The Three Most Important Concepts Of The Enlightenment

The Enlightenment is defined as, the European intellectual movement of the eighteenth century using the scientific method of the New Science. The scientific revolution is one of the most important influences in the formation of the Enlightenment. There are three central concepts at the core of enlightened thinking. They are that the methods of natural science could and should be used to examine and understand all aspects of life, which is reason. The scientific method was capable of discovering the laws of human society as well as those of nature. The creation of better societies and better people is possible through progress. These three concepts inspired Enlightenment thinkers to write and transform Western Europe from the age of absolutism to a period of revolution and liberalism. John Locke was inspired by a man names Isaac Newton. It was Newton’s scientific method that inspired Locke to branch out into a new field of study, the human mind. Locke published An Essay Concerning Human Understanding in 1690. This Essay was one of the earliest writings of the Enlightenment that argued the idea that Descartes’s belief that God planted innate ideas in the mind. Locke debated this saying that ideas arise only through experiences of the world around us, and that these …show more content…
In 1762 Rousseau published The Social Contract, which encouraged a democratic society and founded modern democratic theory. Rousseau, unlike men like Locke and Voltaire, wanted a major change in society. Rousseau wanted a community where people joined in politics and acted honestly for the true good of all the community’s members. From this idea ordinary people have commented on policies and required rulers to justify their actions to the people. This sparked a new political force, the public