Assessment of critical thinking core abilities across EFSC college students

17th century and our contemporary world began with an early, optimistic outlook of hope and promise of a better future, exemplified by movements like the Enlightenment, the Scientific and Industrial Revolutions, culminating in the Information Age, environmental awareness and globalisation. It is during this period that a paradigm shift from faith (religion) to reason as the principal source of legitimacy and authority occurred (Badger). The shift occurred against the backdrop of ideals such as science, tolerance, liberty, democracy, secularism, free will and humanism. However, the period is also scared with false starts and failures, violent schisms, world wars, imperialism, terrorism, irrational nationalism, extreme religious war, information overload, pollution and the threat of nuclear annihilation that indicate failure of the rational model promised by the Enlightenment. On the premise of this dichotomy of hope and failure, this essay critically demonstrates the failure of the Enlightenment project, especially from a social and moral perspective. The essay particularly considers how Enlightenment has led to the destruction of morality.

In his book, After Virtue, Scottish philosopher Alasdair Macintyre presents a strong assertion that the Enlightenment project has not succeeded in fulfilling its promise and has caused the disorder of moral values in the modern Western society. Macintyre particularly argues that overemphasis on individualism and free choice has resulted in a shift from virtue ethics to rule-governed ethics; and from communitarianism to a social individualism, thereby destroying morality. In a similar vein, Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno argue in their book Dialectic of Enlightenment that humanity, instead of advancing towards a truly human state, has been descending into a new version of barbarism, and that Enlightenment is largely to blame (p. xi). The reason for this is that though Enlightenment has inculcated a culture of reason, it has simultaneously undermined morality (Rasmussen 3).

Rasmussen further points out that Enlightenment has weakened religion and tradition without providing alternatives save for what he terms as a "misguided confidence in reason" (p. 3). Instead of championing for a reformation of the existing traditions, advocates of Enlightenment envisaged a new society where faith and tradition would have no place. While the contribution made by reason to the advancement of the world in all spheres - from political to economic and social -- cannot be undervalued, the danger of such a viewpoint is that it ignores the historical and social context in which mankind is embedded (Bunnin and Yu 210). In fact, as explained by Rasmussen, this viewpoint often results in precarious social engineering (p. 3). The danger inherent in replacing faith with reason has actually been confirmed by the unparalleled swelling of human power, particularly in the realms of science and technology. Coupled with the progression of moral relativism, this power has turned modern man into what Rasmussen refers to as "a blind giant" (p. 4). In essence, Enlightenment has progressively weakened the glue that once bound Western morality together.

The negative impact of Enlightenment can as well as be explained from the perspective of value pluralism -- the diversity of values. The danger in this diversity is that conflict in values may occur, and when the conflict occurs there is usually no universally accepted standard for arbitrating or resolving it (Gray 103). While this assertion may seem trivial, this may not really be the case. According to Gray, pluralism in values puts restrictions on rational choice that contradict most standard moral values (p. 103). In essence, owing to value pluralism, moral dilemmas are often encountered. The tragedy is that when such dilemmas occur reason often results in an irreversible loss of long held values.

The issue of same-sex marriage presents an ideal example of how value pluralism has presented moral dilemmas. For a long time, marriage was strictly defined as the union between two people of the opposite sex, a definition that was deeply rooted in religion. As such, any contradiction to this belief was met with severe punishment such as excommunication and execution. Over the years, however, owing to the rise of Enlightenment ideals, marriage between individuals of the same sex has increasingly become tolerable in Western culture. Some states and countries have even passed laws to legally recognise such unions. The growing acceptance of an issue that was previously a despicable taboo can to a large extent be attributed to value pluralism, which has been brought about by Enlightenment. Based on values such as individualism and free choice, it is now argued that any individual has the right to marry whoever they want regardless of their sexual orientation. This is just one of the several modern examples of how the Enlightenment project has destroyed morality. Other issues such as abortion, sexuality, and euthanasia continue to present moral dilemmas.

In conclusion, the fact that Enlightenment has to a large extent determined what human beings are, what they think, and what they do today cannot be denied. Actually, it is quite unimaginable how the world would look like were it not for Enlightenment. Even so, the other side of the coin cannot be disregarded. The Enlightenment has significantly destroyed the morality of Western civilisation. Divergences in values and beliefs relating to issues such as same-sex marriage attest to this.

Works Cited

Badger, Phil. What's wrong with the Enlightenment? Philosophy Now, 2010. Web. 9 September 2016.

Bunnin, Nicholas and Jiyuan Yu. The Blackwell dictionary of Western philosophy. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2004. Print.

Gray, John. Enlightenment's wake: politics and culture of the modern age. New York: Routledge, 1995. Print

Horkheimer, Max and Theodor W. Adorno. Dialectic of Enlightenment, trans John Cumming. London: Verso, 1997. Print.

MacIntyre, Alasdair. After virtue: a study in moral theory. 3rd ed. London: Bloomsbury, 2007. Print.

Rasmussen, Dennis C. Contemporary political theory as an anti-Enlightenment project. Brown University, n.d. Web. 9 September 2016.