17th and 18th Century, Europe

¶ … 17th and 18th century, Europe was under the grips of a major revolution in science, philosophy and religion. Following was known as the Age of Reason, a period of deeply rooted challenges to the establishment occurred that was termed the Age of Enlightenment. This 18th century movement was about establishing the lines of rhetoric and reason, and changing the landscape of social, political and religious landscapes. Some noted philosophers during this era, such as George Berkeley attempted to rationally demonstrate the existence of a supreme God, while others such as Thomas Paine and Voltaire opened challenged the status quo institutions of church and state. The conflict and revolution inherent within the Age of Enlightenment centered on empiricist ideas and the application of fundamental changes to politics, economics and the sciences.

The end of the Age of Reason and the start of the Age of Enlightenment is a very blurred and indistinct line. At the core of enlightenment thinkers was to use the inspiration and work of previous philosophers and scientists to forward their own challenges. However, a clear distinction can be drawn around the concept of empiricism which lay at the root of the Age of Enlightenment. Empiricism is a theory of knowledge which emphasizes the role of experience in ideation. Its proponents discount the concept of innate learning and innate ideation. One of the principle transitory philosophers of empiricism was John Locke. He was the first to articulate the doctrine of empiricism by asserting that the human mind is a "tabula rasa" or blank slate. From this premise he created both his philosophical and political treatise on human nature. Through the extension of his work, the great philosophers of the Age of Enlightenment were able to challenge the established Church and State.

However, the Age of Enlightenment was short lived, not necessarily because it's great "thought leaders" left the movement, but rather because of external circumstances. In the midst of the Age of Enlightenment, Europe was gripped by the Great War, or World War I. In the wake of the war, the Age of Enlightenment was replaced by something much more sinister in nature that has become termed as the Age of Anxiety. Paul Valerv of France was the first to coin such a term, he wrote in his essay "The Crisis of the Mind" that while Europe's superiority grew on its intellectual rigor, its commitment to logic, skepticism and mysticism, it had now deviated from these fundamental values towards something darker. World War I made the thinkers of the 20th century to realize the fragility of civilizations in general. Not only was this theme fully explored within the historical context, but thoroughly analyzed within Europe as well. The teachings of such notable thinker as Sigmund Freud points to this direction of development. He concluded that there modernism within Europe had become characterized by the disorder of the mind. More precisely, there was a lack of any fixed system of reference for living and thinking. Europe, which had formerly been the center of intellectual development and revolutionary thinking now suffered under the burden of a weak political infrastructure. As a result, many of their greatest talents and knowledge now flowed away from Europe to other developing nations such as the United States.

The Age of Anxiety was coined not by historian but by Europeans of the age themselves. They reflected upon the disturbing trends that were occurring within European nation-states. It gave rise to radical social, political and scientific ideas that ultimate challenged the establishment. Karl Marx and his theory of communism arose during this era, he argued for the rebellion against established tyrannies and traditional European political structures towards a socialist conception of state-hood as a means to enrich the populace. His ideation grew very much from the prevalent anxiety that was occurring over the political instability within Europe. The lack of unity in the wake of World War I implied a growing weakness within sovereignties and a deviation from the traditional way of political thought. Marxism represented the political division that occurred as a result of this anxiety. Similarly, Darwinian evolution grew out of this period of anxiety, capitalizing upon the philosophy of anxiety that pervaded Europe, he used a theory of natural selection that articulated a unique vision for the evolution of the human species.