The Enlightenment was a time of belief and discovery, but it did not get that way in a single day. It took centuries for the Enlightenment to begin but it started with Absolute Monarchy. Absolute Monarchy is where one ruler has all the power. It ignited the desire for knowledge which then led to the Scientific Revolution. The Scientific Revolution was a time where the people of Europe started to or became weary of traditional ideas and wondered about the universe and the functions of the human body. Enlightenment was a time of philosophy, people were able to question authority like the church and not be executed. Louis XIV, Galileo Galilei and Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s science or philosophy about authority, faith and human nature aided Europe’s
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Rousseau talks about his new philosophy that he states in The Social Contract, “Their very life, which they have devoted to the State, is by it constantly protected; and when they risk it in the State's defence, what more are they doing than giving back what they have received from it? What are they doing that they would not do more often and with greater danger in the state of nature, in which they would inevitably have to fight battles at the peril of their lives in defence of that which is the means of their preservation? All have indeed to fight when their country needs them; but then no one has ever to fight for himself” (The Social Contract). Rousseau is saying that in return for government protection, the people have to do what is best for humanity as a whole. This was a new form of government that had yet to be heard. The people were longing for a new form of government since Absolute Monarchy failed. This government gave people more power than they had before, the people are able to decide and the government is there simple to protect them. Along with his philosophy on government Rousseau also formed a new type of religion, one that was more accepting, “Instead of a civil religion, Rousseau here outlines a personal religion, which proves to be a kind of simplified Christianity, involving neither revelation nor the familiar dogmas of the church. In the guise of La Profession de foi du vicaire savoyard (1765; The Profession of Faith of a Savoyard Vicar) Rousseau sets out what may fairly be regarded as his own religious views, since that book confirms what he says on the subject in his private correspondence. Rousseau could never entertain doubts about God’s existence or about the immortality of the soul” (“Jean-Jacques Rousseau”). Rousseau’s formation of a new religion showed that faith and reason can both be believed without conflict. The
Rousseau talks about his new philosophy that he states in The Social Contract, “Their very life, which they have devoted to the State, is by it constantly protected; and when they risk it in the State's defence, what more are they doing than giving back what they have received from it? What are they doing that they would not do more often and with greater danger in the state of nature, in which they would inevitably have to fight battles at the peril of their lives in defence of that which is the means of their preservation? All have indeed to fight when their country needs them; but then no one has ever to fight for himself” (The Social Contract). Rousseau is saying that in return for government protection, the people have to do what is best for humanity as a whole. This was a new form of government that had yet to be heard. The people were longing for a new form of government since Absolute Monarchy failed. This government gave people more power than they had before, the people are able to decide and the government is there simple to protect them. Along with his philosophy on government Rousseau also formed a new type of religion, one that was more accepting, “Instead of a civil religion, Rousseau here outlines a personal religion, which proves to be a kind of simplified Christianity, involving neither revelation nor the familiar dogmas of the church. In the guise of La Profession de foi du vicaire savoyard (1765; The Profession of Faith of a Savoyard Vicar) Rousseau sets out what may fairly be regarded as his own religious views, since that book confirms what he says on the subject in his private correspondence. Rousseau could never entertain doubts about God’s existence or about the immortality of the soul” (“Jean-Jacques Rousseau”). Rousseau’s formation of a new religion showed that faith and reason can both be believed without conflict. The