Enlightenment Thinkers Essay

The majority of people tend to look at morals as a set of rules laying out what is right and what is wrong when it comes to behavior, that they should abide by. during the period of time known as the Enlightenment people questioned religious doctrines and traditional values. Immanuel Kant, Adam Smith, Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau all wrote may papers detailing their beliefs and philosophes. These authors all share in the belief that humans have the ability if they choose to, to change not only their life circumstances and ways of thinking but that of others too, all for the better. All the authors of these documents were all outside the box thinkers of their time. The language in these documents is geared toward a particular set of readers. …show more content…
Though each author thinks that people are motivated for different reasons, these enlightenment thinkers helped us learn what motivates people, which has helped us be more productive in almost every sphere of life. Forces that help further this process of free thinking and enlightenment were the free democratic societies and free-thinking populace. People in a society like that began to have an open mind and more accepting of new ideas. People began to speak to each other and do experiments purely in the name of learning more about it. In other parts of the world, there were hindering forces to this enlightenment movement. One of the forces that might hinder this progress would be an overpowering government or monarchy. Another hindering force might be the mass of people that are willing to be led and told how to think. The placid willingness a large amount of people that are willing to be led and told how to think is also a hindering force to the progress the authors speak of. These authors felt government should be a fluid body that takes heed of its citizens will. It should be a support system rather than oppressive force. In essence the government should be a tool of its