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The Enlightenment According to Dorinda Outram
In opposition to older traditional views, to Dorinda Outram the Enlightenment was more than simply an isolated era that occurred solely in Europe. Ms. Outram describes Enlightenment as something more, debates and ideas, arguments and opposing points of view, leading to changes throughout the world (X). However, this hasn’t always been the perception of the Age of Enlightenment. In the 1960s, Peter Gay’s traditional interpretation describes the Enlightenment as a defined period, using the lives of men such as Voltaire, Rousseau and Kant as milestones along the winding road in the search for modernity and critical reasoning as a way of life, with an element of hostility toward …show more content…
Locke put forth the idea that we cannot know what we cannot experience for ourselves, so we can’t know beyond doubt that God exists (X). Locke was in search of ‘reasonable Christianity,’ a faith that people could believe in through reasoning, and was attainable by all men (X). In addition, Locke believed strongly in equality among men, and that there existed natural rights that belonged to all men, and that government didn’t have the right to take away these innate rights, therefore a state religion dictated by the government was a violation of those rights (pg. …show more content…
349). Yet until more recently, historians have frequently put forth the concept that the Enlightenment concluded itself by resulting in the French Revolution (pg. 363). However, according to Outram, the more realistic and truly historical view is that revolution and the Enlightenment side by side (though for the most part unconnected) throughout the eighteenth century (pg. 363). However, she brings to light that the American Revolution is an example of how the ideas of the Enlightenment and violence, together, brought about change (pg. 364). One of the central conflicts of Enlightenment ideas was support for equality of men and universal rights, and the desire to have a government that recognized these universal rights was a desire that helped spur the American Revolution (X). Locke’s philosophy of a social contract made the assumption that all were equal in that society (pg. 366). According to Outram, the dichotomy between advocating universal rights for all, while excluding a large percentage of the population from holding these (supposedly) universal rights, is a central contradiction and typical of the ideas brought forth during the eighteenth century. Ultimately, the United States would recast the class system, albeit with a slightly different appearance. Caucasian men would be the upper class, women the middle class, and
The Enlightenment According to Dorinda Outram
In opposition to older traditional views, to Dorinda Outram the Enlightenment was more than simply an isolated era that occurred solely in Europe. Ms. Outram describes Enlightenment as something more, debates and ideas, arguments and opposing points of view, leading to changes throughout the world (X). However, this hasn’t always been the perception of the Age of Enlightenment. In the 1960s, Peter Gay’s traditional interpretation describes the Enlightenment as a defined period, using the lives of men such as Voltaire, Rousseau and Kant as milestones along the winding road in the search for modernity and critical reasoning as a way of life, with an element of hostility toward …show more content…
Locke put forth the idea that we cannot know what we cannot experience for ourselves, so we can’t know beyond doubt that God exists (X). Locke was in search of ‘reasonable Christianity,’ a faith that people could believe in through reasoning, and was attainable by all men (X). In addition, Locke believed strongly in equality among men, and that there existed natural rights that belonged to all men, and that government didn’t have the right to take away these innate rights, therefore a state religion dictated by the government was a violation of those rights (pg. …show more content…
349). Yet until more recently, historians have frequently put forth the concept that the Enlightenment concluded itself by resulting in the French Revolution (pg. 363). However, according to Outram, the more realistic and truly historical view is that revolution and the Enlightenment side by side (though for the most part unconnected) throughout the eighteenth century (pg. 363). However, she brings to light that the American Revolution is an example of how the ideas of the Enlightenment and violence, together, brought about change (pg. 364). One of the central conflicts of Enlightenment ideas was support for equality of men and universal rights, and the desire to have a government that recognized these universal rights was a desire that helped spur the American Revolution (X). Locke’s philosophy of a social contract made the assumption that all were equal in that society (pg. 366). According to Outram, the dichotomy between advocating universal rights for all, while excluding a large percentage of the population from holding these (supposedly) universal rights, is a central contradiction and typical of the ideas brought forth during the eighteenth century. Ultimately, the United States would recast the class system, albeit with a slightly different appearance. Caucasian men would be the upper class, women the middle class, and