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What were the ideas of the Enlightenment thinkers?

What were the ideas of the Enlightenment thinkers?

Enlightenment thinkers wanted to improve human conditions on earth rather than concern themselves with religion and the afterlife. These thinkers valued reason, science, religious tolerance, and what they called “natural rights”—life, liberty, and property.

What was the Enlightenment and what was its effects on society?

Enlightenment thinkers in Britain, in France and throughout Europe questioned traditional authority and embraced the notion that humanity could be improved through rational change. The Enlightenment produced numerous books, essays, inventions, scientific discoveries, laws, wars and revolutions.

Why was the Enlightenment so important?

“The Enlightenment” has been regarded as a turning point in the intellectual history of the West. The principles of religious tolerance, optimism about human progress and a demand for rational debate are often thought to be a powerful legacy of the ideas of Locke, Newton, Voltaire and Diderot.

What were the factors bringing about the Enlightenment?

The factors that contributed to the beginning of the Enlightenment movement were the age of science and scientific inquiry and also the age of reason based inquiry.

What were some characteristics of Enlightenment thinking?

Principal characteristic of Enlightenment thinking The most important idea of the Enlightenment was the belief in people’s reason. All People should not automatically believe in things those in power and other authorities claim. People do not even have to believe what the church teaches or what the priests preach.

What are the ideals of Enlightenment?

The Enlightenment included a range of ideas centered on reason as the primary source of knowledge and advanced ideals such as liberty, progress, toleration, fraternity, constitutional government and separation of church and state.

What are some central figures during the Enlightenment?

and physicist. He was one of the most important people of the German Enlightenment.

  • Gottfried Leibniz (1646-1716): A philosopher and mathematician who created calculus.
  • Christian Wolff (1679-1754): A philosopher who continued Leibniz’s work.