Dbq on the Enlightenment

The Enlightenment,also called the Age of Reason, began in the late 17th and 18th century. European writers and thinkers were now beginning to believe that nothing was beyond the reach of their minds, and believed people and governments were able to solve every problem they encountered. This was a period in Europe and America when mankind was emerging from centuries of ignorance into a new age of enlightenment by reasoning in politics, religion, and human conditions.

Political philosopher John Locke came to the conclusion that, “political power is that power, which every man having in the state of nature, has given up into the hands of society...” (Doc. 1), which he believed should guarantee that this power should be used for only good, and to preserve their property. There shouldn’t be any other use of this power, according to John, other than to serve and protect societies members. This, in turn, meant that this power in no way could be absolute, or overpowering. Just as John Locke, Thomas Paine also believed in the preservation of the natural rights. These rights included liberty, property, security, and resistance of oppression (Doc. 5). The opinion of Frederick the Great, who was the monarch of Prussia, was that politics and religion were not matters to mix (Doc. 11). Reasoning in religion was an important aspect of this enlightenment period, and affects how we see religion today.

French philosophe, Voltaire, was known to be a man that spoke his mind quite candidly. He believed that, in terms of religion, since all of mankind was created under the same Creator, that we should be tolerant of one another and treat each other with respect and see others as our own brothers and sisters (Doc. 2). The belief that religion had been corrupted by politics, was a belief that Thomas Paine held. He also was a strong believer that all men are created equal, just as Voltaire was (Doc. 10). This belief helped people see another side of religion, instead of just focusing on throwing their religion in other’s face, they were starting to be more tolerant toward others and their beliefs. A man named Galileo, was a big contributor in the separation of science and religion. He advocated that God gave mankind the knowledge and ability to reason so we would be able to discover his creation ourself. He did not believe that the bible was explicitly written as a scientific marnt to base all of our theories on the world about (Doc. 9). This belief of his helped science because most church officials didn’t like people questioning the bible or what it said, but him explaining that he wasn’t contradicting anything, rather exploring God’s world, would have earned him more tolerance. Religion during the Enlightenment period was a big factor in the way humans were now treating other humans, as people were now preaching tolerance for one another, respect for humanity grew, but for some, human conditions were at an all time low.

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