Age of Reason The Enlightenment, also known as the Age of Reason, is the name given to the period in Europe and America during the 1700s when mankind was emerging from centuries of ignorance into a new age enlightened by reason, science, and respect for humanity. People of the Enlightenment period were convinced that human reason could discover the natural laws of the universe and determine the natural rights of mankind; thereby continuing progress in knowledge, technical achievement, and moral values. Even though before the discovery of natural laws, people had believed that every event that occurred, no matter how major or minor, was a direct result of God’s intervention. The Enlightenment period produced numerous books, essays, inventions,
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The business of the artist was conceived of as the imitation of nature, and as far as high art was concerned, this process of imitation should be informed by an intelligent grasp of the processes used to produce classical art. The principles of classical composition were based on the notion of a clear focus on a central motif; grand, unifying effects of light and shade that wouldn't distract the eye to the detriment of mental focus on an elevating subject; noble simplicity, balance and symmetry. This growing quest for the ‘natural’ extended to changing views on the status of different genres or subjects in art. While high art, inspired by classical or religious subjects, retained its position at the top of the hierarchies by the academies of Europe, there was a growing appreciation of the lower genres of landscape, still life and scenes of everyday life, which required more direct observation of a more natural reality. The imagination was held to combine impressions observed in nature and previous art, but was generally not understood or required to include any great flights of fancy. Indeed, many Enlightenment thinkers shared the conviction that good art was largely, though not exclusively, the product of compliance with well-established rules derived from the classics and empirical reason. Enlightenment ideas on art and the …show more content…
There is a stable, coherent, knowable self. This self is conscious, rational, autonomous, and universal. This self knows itself and the world through reason, or rationality as the highest form of mental functioning, and the only objective form. The mode of knowing produced by the objective rational self is “science,” which can provide universal truths about the world. The knowledge/truth produced by science by the rational objective knowing self will always lead toward progress and perfection. All human institutions and practices can be analyzed by science (reason/objectivity). In a world governed by reason, the true will always be the same as the good and the right, there can be no conflict between what is true and what is
The business of the artist was conceived of as the imitation of nature, and as far as high art was concerned, this process of imitation should be informed by an intelligent grasp of the processes used to produce classical art. The principles of classical composition were based on the notion of a clear focus on a central motif; grand, unifying effects of light and shade that wouldn't distract the eye to the detriment of mental focus on an elevating subject; noble simplicity, balance and symmetry. This growing quest for the ‘natural’ extended to changing views on the status of different genres or subjects in art. While high art, inspired by classical or religious subjects, retained its position at the top of the hierarchies by the academies of Europe, there was a growing appreciation of the lower genres of landscape, still life and scenes of everyday life, which required more direct observation of a more natural reality. The imagination was held to combine impressions observed in nature and previous art, but was generally not understood or required to include any great flights of fancy. Indeed, many Enlightenment thinkers shared the conviction that good art was largely, though not exclusively, the product of compliance with well-established rules derived from the classics and empirical reason. Enlightenment ideas on art and the …show more content…
There is a stable, coherent, knowable self. This self is conscious, rational, autonomous, and universal. This self knows itself and the world through reason, or rationality as the highest form of mental functioning, and the only objective form. The mode of knowing produced by the objective rational self is “science,” which can provide universal truths about the world. The knowledge/truth produced by science by the rational objective knowing self will always lead toward progress and perfection. All human institutions and practices can be analyzed by science (reason/objectivity). In a world governed by reason, the true will always be the same as the good and the right, there can be no conflict between what is true and what is