Liberalism

The Enlightenment and Romanticism were time periods in European history that marked great change in European society. Enlightenment thinkers and Romantics were dissimilar in their ideas of what the human mind should seek, where people should turn their thoughts, and religion but similar in their ability to liberate the minds of citizens and focus on themselves. The Enlightenment and Romantic era were different in several ways. Firstly, the Enlightenment focused on logic, reason, and…

The Enlightenment was a time period when certain people began to question absolute monarchy and where reason and scientific methods were applied to all aspects of life during the 17th and 18th centuries. The Enlightenment thinkers called philosophes were intellectuals who popularized the ideas of the Enlightenment. The American Revolution (1775-1783) and the French Revolution (1789-1815) were direct causes of the Enlightenment. The ideas of John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Montesquieu all…

Rousseau was considered by many to be the most gifted and original of all the Enlightenment thinkers, but most would argue that his legacy was limited to Revolutionary France and France's anti-authoritarian culture. However, I argue that it was in fact Rousseau who had the greatest influence on American culture. Thomas Jefferson echoed John Locke when he wrote that "all men are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights," so it would be easy to argue that Locke's beliefs created…

Modern day Europe is often considered as one of the most liberal regions in the world due to the fact that is has progressed well beyond other continents in providing equal rights for all races and genders. This progressive society, however, was not always as accepting in the denunciation of traditional gender roles. Several events, including the French Revolution and then Holocaust, helped mold the society of Modern Europe into one of equality in almost every facet of life. When one thinks of…

The Common Good theory, is a theory on groups and individuals based on Aristotle’s principles. It states that the highest good can be achieved when people work together to obtain a certain goal. It is defined as, “a good proper to, and attainable only by the community, yet individually shared by its members” (Dupre, 687). These goods can be material possessions or abstract resources such as honor, security, or any other thing that people have to share. Aristotle states that the scarcity of these…

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…

The French Revolution in 1789 marked an important turn in European history. It indicated the end of Absolutism and the implementation of the ideas of the Enlightenment based on liberty, equality, and personal freedom. The Declaration of the Rights of Man played an important role in meeting the people’s needs. During the year following the French Revolution, Maximelian Robespierre reigned France through blood and terror. However, it quickly ended when Napoleon staged a coup d’etet and took…

Since the introduction of cuneiform in acient Mesopotamia, writing has been used to spread information, document events, and to keep a history of important events within civilazations. However, text has also served the purpose of entertaining the imaginations of the masses with artistic compositions such as elaborate stories, thoughtful poems, and wimsical plays. The Romantic literary period of American literature is an example of a time in which innovation and originality aided in producing…

Envision a society in which everyone was effortlessly free to do as they please. Order indicates an essential loss of freedom, if people are to live. Democratic countries appreciate freedom and commonly believe that laws should not be authoritarian; a slight quantity of order can be surrendered in the name of liberty. I would argue that Democratic societies also anticipate another kind of stability, a intervention between liberty and equality. A sufficient amount of liberty sensibly leads to…

Masbahuddin Ahmed Political Science 100 Fall 2015 Prof. Marasco & Prof. Jenkins How do Marx and Engels differ from Emma Goldman? (Please note: In answering this question, you may discuss their respective critiques of capitalism, their theories of the state, their ideas about freedom and oppression, but please do not rely on generic definitions of “communism” and “anarchism”. Stay as grounded in the texts as possible.) Emma Goldman was an anarchist, an important figure in American history…