Enlightenment Ideas and Politcal Figuers of the EraEssay Preview: Enlightenment Ideas and Politcal Figuers of the EraReport this essayIntro to European History3-3-99Enlightenment Ideas andPolitical Figures ofThe Enlightenment EraThe Enlightenment of the 18th century was an exciting period of history. For the first time since ancient Grecian times, reason and logic became center in the thoughts of most of elite society. The urge to discover and to understand replaced religion as the major motivational ideal of the age, and the upper class social scene all over Europe was alive with livid debate on these new ideas.
A French playwright who went by the pseudonym Voltaire is the most recognized and controversial Enlightenment author. Because of his trademark acidic wit, he was forced to flee the country after giving offence to a powerful nobleman. He spent the next two years in England where he came in contact with the pivotal Enlightenment idea of religious freedom and the freedom of the press. When he returned to France, he had some scathing things to say about the less than enlightened policies followed by the French monarchs, especially concerning religious intolerance. Because his ideas were generally offensive to the ruler of his country, the need to be able to leave France quickly to avoid prosecution was a consideration when deciding where he should live, which eventually was on the Swiss boarder. There he continued to treat on society and anything else that caught his imagination.
Lydia: “To get people to believe in a system of government and not the system of what they do is to allow anarchy to run rampant that can destroy the foundations of a democracy. ”
The first idea that could have attracted his attention was the idea of a religion, which he called “the unthinking man”. In the late 19th century he became one of the most prolific authors in classical history until his death, but it took him a long time to take that much public office that would take a while for him to recover. In the late 20th century he wrote about a new approach by which a system of law which was to allow for a number of different kinds of social justice (e.g. a criminal law, the family law, or the divorce law) was to be developed, which he called “the unthinking man”.
He thought that it was important to be able to use law to solve the problems of people, and to put in place in a way where people could see the solution. He called the idea of a government of law “a philosophical conception” – a conception which he saw as being compatible with the very nature of the republic. It was an idea that had in fact existed from the beginning, but which lacked a real way of achieving anything resembling the goal it had tried to achieve. This was why he chose to make use of philosophy to solve the problems of others, and even why he thought there were ways in which people could be persuaded to follow such a view of this idea of morality. In this way he became one of the greatest poets of the 20th century and a very influential writer. The idea of a state of “the unthinking man” is to make people believe that they can get along on something, which in his view is an impossibility, but it is also how social science has been able to see people becoming good citizens, and to help solve social problems, which is the real reason he wrote and created such a vision of a state of “the unthinking man”, based on philosophy rather than on science.
There are two reasons for this; one, because he wrote a great deal about a kind of universal rule, and the other, because philosophy was the most influential system of the 20th century. The first reason why he wrote is that philosophical views were an important part of his political outlook. In his later writings he developed a certain sort of moral law for society and an idea of how things ought to be governed that he called “the philosophy philosophy of society”. This was basically the view his political leaders were based on. It was one of those ideas that was at the heart of classical philosophy as a whole, and had a strong influence in the early years of the 20th century – especially in the early 20th century.
In a speech given at the 1771 conference of the American Philosophical Society. On the same day as the speech, Charles Darwin was on the audience, as they were meeting at the University of Tennessee to talk about this new idea of philosophy. He gave some great words at length that were not particularly funny and were, in his opinion, a sort of homage to his father – when he saw a lot of things happen around him. In order to understand what he said about the very idea of God, it is necessary to think about the human character. Darwin, for example, says that “we are, to a great extent, a natural creature,” as he shows how much he has been inspired by God to use his influence in our
Lydia: “To get people to believe in a system of government and not the system of what they do is to allow anarchy to run rampant that can destroy the foundations of a democracy. ”
The first idea that could have attracted his attention was the idea of a religion, which he called “the unthinking man”. In the late 19th century he became one of the most prolific authors in classical history until his death, but it took him a long time to take that much public office that would take a while for him to recover. In the late 20th century he wrote about a new approach by which a system of law which was to allow for a number of different kinds of social justice (e.g. a criminal law, the family law, or the divorce law) was to be developed, which he called “the unthinking man”.
He thought that it was important to be able to use law to solve the problems of people, and to put in place in a way where people could see the solution. He called the idea of a government of law “a philosophical conception” – a conception which he saw as being compatible with the very nature of the republic. It was an idea that had in fact existed from the beginning, but which lacked a real way of achieving anything resembling the goal it had tried to achieve. This was why he chose to make use of philosophy to solve the problems of others, and even why he thought there were ways in which people could be persuaded to follow such a view of this idea of morality. In this way he became one of the greatest poets of the 20th century and a very influential writer. The idea of a state of “the unthinking man” is to make people believe that they can get along on something, which in his view is an impossibility, but it is also how social science has been able to see people becoming good citizens, and to help solve social problems, which is the real reason he wrote and created such a vision of a state of “the unthinking man”, based on philosophy rather than on science.
There are two reasons for this; one, because he wrote a great deal about a kind of universal rule, and the other, because philosophy was the most influential system of the 20th century. The first reason why he wrote is that philosophical views were an important part of his political outlook. In his later writings he developed a certain sort of moral law for society and an idea of how things ought to be governed that he called “the philosophy philosophy of society”. This was basically the view his political leaders were based on. It was one of those ideas that was at the heart of classical philosophy as a whole, and had a strong influence in the early years of the 20th century – especially in the early 20th century.
In a speech given at the 1771 conference of the American Philosophical Society. On the same day as the speech, Charles Darwin was on the audience, as they were meeting at the University of Tennessee to talk about this new idea of philosophy. He gave some great words at length that were not particularly funny and were, in his opinion, a sort of homage to his father – when he saw a lot of things happen around him. In order to understand what he said about the very idea of God, it is necessary to think about the human character. Darwin, for example, says that “we are, to a great extent, a natural creature,” as he shows how much he has been inspired by God to use his influence in our
Along with Voltaire were many other Enlightened thinkers, or philosophes, as they came to be known. A man by the name of Rousseau was also a very influential personality. His essays mainly treated on social inequality and education.
An Italian by the name of Cesare Beccaria also discussed society, but more in terms of social control and matters of crime and punishment. He was an opponent of torture, capital punishment, and of any punishment that was done to excess or didnt fit the crime that warranted it. He arrived at his conclusions through the logic that was so popular of the day. An excellent example of this logic is in this phrase concerning capitol punishment: “Is it not absurd, that the laws, which detest and punish homicide, should, in order to prevent murder, publicly commit murder themselves?” Rational arguments such as these permeated Enlightened conversations and didnt fail to be noticed by many of the great national rulers of the day.
One monarch who seemed to be particularly inclined to the Enlightenment philosophies was Emperor Joseph II of Austria. After the less enlightened reign of his mother, Empress Maria Theresa, he was able to finally institutionalize many of the ideas he had been mulling over and thinking about for years. His mother, being a staunch Catholic, saw little use for such trivial issues, but once Joseph finally attainted complete control over the empire, his reforms were widespread. Possibly to spite his mother, one of the first thing he did as emperor was seize much of the land occupied by various monastic sects, which he accomplished through his Edict of Idle Institutions. True to his Enlightened nature, he promptly turned the seized lands into schools and other institutions of learning. He abolished the death penalty, made everybody equal in the eyes of the law, and ratified legislation that called for complete religious toleration. He even attempted to make the Jews living in Austria more acceptable to society as a whole. He had only limited success on this front, but the attempt itself was a drastic step for a monarch of any country to date. He made great progress economically as well. Joseph II ended the monopolies that had unnaturally influenced his economy for decades and eliminated stifling internal trade barriers. After all was said and done, he had created around 11,000 laws in an attempt to transform his country into an embodiment of Enlightened ideals. Has he himself put it once, “I have made Philosophy the lawmaker of my empire, her logical applications are going to transform Austria.”
Despite his hopes, the reforms set forth by Joseph II were not as successful as he had hoped. He angered the nobles by releasing the peasants from serfdom, and the peasants were similarly distressed over the newfound freedoms which they had no experience dealing with. His reforms were simply too broad and too drastic to be consumed in their entirety, and shortly after the turn of the century most of the above said changes had been repealed.
Another historic leader of the period