Since the dawn of time moments, modern society has evolved over decades of history, ever-changing ever-growing, but some larger historical events and periods have aided the advancement and further development of modern society today. The Age of The Enlightenment was the dawning point of multiple subject shifts that can be traced to now such as Religion, thought, politics, science/technology, and even art. These changes in subjects it’s resulted in the blooming of culture and society.
Religion and the church have played a major role in the hustle and bustle of daily life; before the enlightenment “unorthodox beliefs could lead to punishment by the law, and in the ups and downs of everyday life the wiles of the devil had to be carefully guarded against. Religion was also a powerful political force; in several European countries, the wealth of the church almost matched that of the state. The church also dominated education”. The age of the enlightenment was a time that brought forth new thought where “people had the courage to think for themselves, no matter who they are or what their statuses in life were”. New ideas emerged about religion and the church and people began to challenge previous traditions “the protestant reformation had already told people that they did not need a system of intermediaries to discover the truth and live a good life”. Meaning that a system of links was not necessary like once thought. The enlightenment also shifted away from previous thoughts about witchcraft and a God being the central government of the universe that interacted amongst people; people soon began to believe that God governed the universe but didn’t interact amongst inhabitants this belief was known as deism.
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But Modern society has stemmed from the enlightenment; people have ties to religion and their church but not like they once did. Churchgoers are more flexible on attendance to ceremonies, while some choose not to go, and others choose not to believe. Parts of deism still inhabit some thoughts and since the enlightenment, more religions have evolved as a result of being able to think freely.
While religion progressed, so did science but science’s shift stemmed from Isaac Newton and his turn away from medieval thought. Originally medieval “thought of nature as a rarely changing medium that was independent and dictated by God in order to fulfill a purpose. As well they believed that humans were at the center of the cosmos and the church mediated them between heaven and earth and also believed in dualism in that materials served a higher purpose to the spiritual.” Whereas Newton’s thought possessed more modern thought in that “nature had more potential to change but its underlying cause was stable and consisted of particles that could be examined as opposed to a greater being dictating. Newton though disregarded that thought of the cosmos as a median between two universes and simplified it to laws and components.” There became a high interest in finding reason than being led by sheer faith, so this created the desire and need to see experiments being performed in order to see the truth. Modern society has built off of Isaac Newton’s scientific thought which researches into cells of organisms, astronomy, gravity, and much more. Had scientific thought not been tuned and tweaked we could still be resting on previous medieval thought causing less scientific advancement.
Though Isaac Newton was not the only thinker who influenced the enlightenment john Locke made a significant contribution to philosophy and politics through his thought which he built using previous philosophical ideas. Locke believed that “personal identity stemmed from a series of conscious consists of continuity of consciousness. One is the same person as the person who existed last week or many years ago if one has memories of the earlier person’s conscious experiences. Along with this Locke thought that the trigger of one idea created a domino effect in which one idea lead to another.” Locke’s mind was not short of thought; creating books on knowledge, identity, and language shaped thought of the time and even altered political thought such as the English declaration of independence. Each thought influenced later philosophers and even liberalism which in turn affected modern society by giving it a base point for decades after the enlightenment. Personal identity can still be thought of in the way Locke did but other philosophers and or psychologists could argue otherwise. Even scientists studying memory loss in patients can view Locke’s theory on personal identity as a stepping stone that helps aid research to prove that when one can’t recall previous memories that their personal identity is lost, and even their personality is changed.
During the enlightenment technology and machinery also began their slow upward incline that started and shaped modern technology. One of the new advancements made was the development of the train which helped aid a way for products to be distributed across counties, especially agricultural goods. The slow development of technology ignited a flame that ceases to burn out by helping pave a way for the industrial revolution years later. This ripple effect of the train helped get products to and from places years later, create an interest in movement and how to make machinery move, and it also created a deeper look into how to improve the quality of life.
Aside from technology’s slow progression art on the other hand in the age of the enlightenment created a blooming effect. The era consisted of neoclassicism “which expressed the ideas and thought of the enlightenment” and romanticism “a deep love for nature and the landscape with emphasis on own personal viewpoints rather than classical rules”. Artists of the time wanted to paint, re-create or document history using various mediums, and Jacques Louise David did this with his painting “death of the Marat 1793, Oil On Canvas” here he displays the stone cold grey Marat lifelessly slumped over in his tub where he had been murdered. David had been a long-time friend of Marat’s and soon after his death he fell to like Napoleon sculpting masterpieces of him, but “if you were to compare between Bonaparte crossing the Great Saint Bernard Pass with Death of Marat and Oath of the Horatii. Rather than exhibiting classical restraint and purity, David fills his canvas with the dynamic form of a rearing horse. Horizontals and verticals, which create a feeling of stasis, have been replaced by strong diagonals, suggesting movement.” With neoclassicism artists were able to display the unsteady capabilities of nature; and how it ever changed a common thought during the enlightenment. Nature possessed powers that were untameable and should be shown in such a manner by using loose brush strokes and depth along with an array of colors to create a sense of an ever-changing environment. Both neoclassicism and romanticism sculpted a pathway for future art periods and later joined together towards the 19th century when artists began to depict the harsh and simple lives of the lower class instead of bourgeoisie cultures. This created a freedom of expression in art which continued to build from enlightenment ideas and change through the centuries which has created a period of art that allows for expression, abstraction, realism, and much more. Without the enlightenment art still could be rooted in the previous roman and greet practices had it not been for the loose flow and abstraction of the neoclassicists.
Though it may not be noticed in modern society history has shaped and advanced to what is known now. Without changes in periods of history including war, technology, science, art, and religion the world would’ve progressed differently and advancements might not have ever seen the light of day in the way it does now. The enlightenment was one of the major changing points in history that paved a pathway to now by sparking the human mind to dig deeper into the natural world and what is known and unknown by pushing further through the how and why to get to an answer. The drive pushed previous thoughts away from their unrealistic origin into a deeper truth creating a ripple effect that followed through centuries till now.
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