The Origin Of The Enlightenment: The Scientific Revolution

THE ENLIGTHTENMENT The Enlightenment refers to a radical shift that occurred in Europe (especially France, Germany, and England) in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This movement completely revolutionized the way people viewed philosophy, science, politics, and society as a whole, and forever changed the shape of western philosophy. Philosophers began to oppose the pre-formed traditions and thought of the ancient Greeks, which opened the floodgates to a new form of philosophical inquiry or. Human knowledge and reason. THE ORIGIN OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT: THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION The beginning of the Enlightenment can be traced back to the 1500s, when the scientific revolution began in Europe. From 500 to 1350, very little has changed with respect to science. The belief system and teachings are based on the work of the ancient Greeks, and this philosophy has been incorporated into the doctrine of the Catholic church. During the renaissance, interest in nature was renewed. As people discovered their findings were inconsistent with the teachings of the church (which had, until then, been accepted as true), more and more people began to be able to carve out the world around them, and scientific discoveries relating to the natural world flourished. This scientific exploration reached its peak in the 1500s and 1600s, in what became known as the scientific revolution. The advances in science and mathematics of Nicolaus Ccpernicus, Johannes Kepler, Sir Isaac Newton, and Galileo Galilei not only questioned the work of Aristotle and the church; They make people see neture and humanity in very different ways. Introduction of the scientific method, which is based on observation and experimentation, is allowed. Scientists to explain various theories through the use of reason and logic, and reimoved traditions of knowledge. Figure 156 LEARNING THE TRUTH Philosophers during the Enlightenment sought to discover the truth about nature, knowledge, and humanity. They do this through different channels. Skepticism During that period of enlightenment, skepticism played an important role in many philosophical advances due to the fact that the nature of the movement's skepticism questioned the pre-existing truths. Philosophers used skepticism as a means to advance new science. When Descartes tried to create a new system of knowledge in his meditation on philosophy first, he created a safe foundation by using doubt to determine which principles can be known as true with absolute certainty. Since the Enlightenment has roots in being critical and suspicious of doctrine, it makes sense for skepticism because of the philosophy of the thinkers of the time. Empiricism The Enlightenment is sometimes referred to as the "reasoned age," and empiricism, the belief that all of our knowledge arose because of our experiences, played a key role in the history of the movement. Although the philosophers of this age do not consider reason to be their own source of knowledge, they are investigating the cognitive abilities of man (the capacity of the human mind) in a new way. Perhaps the most influential empirical writer to come out of this time period was John Locke, whose important theory was that the mind is a taste tabulo, or empty slate, at birth and only when one has experience one begins to form knowledge. Another major empiricist who was expelled from the field of enlightenment was Sir Isaac Newton, who went on to completely change science and mathematics (including creating calculus and identifying the existence of gravity). Newton's research began with the observation of phenomena in nature, and he then used induction to find mathematical principles that would be able to describe the phenomenon. As the distinction between Newton's "bottom-up" approach (which begins with an observation of a phenomenon in nature and then uses a process of persuasion to create a mathematical law or principle, and leads to a sometimes endless result) and the approach to achieve the desired result) became clear, many philosophers during the Enlightenment began to support the Newtonian method in their quest for knowledge Rationalism One of the most significant philosophical changes that occurred during the Enlightenment was the embrace of rationalism (the idea that we acquire knowledge without the senses). The work of Rene Descartes, who wrote the basic truth by concluding that the proposition is wrong and by throwing a doub: on the senses, is particularly influential. Descartes not only questioned Aristotle's notions; He changed one's perspective on science, which paved the way for new science. Through Cartesian philosophy (the term for Rene Descartes's view), various controversial questions arise from the intelligentsia community: . Are the body and mind two separate and distinct elements from each other? . How do they relate (to the human body and to the united world)? . What is the role of Allah in strengthening our knowledge? From the various questions posed by Cartesian philosophy emerged Baruch Spinoza, one of the most influential philosophers in the field of enlightenment. Barukh Spinoza dealt with the theory of Cartesian dualism and developed the theory of ontological monism (the idea that there is only one type of substance, be it god or nature, that has tvo properties related to the mind and body). By identifying God with nature and denying the existence of the Supreme. Barukh Pinoza laid the foundations of naturalism and atheism that can be seen through the philosophy of the Enlightenment. In addition to Descartes and Spinoza, there were several other key philosophers regarding the Enlightenment who focused on rationalism. In Germany, one of the most influential philosophers was Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, who emphasized a principle sufficient to reason that there must be sufficient reasons for the existence of all things. The principle oi quite reason plays into the very ideal of enlightenment, because it presents the universe as fully understood through the use of reason. Based on Leibniz's work, Christian Wolf set out to answer the question of how the principle of sufficient reason could be based on the use of logic and the use of the principle of non-contradiction (which assumed that Staterent could never be right and wrong at the exact same time). Wolff did so by creating a rationalist system of knowledge with the aim of showing that the main principles known as a priori could demonstrate the truth of science. What makes wolffquintessial work for the Enlightenment movement is not that it seeks to use reason to prove its arguments; He proved his argument by using human reasoning. During the Enlightenment, modern philosophical aesthetics first emerged and developed. German philosopher Alexander Baumgarten, He was once a student of Christian Wolff, who founded and named aes thetics. According to Baumgarten, aesthetics is the science of beauty. Baumgarten, according to the science of the beauties with the science of sensible—therefore, sesthetics are created with sensible cognitive awareness. The enlightenment shapes the aesthetics for several reasons: The revo movement! Ved around the rediscovery of the senses and the value of pleasure, and as art and criticism developed, the notion of beauty became very important among philosophers. The way we understand beauty, which is believed, reveals information about the rational order of nature. German Rationalism In Germany during the 18th century, aesthetics were largely based on Christian Wolff's rationalist in metaphysics. Wolff is a proponent of the classical principle that beauty is truth. For the wolff. Beauty is the truth. Wolff saw beauty as something perfect. This perfection then leads to harmony and order. When one perceives something beautiful (through a feeling of pleasure), one feels a kind of perfection or harmony. Thus the consciousness of sensitivity to perfection is beauty. Wolff stated that although beauty may be related to the objective characteristics of the objects around us. Opinions about relative beauty are based on a person's sensitivity. French classification The French view of beauty during the Enlightenment was heavily inspired by Descartes' model of the physical universe (knowledge derived from previous knowledge to deduce a single Principle). Like German rationalism, the French classification is based aesthetically on the classical principle that beauty is truth. Truth, for French philosophers, was seen as an objective rational sequence. Philosophers viewed art as an imitation of nature in an ideal state and in the French classification, aesthetics were modeled after the natural sciences. Like Descartes' model, the French classical philosophers tried to systematically pursue aesthetics in search of a universal principle. Subjective and Empirical Although the aesthetic basis was formed in France and Germany. Some of the most important work regarding aesthetics during the Enlightenment occurred in England and Scotland. Through empiricism and subtivism, the understanding of aesthetics shifts to the viewer's understanding of beauty. Where experiences and responses to beauty are tested. One of the main figures of today, Lord Shaftesbury, agrees with the classical principle that beauty is truth. However, Shaitesbury did not believe in this truth as an objective rational sequence that people could know. For Shaftesbury, the response to aesthetics is an unselfish uninterested pleasure, meaning it is independent of one's mind about how to promote one's own interests (this revelation would pave the way for his theory on ethics based on the same idea). He denounces that beauty is a kind of harmony that is free from the human mind, and that our direct understanding of beauty is a form of participation with this harmony. Shaftesbury then shifted his foquitism to the nature of one's response to beauty, and believed that this response increased moral interest, above self-interest. By moving away from what makes something beautiful and towards natural human behavior with respect to beauty, Shaftesbury connects aesthetics with beauty, morality. And ethics and expanding interest in human nature that has become associated with enlightenment. As the enlightenment continued, later philosophers such as Immanuel Kant and David Hume made numerous contributions to the concepts of empirical and subjectivity, especially the role of imagination. POLITICS, ETHICS AND RELIGION Enlightenment is perhaps the most significant to achieve in politics. During that time, there were three different revolutions: the English Revolution, the American Revolution, and the French Revolution. As philosophers during the Age of Enlightenment began to turn toward thinking about human nature and became critical of the truths that had been established from the church and the monarchy, the socio-political atmosphere also fell under investigation. Sympathizers of this revolution believed that politics and social authority were based on obscure traditions and religious myths, and they began to spread the idea of freedom, equality. Rights, and the need for a legitimate political system. Philosophers don't just criticize the government; They also theorized about what the government would do. This is where we see people starting to embrace ideas such as the right to freedom of religion and the need for a political system with checks and balances. During this time, the political work of Jchn Locke and Thonas Hobbes was the most influential As political and societal trends began to change, so did people's views on ethics and religion. With the rise of industrialization and urbanization, as well as bloody wars fought in the name of religion, people (and of course philosophers) are beginning to question the motivations behind happiness, morality, and religion. Instead of finding happiness by being united with God or determining what makes something good based on what religion teaches him, philosophers begin to turn to human nature and ask questions such as: what can make a person happy in this life? These cursed philosophers called for religion to free itself from superstition, supernaturalism, and fanaticism, and advocated for a more rational form. Anger against the Catholic Church grew. And Protestantism began to become popular. Religion during the Enlightenment began to have four types: 1. Atheism: the idea, as Denis Diderot stated, that humans should not look to supernatural beings to discover the principles of nature, but rather, with their own natural processes. Atheism was more commonly found in France than in any other location during the time of enlightenment. 2. Deism: it is the belief that there is a great being who guards the universe and has always had a place for creation since its birth; However, this supreme being would not interfere with creation. Deism is generally considered to be a religion related to enlightenment. Deism rejects the idea of miracles or special revelations, and instead argues that natural light is clear evidence that there is a supreme being. Despots reject the divinity of Jesus Christ, instead claiming he is more like a superior moral teacher. Deism also allowed for new discoveries in the natural sciences, and believed that god created this order. 3. Religion of the heart: this is the belief that God is related to deism is too rationalist and far from the constant strug of humanity (and therefore, does not serve the purpose that religion is supposed to serve). The religion of the heart, mainly accepted by the Philosophers Rousseau and Shaftesbury, is a religion based on human feelings. Although sometimes considered a form of deism, the religion of the heart is a "natural" religion, notorious for its absence of an "artificial form of worship" and a metaphysical basis. 4. Fideism : one of the most impartmtksOn the contrary, the emphasis is on the natural emotions of the human being From the enlightenment is David Hume's Dialogues on vpercent religion. In his memoirs, published in 1779 after Hume's death, Hume (an atheist) criticized the assumption that the world must have been created and authorized by the supreme because of human existence and reason. Fideism states that no matter what, reasonable criticism cannot get rid of religious beliefs because religious beliefs are so "natural". Basically, according to fideism, people don't need a reason to have religious beliefs all that is needed is faith. Some forms of fidesm even go so far as to say: the religious beige of the beige can be justified even if the belief opposes the beige of conflict with common sense. Through his rejection of tradition, pre-existing thought about the ancient Greeks and their emphasis or human knowledge and reason, the enlightenment completely changed the way people viewed philosophy, science, politics, and society as a whole, and forever changed the shape of western philosophy.