Posted: 2/6/2005 8:50:39 PM EDT
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My daughter has the term "Enlightenment" on her US History study guide and I'm trying to figure out how to explain it to her [she is in the 8th grade] any ideas? |
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It was a period of history in Europe when the ideas of capitalism, democracy, and that sort of thing rose to prominence. Philosophers like Locke, Hobbes, Thomas Paine, Voltaire, and John Stuart Mill were of that period, and the works of these guys influenced the Founding Fathers when they drafted the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence and founded the US. The Europeans also used the same philosophy to justify their version of democracy, which mainly consisted of violent revolution and subsequent wholesale slaughter of politcal opponents, particularly in France. EDIT: It was mainly a European thing. Many historians will argue that the US Constitution was not a product of the Enlightenment. There is some influence from those philosophers evident in the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, but the founding of the US had distinctly US origins and a distinctly American flavor to it. |
The Declaration of Independence is certainly an enlightenment document (or at least that's what I was told at my Uber-Liberal US hating college). As well as some of the federalist papers. Some would say the opening sections of the Constitution too. That's probably what her teacher is going for. The major ideas have to do with one's reasoning and intelligence being the source of their worth, not their bloodline. Sadly many of these ideals wouldn't be realized until the 1970's, and others are not realized even today. The intellectual/academic types love this sort of thing. Fire it into google and you'll probably find more than you want to know. Just make sure you frame the search so it relates to US and European History. Otherwise you'll get a bunch of stuff on Buddhism too. |
Yeah, wish me luck. I'm working to become a professor of history and a novelist. Hopefully one day I'll get to write a history textbook that keeps all that liberal crap out of it. |
 good luck!
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Thats a european development. The age of "Reason" (read atheistic humanism) started around the late 1600s I guess. If I were you, I'd ask her what she learned in history everyday to make sure she isn't being brainwashed. |
Well I would debate that thought. I'm sure with the general idea given to my daughter it could be concluded that many of our founding fathers were Enlightened but I also firmly believe they were reactionaries with a strong Christian faith. |
You can definitely see the influence of the Enlightenment-era philosophers in the documents. However, those documents definately put a distinct redneck (and The Neutral Observer means that in the best way) spin on those philosophies. Whether they are actual products of the Enlightenment is a debate over nuance that has occupied academics for decades. |
Thats a european development. The age of "Reason" (read atheistic humanism) started around the late 1600s I guess. If I were you, I'd ask her what she learned in history everyday to make sure she isn't being brainwashed. I know. I do -- not every day but I do. The problem is that up until this past year I home schooled my kids and they looked up to me for help and guidence. But I subcombed to pressure from my husband to put them into public school and now they resent me and will not tell me ANYTHING [nor will the school]. 
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Be sophisticated about it. There are many ways to acheive enlightenment. Paticularly after after life and death situations. Enlightenment is taught through experience. The following link is a good reference. www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN%3D0897500776/102-9103031-3884107 FYI - This is a joke! |
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I'm sorry what other argument could be made for the foundations of thought that created the D of I or the Constitution? I thought this was very basic stuff, I read Locke as a Sophomore in HS in english. |
Keep in mind though that Mill was a utilitarian, and Smith's Wealth of Nations is just as important. Chris |
| The Declaration of Independence and Constitution were Enlightment documents, with a strong admixture of English common law. A strong Scottish Enlightment influence, actually. John Witherspoon, the head of Princeton, was responsible for educating much of that generation of statesmen, and was both a participant in the Constitutional Convention and a strong Scottish Enlightment scholar. |
There is also a strong element of theology in those documents too. |