The Enlightenment Essay

The Enlightenment, or the Age of Reason, was a philosophical, social, and intellectual movement that was spread through European countries during the 1700s. The Scientific Revolution, which marked the end for the medieval world view and substituted it with modern views on science and skepticism of religion, paved the way for the Enlightenment. [4] The Enlightenment philosophers were the pioneers behind the independent thought. The Age of Enlightenment gave people a chance to think independently; consequently religion became one of the main targets of this period, as it was a set of beliefs with no tangible evidence. [5] The philosophers came up with the ideas on religious tolerance, political equality, faith in science and education. [6] The most important Enlightenment idea is “separation of power,” because it marked a new epoch by the name of government, it guaranteed to protect the individual rights, and would become fundamental element of many countries’ government in the future.

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  John Locke, or “the father of the Enlightenment, wrote his ideas about establishing a new government in his famous work, “Two Treatises of Government.” According to him, it was necessary for a civil society to have a  government with different branches, including a powerful legislature and an active executive. [3] Baron Montesquieu, a French Enlightenment thinker, took Locke’s ideas, expanded, and unified them with his ideas of division of state and separation of powers and stated them in his book “The Spirit of Laws.” Being impressed by English governing system, Montesquieu added one more institution of government to the current ...

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