Nebil Berhanu DBQ The statement that, “The philosophers of the Enlightenment stood on the shoulders of the men of the Scientific Revolution.” is quite accurate. This is because many of the beliefs that the philosophers held about science and nature were shared with the beliefs during the Scientific Revolution. The Scientific Revolution marked a shift away from religion and superstition and towards logic. It was this belief in logic that was the cornerstone of Enlightenment Era beliefs. As we see in this segment of Document 6 “Reason is in the estimation of the philosopher what grace is to the Christian.
Therefore republicanism called for thriftiness, simplicity and plainness in all things, be it fashion or food. Only by closely adhering to republican values could men guard against greed and corruption within others and within themselves. The second set and opposing political idea being birthed at this time was the idea of Liberalism. Whereas republican liberty had a civic and social responsibility, liberalism focused on privacy and the rights of the individual. It defined itself as striving to maximize individual liberty through a democratic system of rights under law.
This meant that they accepted an extensive variety of attitudes. The Americans wished for ‘politics of liberty’, and like the British, did not view reason as their ‘end’. They wanted freedom in their society, and achieved it through a series of reasonable reforms. The approach the French took was drastically different from the reasonable path the British and Americans took. Unlike the previous countries, France viewed reason as their end and their ‘new truth’.
We use this is help us choose the right moral action is situations. Aristotle and Aquinas both conclude that humans aim for some goal or purpose in life-but does not see this as eudemonia. Aquinas believes that humans are the ‘image of god’ therefore the supreme good must be the development of this image which is perfection. They did not believe that you could reach this perfection in this life but the afterlife. There are the three laws in Aquinas’ book which are eternal, natural and divine.
Religious belief systems have been challenged by scientific belief systems which emergenced during the period known as enlightenment. This period had two key principles: the belief that reason could provide an understanding of the world and that this understanding could be used to improve the lives of human beings. These two principles resulted in the procedure for doing scientific research being created. Sociologists such as Frazer, believed that the introduction and grounds of scientific explanations would cause religion to disappear. However, sociologists are divided on whether the impact of science has been positive or negative due to the many achievements science has made such as weapons of mass destruction and the eradication of many fatal diseases through drugs.
We’ve seen monarchies enliven the divine right that god had supposedly given man. We’ve seen dictatorships that have impeded with our rights. We’ve seen democracies strive to become as transparent and as participatory as possible. We now find democracy as the most ideal government because of the ideals it upholds. Our age has also brought about two axial principles – tribalism and globalism.
Locke’s Enlightenment and Civil and Political Rights is a Treatise of the beliefs of natural law and universal order which expresses his opinion finds, and progression of a material world but which also gives an scientific approach to political and social issues. In his reading Locke defends the proposition that government rest on popular consent and rebellion is permissible when government subverts the ends the protection of life, liberty, and property for which it is established. One of Locke’s main defenses is through the existence of God. According to Locke God has given nature to mankind in common, therefore if nature is given to mankind in common how the origin of property emerges. Why he includes a chapter
Why Democracy? Preserving Human Right: Democracies attempted to preserve individual freedom and to promise equality of opportunity. The U.S. Declaration of Independence expressed the belief that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” The declarations added that the people may change or abolish the government if it interferes with those rights. People once thought that the greatest obstacles to individual freedom and equality were political.
Liberalism and Socialism Mark Minks Devry University Professor Fuss 6/18/14 Liberalism is a political ideology of 19th century that championed political democracy in the society. This ideology stressed intellectual inquiry, the rule of government by following law, protection of human beings from any arbitrary authority and the autonomy of citizens or individual in the society. Typically, this ideology draws its roots to the religious reformation of 16th century and it owes a lot of its ideals to John Locke and Thomas Hobbes argument that the governed are sovereign and they should not be ruled by an individual who argues that he or she has divine right (Gray, 2005). In 19th century, Adam Smith among other liberalists insisted that the state should not interfere with the societies’ economic life or status. In this respect, the main goal of liberalism is to promote a laissez-faire society and their main goal is preservation of human rights and freedoms.
The old ideal of science Aristotle and many more Greeks played an important role in defining what we now know as science and hence the relevance of mentioning their contributions when discussing issues of scientific philosophy and all that it concerns. The ideals of scientific discourse are now far removed from what initially was for the Greek, the reason for this is due to the contributions of other scientists, however, the current intentions deep scientific method and the definition of science as such, correspond to the same intentions of Aristotle: "know the reality and make it intelligible" Something very important that we