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The Enlightenment And The Role Of The Philosophes - Online Term Paper

The Enlightenment And The Role Of The Philosophes



The Enlightenment is a name given by historians to an intellectual
movement that was predominant in the Western world during the 18th century.
Strongly influenced by the rise of modern science and by the aftermath of
the long religious conflict that followed the Reformation, the thinkers of
the Enlightenment (called philosophes in France) were committed to secular
views based on reason or human understanding only, which they hoped would
provide a basis for beneficial changes affecting every area of life and
thought.

The more extreme and radical philosophes--Denis Diderot, Claude Adrien
Helvetius, Baron d'Holbach, the Marquis de Condorcet, and Julien Offroy de
La Mettrie ...

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work of the
great 17th century pioneers--Francis Bacon, Galileo, Descartes, Leibnitz,
Isaac Newton, and John Locke--who had developed fruitful methods of
rational and empirical inquiry and had demonstrated the possibility of a
world remade by the application of knowledge for human benefit. The
philosophes believed that science could reveal nature as it truly is and
show how it could be controlled and manipulated. This belief provided an
incentive to extend scientific methods into every field of inquiry, thus
laying the groundwork for the development of the modern social sciences.

The enlightened understanding of human nature was one that emphasized
the right to self-expression and human fulfillment, the right to think
freely and express one's views publicly without censorship or fear of
repression. Voltaire admired the freedom he found in England and fostered
the spread of English ideas on the Continent. He and his followers opposed
the intolerance of the established ...

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"The Enlightenment And The Role Of The Philosophes." Essayworld.com. July 14, 2007. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Enlightenment-And-The-Role-Philosophes/68016.
"The Enlightenment And The Role Of The Philosophes." Essayworld.com. July 14, 2007. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Enlightenment-And-The-Role-Philosophes/68016.
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PAPER DETAILS
Added: 7/14/2007 10:47:54 PM
Category: Miscellaneous
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 905
Pages: 4

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