HIST 1010 Lecture 1: The Enlightenment Overview
31 Mar 2016
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The characteristics of the enlightenment: rationalism- reason is urge arbiter of all things, cosmology- a new concept of man, his existence on earth, and the place of the. Not really original thinkers as a whole, but were great publicists of new thinking. They were students of society who analyzed its evils and advanced reforms. Enlightenment thinkers insisted on reason which consisted of common sense, observation, and their own unacknowledged prejudices in favour of scepticism and freedom. They believed that human reason could be used to combat ignorance, superstition, and tyranny and to build a better world. Their principle targets were religion and the domination of society by a hereditary aristocracy. Rene descartes attempted to use reason as the school men had, to shore up his faith. He tried to begin with the bare minimum of knowledge- the knowledge of his own existence. Torn by wars on religion and imperial conquest. Protestants and catholics denounced each other as followers of satan.
