What is Enlightenment?

Question

I have a lot of questions about the Enlightenment.....i went through it with my teacher but i never understand what he is saying so i need help.

-What is Enlightenment?
-Why Can't man Be Enlightened?
-Can Revolution lead to Enlightenment?

Answer 1

Enlightenment
Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia - Cite This Source

Enlightenment, term applied to the mainstream of thought of 18th-century Europe and America.
Background and Basic Tenets
The scientific and intellectual developments of the 17th cent.—the discoveries of Isaac Newton, the rationalism of Réné Descartes, the skepticism of Pierre Bayle, the pantheism of Benedict de Spinoza, and the empiricism of Francis Bacon and John Locke—fostered the belief in natural law and universal order and the confidence in human reason that spread to influence all of 18th-century society. Currents of thought were many and varied, but certain ideas may be characterized as pervading and dominant. A rational and scientific approach to religious, social, political, and economic issues promoted a secular view of the world and a general sense of progress and perfectibility.

The major champions of these concepts were the philosophes, who popularized and promulgated the new ideas for the general reading public. These proponents of the Enlightenment shared certain basic attitudes. With supreme faith in rationality, they sought to discover and to act upon universally valid principles governing humanity, nature, and society. They variously attacked spiritual and scientific authority, dogmatism, intolerance, censorship, and economic and social restraints. They considered the state the proper and rational instrument of progress. The extreme rationalism and skepticism of the age led naturally to deism; the same qualities played a part in bringing the later reaction of romanticism. The Encyclopédie of Denis Diderot epitomized the spirit of the Age of Enlightenment, or Age of Reason, as it is also called.

An International System of Thought
Centered in Paris, the movement gained international character at cosmopolitan salons. Masonic lodges played an important role in disseminating the new ideas throughout Europe. Foremost in France among proponents of the Enlightenment were baron de Montesquieu, Voltaire, and comte de Buffon; Baron Turgot and other physiocrats; and Jean Jacques Rousseau, who greatly influenced romanticism. Many opposed the extreme materialism of Julien de La Mettrie, baron d' Holbach, and Claude Helvétius.

In England the coffeehouses and the newly flourishing press stimulated social and political criticism, such as the urbane commentary of Joseph Addison and Sir Richard Steele. Jonathan Swift and Alexander Pope were influential Tory satirists. Lockean theories of learning by sense perception were further developed by David Hume. The philosophical view of human rationality as being in harmony with the universe created a hospitable climate for the laissez-faire economics of Adam Smith and for the utilitarianism of Jeremy Bentham. Historical writing gained secular detachment in the work of Edward Gibbon.

In Germany the universities became centers of the Enlightenment (Ger. Aufklärung). Moses Mendelssohn set forth a doctrine of rational progress; G. E. Lessing advanced a natural religion of morality; Johann Herder developed a philosophy of cultural nationalism. The supreme importance of the individual formed the basis of the ethics of Immanuel Kant. Italian representatives of the age included Cesare Beccaria and Giambattista Vico. From America, Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin exerted vast international influence.

Some philosophers at first proposed that their theories be implemented by "enlightened despots"—rulers who would impose reform by authoritarian means. Czar Peter I of Russia anticipated the trend, and Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II was the prototype of the enlightened despot; others were Frederick II of Prussia, Catherine II of Russia, and Charles III of Spain. The proponents of the Enlightenment have often been held responsible for the French Revolution. Certainly the Age of Enlightenment can be seen as a major demarcation in the emergence of the modern world.

Bibliography
See E. Cassirer, The Philosophy of the Enlightenment (tr. 1951, repr. 1955); P. Hazard, The European Mind: The Critical Years, 1690-1715 (tr. 1953, repr. 1963) and European Thought in the Eighteenth Century (tr. 1954, repr. 1963); F. E. Manuel, The Eighteenth Century Confronts the Gods (1959, repr. 1967); P. Gay, The Enlightenment: An Interpretation (2 vol., 1966-69); A. Cobban, ed., Europe in the Age of the Enlightenment (1969); L. G. Crocker, ed., The Age of Enlightenment (1969); N. Hampson, The Enlightenment (1970); F. Venturi, Utopia and Reform in the Enlightenment (1971); J. Engell, The Creative Imagination: Enlightenment to Romanticism (1981); W. E. Rex, The Attraction of the Contrary: Essays on the Literature of the French Enlightenment (1987).



The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2004, Columbia University Press.
Licensed from Columbia University Press

Age Of Reason
Crystal Reference Encyclopedia - Cite This Source


or Age of Reason (Ger Aufklärung) A European literary and philosophical movement of the 18th-c, rooted in the 17th-c Scientific Revolution and the ideas of Kant, Locke, and Newton. Its basic belief was the superiority of reason as a guide to all knowledge and human concerns; from this flowed the idea of progress and a challenging of traditional Christianity. It is important to distinguish between the national differences that it adopted, in particular the materialism of the French Encyclopedists (d'Alembert, Diderot, Voltaire), the Scottish interest in political economy (Hume, Smith, Mill), and the more cultural concerns of the Germans (Goethe, Herder, Lessing, Schiller). A similar invigorating freedom of ideas affected writers as far apart as Sweden and Russia, while the Yiddish literature of E Europe also experienced a new dynamism through the maskilim (purveyors of the Enlightenment movement). The French Revolution marked the end of the Age of Enlightenment, its proponents having been an important catalyst for change.

See also

Diderot
Encyclopaedists
enlightened despots
Philosophes
Alembert
Diderot
Goethe
Herder
Hume, David
Kant, Immanuel
Lessing, Gotthold
Locke, John
Mill, James
Newton, Isaac
Schiller, Friedrich
Smith, Adam
Voltaire




Crystal Reference Encyclopedia, © Crystal Reference Systems Limited 2006

Enlightenment
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Cite This Source

Enlightenment may refer to:

Enlightenment (concept), a concept in mysticism, philosophy and psychology

Moksha, the Hindu religious concept of enlightenment
Bodhi, Satori, Nirvana, Dzogchen or Total Understanding (of the nature of existence, self, etc), the Buddhist religious concept
Yogic Enlightenment, the Yoga concept of enlightenment
Age of Enlightenment, a period in European history

Haskalah, the corresponding movement in the European Jewish community
Scottish Enlightenment, the corresponding movement in Scotland.

Enlightenment (Games Convention), A convention for games
Enlightenment (X window manager), an X Window System window manager
Enlightenment (Doctor Who), a Doctor Who serial
Enlightenment (album), an album by Van Morrison

See also

Illumination
Self Realization
Oneness
Nonduality.
Jewish meditation
Merkaba
Seder hishtalshelus



Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia © 2001-2006 Wikipedia contributors (Disclaimer)
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Thursday January 25, 2007 at 08:02:11 PST (GMT -0800)
View this article at Wikipedia.org - Edit this article at Wikipedia.org - Donate to the Wikimedia Foundation

77 More from Wikipedia »


Good Luck!!!

Answer 2

enlightenment is realizing that you never understand what enlightenment means. that right now is pointless, 5 mins ago was pointless and if there is a 5 mins from now that also will be.

man can be enlightened, just not everybody in their first go around.

as far a revolution leading to it, i do not think so. revolution makes me think of masses working together to "change" something or make it "better". when i think of enlightenment it is a more personal thing.

but perhaps i should not have answered, since i am yet to reach it.

Answer 3

Sup LaLa. enlightenment refer to Buddhism. When one reaches the state of Nirvana, they are said to be enlightened. It simply means that they fully understand the working of the universe and how mankind fit into this universe. It takes many years of meditation to be able to reach enlightenment. The Buddha was one of the very few people to have actually achieved this. If you want to know more about it, check out your local library on Buddhism. Incidentally, Buddhism is not a religion per SE but is more of a philosophy.

Answer 4

it's when you get it . got it?