Enlightenment Influence

9 Pages 2234 Words

Today’s society owes its schools of thought to the Age of Reason. That is right, the Enlightenment. Enlightenment itself means the realization of ultimate universal truth. This great thought movement originated in the 18th Century in Europe by questioning the traditions of society. Even though some aspects of the Enlightenment were shown in previous generations, it shows in the Age of Reason of how all of its aspects came together to create new technologies. This new idea questioned all directions in which society governed itself. It created an uproar in religion, politics, science, and aesthetics. This movement started by a group of thinkers who figured out that the best way to determine the universal truth was through the ideas of individual human nature. This group, known as the philosophes, revolutionized humankind and set the stage for generations to come. This Enlightenment gave to modern society all of its riches and thoughts and therefore is responsible for the way society has evolved from the 18th Century to the 21st Century. The Enlightenment, the alternative medium, gave light to dark minds and put the world where it stands today.
It was the late 17th Century, in France where the philosophes began to question the age old traditions and myths of man. The biggest of the philosophes was Voltaire. Voltaire was the only one who could combine the schools of thought and to make it understandable in accordance to human nature. Voltaire combined the ideas of the new sciences and philosophies and convinced society of the idea that people should believe only the ideas received from the senses. He claimed that people should not believe everything they hear. The best knowledge was to acquire it for oneself and become one’s own individual. Voltaire was seen as a reformer because of his concrete thoughts. He felt that society needed a freer press, religious toleration, and above all, an efficient government. Vol...