Age Of Enlightenment : The Renaissance And The Renaissance

Renaissance, what’s that? The Renaissance was a time of creativity and finding out who you really were. Did you know that the word “Renaissance” actually means “rebirth” in french? Also, just because the Renaissance was a time of creativity and self-worth it still saw real problems like religious wars, political corruption, inequality, and witch-hunts. Humanism influenced people during the Renaissance in two ways, people began to realize they weren’t controlled by the zodiac symbols, they controlled themselves, and literature and writing became very helpful in everyday lives, because of books and philosophy.

The French Revolution was an uprising in France initiated by the Third Estate against the monarchy, which resulted in the establishment of France as a republic. Even though there were various causes to the French Revolution, there are events dating back centuries before the start of the Revolution, such as the publication of the 95 Theses, that can be seen as a preface to the Revolution. As time went on, more events acted as precursors. The French Revolution occurred as an effect of the work of Martin Luther, the creation of Absolutism, and the Enlightenment.

The Enlightenment is said to have begun in the 1680’s, the same decade that the “Glorious Revolution” occurred, which crowned daughter of James II Mary and her husband Prince William of Orange Monarchs of England. This turning point in English history can be considered part of the Enlightenment due to the switch from an Absolute Monarchy to a Constitutional Monarchy and the passing of the English Bill of Rights in 1689 after William’s ascension to the throne.

-Did other cultures effect society back in Europe and the way they thought about their government?

Ever think about how different people view the world? Some are heavily bent on religion while others believe in science and loving ourselves. Well, through the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, EVERYONE’S view had changed one way or another, making society what it is now. The Renaissance changed man’s view of the world drastically in art, religion, and science.

The Enlightenment is known as a period of time during the eighteenth century in which the most influential thinkers throughout Europe, Britain, and France expressed criticism and mistrust of traditional customs, morals, and institutions. These individuals were known as the Enlightenment Thinkers and consisted primarily of elite writers and intellectuals. The Enlightenment Thinkers, mostly through their writings, were able to spread their ideas of a new European outlook which would ultimately have a profound influence in the minds of the French revolutionaries.

The Renaissance challenged the status quo of the Middle Ages. During the Middle Ages, the Church had authority over most people. These people also had limited rights. All of this changed during the Renaissance. This period of time focused on the philosophy of humanism, which embodied the idea that humans were a significant part of the world. The Renaissance changed man’s view of man through the institutions of literature, astronomy, anatomy, and art.

The Early Modern Western Enlightenment was an intellectual movement in the 17th and 18th centuries. The objective of the Enlightenment was to create authoritative ethics, and knowledge based on an “enlightened” rationality. The leaders’ that were part of this movement were directing the world towards progress and out of a long period of irrationality, superstition, and tyranny; which began during a historical period called the Dark Ages. Therefore, it provided a framework for the American and French Revolutions, as well as the rise of capitalism and the birth of socialism. Most of the ideas in the 18th century are common laws today; like freedom of speech, freedom of religion and the responsibilities of rulers to their people developed during this time. As well as a huge increase in scientific inquiry.

Born of two fathers, the American Revolution and the age of enlightenment, the French revolution was primarily a social upheaval that conspired to overthrow religious and privileged classes. The French Revolution changed the degree to which the people were willing to suffer and sacrifice in order to achieve their war aims through democratizing the Army and creating the necessity of larger political alliances than ever before. Guibert wrote in his Essai:

The Age of the Enlightenment during the beginning of the 18th century was a revolution that vanquished the suffocating darkness of superstition that shrouded the Middle Ages. Revolutionary thinkers of the Enlightenment, such as Denis Diderot, René Descartes, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, led western civilization out of the darkness of ignorance with a small flame generated by the power of scientific and intellectual reason. For a while, it seemed as though the reason and rationality of Enlightenment thinking would be the harbinger of peace. However, this idea of peace was merely a conjectured fantasy that disregarded the rising discontentment of a newly oppressed people. This is displayed through the perversion of the French Revolution into an irrational and passion driven bloodbath. Towards the end of the 18th century, people felt that the rigidity of scientific reason instilled by the Enlightenment was bleeding the spirit, morality, and especially the passion out of existence. The small flame of the Enlightenment was ignited into a raging fire of oppressed passion generated through the power individualistic thinking. Rather than focusing on a unified peace, revolutionaries, such as Thomas Paine, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johann von Goethe and Jane Austen, of the late 18th and 19th century emphasized the passion of self-expression within the individual.

The Enlightenment period, known as the Age of Reason, was the period during the 18th and 19th century. It was known as one of the greatest moments in history, the time of transformations, reformations, revolutions and many other critical events that ever took place in human history. It is also credited for all of the revolutions that helped to change and enlighten mankind. The Agricultural Revolution paved the way for the Industrial Revolution through its population growth by increasing the food supply. The outcome of the advancement of agriculture is due to the development industrialization. When it comes to economic development in different countries, Agriculture has always been the most important role. When agricultural production increases, the average income of the rural communities, industrialization, and urbanization also lead to an increased demand in industrial production. A lot of small farmers and peasants were unemployed and lost their land to rich landholders and because of this, labor was increased and the production of food was lower causing the standard of living to be higher. During this time, England seemed to be more socially and economically wealthy and had everything they needed to fuel the industrial revolution. At the same time, England’s cottage industry was not able to fulfill its demands because of its increasing population. The population was doubling and the ratio of demand to supply increased tremendously. Therefore, people had to focus more on

Americans in the Enlightenment period strongly connected themselves with the classical age in terms of how they approached their art. The Enlightenment period lasted for about 150 years, from approximately 1700 -1850. Throughout this time period many artists took inspiration from the classical age which occurred in ancient Greece and Rome hundreds of years before. We can see examples of this in buildings like The White house and Monticello in America, and Kedleston Hall in England. These three buildings, though located in very different parts of the world, all have a number of aestheticly similar attributes.

The Enlightenment period was an extremely impactful revolution which caused changes in societies around the world. It began in 1651, people across the country took a stand against their unfair rights. In order to have a peaceful society, everyone must be treated with equality which can only occur if there is a fair government system in place. If people have to fight and kill to have their natural rights granted, something has to be done about it. The enlightenment period encouraged the people to share their ideas when before they felt they had no say. When the people come together to fight for something they believe in many good and bad outcomes can take place. This time period led to many changes that have drastic effects on history. As people joined multiple documents were created showing the impact of this time period. A couple of these influential documents was the English Bill of Rights, U.S constitution, and the Haitian Constitution.

The ideals of the Enlightenment are the basis of our democracies and universities in the 21st century: belief in reason, science, skepticism, secularism, and equality. In fact, no other era compares with the Age of Enlightenment. Classical Antiquity is inspiring, but a world away from our modern societies. The Middle Ages was more reasonable than its reputation, but still medieval. The Renaissance was glorious, but largely because of its result: the Enlightenment. The Romantic era was a reaction to the Age of Reason – but the ideals of today’s modern states are seldom expressed in terms of romanticism and emotion. Immanuel Kant’s argument in the essay ‘Perpetual Peace’ (1795) that ‘the human race’ should work for ‘a cosmopolitan constitution’ can be seen as a precursor for the United Nations.

The Age of Enlightenment was an intellectual and scientific movement which is characterized by its rational and scientific approach to religious, social, political, and economic issues. Enlightenment ideals challenged the way people were taught to think and let them express their criticism of the church, the monarchy or whatever system they saw as unjust. The impact of the enlightenment movement was first seen in 18th century Europe and soon spread to different parts of the world. People who believed in these ideals were called enlightenment thinkers. Enlightenment thinkers were a voice for the masses who felt they were being manipulated by people holding all the power. It also helped the masses realize that they did not need the church or monarchy, and enlightenment thinkers were able to assemble a following to stop people of power taking advantage of those who were not quite as powerful. Enlightenment thinkers gave an outlet to the common citizen who were seeing injustices in their government system.