Enlightenment in the Late 17th and Early

Enlightenment In the late 17th and early 18th centuries, a scientific revolution occurred which gave humankind a much better understanding of the universe and its functioning than ever before. One of those scientists was Isaac Newton, who, in addition to his work with gravitational laws, also developed principles of light and refraction. From this revolution in science came an intellectual and cultural movement who's name came from a metaphor based in Newton's experiments with light.

Called the "Enlightenment," this movement worshipped the practical and marveled in the applied, and changed not only Europe, but the entire world. The Enlightenment took principles learned through scientific observation and study, and applied them to everyday life including such things as medicine, politics, nature, religion, literature, and others. The application of these principles in the real world gave rise to the modern world and its notions of democracy, economics, religion, international affairs, and almost every other aspect of modern life.

The term "Enlightenment" refered to the illumination of the mind through knowledge and understanding. In this metaphor, ignorance equated with darkness while knowledge and understanding are compared to light. When the darkness is removed by the light, one can see and understand more about the universe that surrounds them.

Light is what removes the darkness and allows one to see, and when Europeans began to use science and logic to understand the world around them, this new understanding was referred to as "enlightenment." The period of time in which "enlightened" ideals came to dominate European culture was given the name "the Enlightenment" sometime around the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th centuries.

While the exact origin of the term is unknown, what is know is that some time around 1700, "the fashion arose of praising some people for being 'enlightened.'" (Jacob, 2001, p. 1) Those who were bestowed with this honor were not constrained by the dictates of religion, read widely, visited intellectual centers and scientific presentations, or traveled the world extensively. In other words, "enlightened" meant being knowledgeable about the world.

As people began to become more knowledgeable about the world, they came to an important conclusion: than humankind was a part of the natural world. Until the acceptance of this principle, most people accepted the religious view of mankind; that humans, as special creations of God, were apart from nature. The natural world was a gift from God for use by humankind. But a greater knowledge of nature demonstrated that man was but one species among the various species inhabiting this planet.

Humans stopped being "special," and accepted that they were not only part of nature, but subject to the laws of nature. And this also applied to human endeavors, such as society. Therefore, the acceptance that humans are part of the natural world led to the understanding that humans were subject to natural laws. This understanding led to the second element of the Enlightenment, application of knowledge to the world around. This led to advances in agriculture, medicine, machinery, science, religion, politics, and society in general.

For instance, some took the rapidly expanding knowledge of nature and used it to develop the modern sciences, the classification of species, a better knowledge of geography, and the development of machinery which resulted in the Industrial Revolution. But others, like John Locke, applied the knowledge of the natural world to human government and developed the idea that governments exist for the protection of the people.

Locke's ideas would go on to become a major part of the philosophical thinking behind the American and French Revolutions, and the establishment of modern democracies. Beginning with a better understanding of the natural world and man's part in it, the Enlightenment was a movement which took this new and better understanding and applied it to the everyday world. In some cases, this led to the development of technology, but the most important aspect of its influence was on culture.

European culture, and by extension American as well, is a product of Enlightenment principles, or the application of knowledge learned about the natural world to society. The Enlightenment gave rise to the idea that governments existed to serve the people, and that laws had to apply to everyone equally. It.