supernatural, or miracles.

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A belief in God and Science was not seen as a
contradiction

• Scientist Sir Isaac Newton often compared God to
  a clockmaker.
• He said, Gravity explains the motions of the
  planets, but it cannot explain who set the
  planets in motion. God governs all things and
  knows all that is or can be done.

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But, unlike the Puritans

• many thinkers of this time period thought God
  made the clock, but then, left it alone and let
  it run.
• Most rejected the beliefs of the Puritans that
  God predetermined the path of peoples lives
  before they were even born.

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DEISTS BELIEVED

• The universe was orderly and good.
• Through the use of reason, every human being was
  perfectible.
• Gods objective was the happiness of his
  creatures.
• There were punishments and rewards after this
  life
• Their faith was a philosophy and a guide for an
  ethical way of living rather than an organized
  religious institution

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DEISTS DID NOT BELIEVE

• In superstition
• In the holy trinity
• In a literal interpretation of the Bible
• That worship required attending a service (one
  could worship privately)

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RATIONALIST LITERATURE

• - mostly devoted to politics, philosophy,
  ethics, and science
• persuasive essays and pamphlets
• songs
• speeches
• poems
• documents such as The Declaration of
  Independence--which bases its arguments on
  rationalist assumptions about the relations
  between people, God, and natural law.

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RATIONALIST LITERATURE

• Many of the documents and speeches from this
  time period are known for their powerful use of
  PERSUASIVE RHETORIC, which is the art of using
  language to argue and convince others to adopt a
  position or act in a certain way.

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RATIONALISM THRIVED ON

• freedom of speech
• freedom from arbitrary rules
• freedom to experiment
• freedom to question existing laws and
  institutions of authority

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• The Age of Reason in the United States differed
  from previous Rationalist movements in
  Europenamely, because American citizens were
  testing these ideas as they created a new
  society.

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RATIONALISM WAS ABOUT HOPE

• What then isthis new man? He is an American,
  who, leaving behind him all his ancient
  prejudices and manners, receives new ones from
  the new mode of life he has embraced, the new
  government he obeys, and the new rank he
  holdsIn America individuals of all nations are
  melted into a new race of men, whose laborswill
  one day cause great changes in the world.
• Michel-Guillaume Jean de Crevecoeur,
• Letters from an American Farmer