Deism

Despite the extensive presence of the Catholic church in the late Middle Ages, it seems as though society was still fixated on the opposition between Fortune and free will. It is common knowledge that Christianity preached free will to its people, and that the idea of Fortune or fatalism was a pagan idea condemned by the Church. Fortune as a concept, then, could only be explored through writing. Geoffrey Chaucer was one of many writers who wrestled with the opposition between free will and…

In the 18th century, Europe reached the glorious Age of Enlightenment, a political movement that introduced a new world of ideas to Europe and the world. Following the scientific revolution in the 17th century, advanced ideals such as liberty, progress, tolerance, fraternity, constitutional government, and separation of church and state came into people’s minds. They felt that they were enlightened, and Europe has finally emerged from a shadow. It was during this time that modern political…

John Locke's An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690) is often cited as the foundational document of the "blank slate" view. Locke was criticizing René Descartes' claim of an innate idea of God universal to humanity. Locke's view was harshly criticized in his own time. Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury complained that by denying the possibility of any innate ideas, Locke "threw all order and virtue out of the world", leading to total moral relativism. Locke's was not the…

The Enlightenment was a time of change and new emerging ideas. People began to advocate for things such as more personal freedoms, and moving away from the church and other absolute authority. They emphasized reason and rationality, and began to try new styles of government. Ideas such as separate government branches and other federal system ideas began to come into play. People began to mistrust religious authority during the Enlightenment. The scientific method was developed, and discoveries…

Was the French Revolution really the end of The Age of Enlightenment? Many people believed that after the French Revolution ended it also brought down all the ideas that the philosophers had believed. Even though the philosopher’s ideas did dim a little after the war ended they were still remembered in the people’s mind. The French Revolution was not the end of the Age of Enlightenment because it was just the peak that helped modernize the society that we live in today. Without the ideas that…

The Enlightenment movement influenced the departure from a monarchy and religious government for France and served as a catalyst in the French Revolution. The Enlightenment was the embodiment of criticism of government and society. The ideas of the French Enlightenment were secular, scientific, critical, and skeptical. It promoted reasoning, reform, and freedom. When King Louis XVI agreed to call the Estates General in 1788, one question remained, Would the assembly vote by order or head? Abbé…

At the time of the Enlightenment, many people’s views on religion were changing. Most of the views you see that change are those of the philosopher’s. Because this was the age of reasoning, many viewed religion and God as a concept that could not be applied to reasoning. Many found that religion did not fit in with their idea of reason. They found that the definition they grew up with about God did not have any reasoning to it. Many philosophers in the Enlightenment period did happen to be…

The Age of Enlightenment began from 1685 to 1815. This long age began with the newly instituted License Act of 1695 that stopped censorship of the press. Because of this, political literature was very popular for the first twenty years, which is why pamphlets were still being used to persuade deciding voters to vote for candidates in office. Also, journalism gained even more traction, and now there were businesses devoted to this practice just like we see today. British thinkers…

The Enlightenment era focusing more on discipline, rules and reason of western culture, stretching roughly from the mid-decades of the seventeenth century through the eighteenth century. The era introduced science, philosophy, society and politics. One of the main cause for the Enlightenment was the Scientific Revolution because of its many accomplishments and breakthrough achieved in the social and political fields. The political viewpoints related of the Enlightenment was from John Locke he…

When it comes to the discussion “Can You Be Good Without God?,” one controversial issue has been you don’t need God to be good. On one hand, people that believe in a religion follow their moral values. That argues with people that don’t have any religion, like atheist that believe they can be good without God. On the other hand, atheists have no belief in any God and believe that they can be good no matter what. That contends to people that think being good with God is following their moral…