Intellectual-Led Enlightenment Essay

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Path to the Enlightenment

What with the ideological turmoil occurring prior to most of 18th century Western Europe, the Age of Enlightenment was but an inevitable outcome. Religious and political thoughts littered Europe by the spades, and with the foreign revolutions and tensions that led up to questioning both divine right and religious authority. The Reformation, along with the discordant feelings toward the monarchy, became important turning points in history. Instead of blind faith, the Enlightened man turned to reason and science and believed in the utopian harmonic ideal. But exactly how did this Enlightenment come about?

Enlightenment was a movement that "strove scientifically to uncover religious truths rising above individual sectarian disputes" (Zhivov). Also simultaneously known as the "Age of Reason," the Enlightenment culminated in a set of values that sought to question the traditions, customs, and moral beliefs of the cultural environment. While the schools of thought differ from country to country, and from philosopher to philosopher, the idea of using rationality and science (Hermetic science at the time) to explain belief was the crux of the Enlightenment. Philosophers such as Immanuel Kant and Michel Foucault had differing views on the purpose of the Enlightenment, but the overall idea remained the same.

For Kant, the Enlightenment was "humanity's exit from a state of immaturity, [striving] toward wisdom and transition from blind obedience to authority to rational compliance with rules" (Gordon). It was a "coming of age" for humanity, focusing on the use of consciousness and logic reason as opposed to the blatant ignorance that the populace displayed prior to the time period.

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On the other hand, Foucault saw the process as "an event, or a set of events and complex historical processes, [that is] located at a certain point in the development of European societies" (Gordon). Both men touch upon the change of European society for the better, a "development" according to Foucault, and a "maturity" in Kant's words. In many other writings, it has even been related to the idea of a "utopia," a harmonic environment.

The Enlightenment followed a string of Western European movements: the Renaissance, the Scientific Revolution, and the Reformation. While the Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution were both movements of artistic and intellectual pursuits, it was the Reformation that became an important aspect in the movement towards the Age of Reason. The Roman Catholic Church had turned into a corrupt, yet powerful system. In its climb to power and position, the Church underwent fleeting alliances, choosing to side with one current powerful empire at a time. Priests sold indulgences -- an outrage a certain Martin Luther discussed in The Ninety-Five Theses -- and pardoned various politicians with coin enough to pay their way to forgiveness.

Eventually, the English Reformation took place, wherein King Henry VIII broke from Rome and fashioned himself the Head of the Church and the State. At this schism, it was only a matter of time before Europe's religious factions broke into different sides; at first it was mostly a split between the Protestants and the Catholics. This eventually led to further factions within religions. Like….....

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