English 1150
Respond to the questions below in your own words, please. No copying and pasting from Wikipedia or any other online source. Any homework paper that is submitted in this fashion will receive a zero. Homework may be type or hand written.
1. Answer the following questions on the Enlightenment. What period of time is typically assigned this title? Who were some of its major figures (besides Descartes, of course)? What ideas and intellectual movements are attributed to the Enlightenment? Name at least two major historical events that happened in this era, including the date(s) of the events.
-The period of time that is typically assigned the title “Enlightenment” is around the 17th and the 18th century (1650-1800). Some of its major figures were people like Francis Bacon who was an English philopher that developed the Baconian method (explains reasoning and observation for coming up with general conclusions for logic with the Scientific method), Cesare Beccaria (“protested against injustices from the judicial systems in Europe), and other important person during this time was Benjamin Franklin (an American inventor and diplomat that influenced the formation of the United States Government). The ideas and intellectual movements that are attributed to the Enlightenment are the scientific method, Newton’s “Principia”, and of course the teachings and rulings of the church. A major historical even that happened in this era was when John Locke promoted a representative government in his “Two Treatises of Government” in 1690. It hit a more radical stage in 1792 when Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were beheaded, as well as thousands of other aristocrats that held their loyalty to the monarchy.
2. Find out some biographical information on Descartes. When did he live? What is his nationality? What are some of his contributions to the shift in thinking during the Enlightenment? Any