The Enlightenment Flashcards
(22 cards)
1
Q
Main Topics
A
- The Enlightenment occurred during the late 17th century and early 18th century
- Europe had started to dominate the world by the end of the 18th century
- The British started to gain control of India and Europe
- Westernization started during this time
- People began to believe that they could achieve enlightenment by using their own creativity and knowledge
- A time when scientists and philosophers questioned whether God existed
2
Q
New changes in the society
A
- Society was no longer dependent on agriculture
- Transition into industrialization
- Intellectual enlightenment
- Political and social revolutions
- This affected how people perceive themselves and their idea of God
3
Q
Specialization
A
- New innovations called for people who have expertise in particular fields to create new things
- One specialization could inspire another
- The use of one specialization would increase the efficiency of another and created more specialties
- The new modernization created a society in which people from any social class could contribute to cultural achievement
- The elite no longer controlled the society and people felt that they could finally contribute to new innovations
4
Q
Change in religious views
A
- New scientific discoveries created a belief in things that could be tested and observed
- Scientists were compelled to verify the reality of God just as they had proved other scientific phenomena
- Atheism was still unheard of in society
- Most philosophers believed in God
5
Q
Blaise Pascal
A
- French physicist, mathematician, and theologian
- One of the first people to take atheism seriously
- At a young age, he had created a calculating machine, a barometer, and a hydraulic press
- The Pascal family had converted to Jansenism
- Jansenism emphasized divine grace and there was a belief that God gives grace to only certain people
- Jesuits were enemies of Jansenists
- Pascal’s God was different than the God of others and could not be discovered by proof of rationality
- Could not prove that God existed, but also could not prove that he did not exist
6
Q
Rene Descartes
A
- A mathematician and Catholic
- Believed that reason alone could explain the truth of morality and religion
- Used universal Mathematics to prove God’s existence
- “It is at least as certain that God, who is this perfect being, is or exists, as any demonstration of geometry can possibly be.”
- Believed that human consciousness gives evidence that God does exist
- There was no difference between faith and reason
7
Q
Isaac Newton
A
- Wanted to prove the existence of the physical universe and how God was the center of it
- “In Newton’s physics, nature was entirely passive: God the sole source of activity”
- He believed that he had proof of God’s existence
- God exists everywhere because he is infinite
- He wrote The Philosophical Origins of Gentile Theology
8
Q
John Milton
A
- Attempted to reform the religious beliefs after the reformation
- Wrote the novel Paradise Lost
- The main character is Satan and he represents the new attitude of European society
- Milton’s God is depicted as uncompassionate and cold
9
Q
Spinoza
A
- Was considered an Atheist, but he did believe in a God that was different than the God of the Bible
- He was Dutch and Jewish
- His ideas were drastically different from Judaism and he was influenced by scientific thinkers
- saw God as a material being that governs all things
- “No God that corresponded to the meaning we usually attach to the word”
- Combined old metaphysics with a new idea of science
10
Q
Deism
A
- Deists believed that God is the creator
- Humans cannot fully comprehend the complexity of God’s nature
- People can only know God through reason rather than revelation
- God does exist and he cannot be found through miracles or other mystical revelations
11
Q
Immanuel Kant
A
- Believed that people during the Enlightenment were becoming reliant on external authority
- Did not agree with many of the practices of religion like prayer and rituals
- He argued that people can only understand things that are occurring in their own space and time and that it was meaningless to consider things outside of their own reality
- Kant believed that, “God was simply a convenience, which could be misused”.
- He Argued that people needed a reward for their virtue and God will be the motivator for people behaving morally
12
Q
Religion of the Heart
A
- A new religion that developed during the Enlightenment
- Believed that people should search for God within their hearts
- Faith in God comes from the heart
- Emphasized that the teachings of the Church should be analyzed by each person and how it relates to him or her personally
13
Q
New England
A
- “éclaircissement” , “Aufklärung”
- In the US: Great Awakening → Christianity in the 17th and 18th century was characterized by violence and dangerous emotions
- The Awakening made people believe that the process of redemption described had begun
- The Awakening → evangelical version of the Enlightenment in New England
- Occurred in poorer colonies: people had little expectation of happiness
14
Q
Newton
A
God might have started the universe, but is not responsible for anything that happened after
15
Q
Calvinists
A
preferred to think that god was literally active in the world and actually responsible
16
Q
Liberals
A
preferred simple faith
17
Q
Development in Judaism
A
- Similar development within Judaism → rationalist ideals
- Lots of confusion → Christian Gnostics had evolved metaphysical anti-Semitism: distinguish the Hidden God of Jesus Christ from the cruel God of the Jews
- Cardozo: Idea of two Gods: God of Aristotle, God who revealed himself to Abraham, Moses and the prophets → later reversed again
- Jews started worshipping philosophers
18
Q
In the Meantime in Europe: Meslier
A
- People began to trend away from God
- Jean Meslier → priest that died an atheist
- Believed in Newtons idea that nothing but matter existed
Religion was used to oppress the poor - Ideas were even too strong for some philosophers → Voltaire removed some atheistic passages
- By the end, quite a few philosophers that were proud atheists
19
Q
In the Meantime in Europe: Diderot
A
- If the subjective experience of God has ceased, god does not exist
- Too many different religious ideas → God was nothing but tempérament
- Urge of human beings to understand nature and explain things we cannot explain
- No need for a creator → Matter has own dynamic which obeys own laws
- Claim that there is only nature, no God
20
Q
In the Meantime in Europe: Baron of Holbach
A
- “The System of Nature: or Laws of the Moral and Physical World” (1770) → Bible of atheism
- No supernatural alternative to nature → cause and effect chain
- Believe in God: dishonesty and denial of our true experience → act of despair due to lack of explanations
- Returned to religion in order to establish some kind of control
- It was acceptable to worship the forces of nature, but not to personificate them
- Ignorance and fear → enlightened man must climb out of it
21
Q
Mysticism and Rationalism
A
- Not such a great gap between mysticism and rationalism as thought
- The more relaxed and creative we are, the greater the ideas that come to us → Archimedes discovered famous Principle in the bath
- Einstein → mysticism was “the sower of all true art and science”
- Mysticism contributed to the Age of Reason
- More extreme mystics had the same conclusion: there is nothing out there
22
Q
Conclusion
A
- Lack of coherence → impossible to have an omnipotent God
- Science would slowly replace religion
- “If ignorance gave birth to Gods, the knowledge of nature is calculated to destroy them” - Descartes
- Monotheists mostly referred to God as if he really were one of the things existing → seed of the atheistic idea
- Scientists and philosophers declared that God was dead
