Answer to Question #319219 in Sociology for Sandile sheriff

Question

The age of Enlightment was a revolution in human thought. It promoted scientific skepticism and intellectual interchange. The Enlightment period had a significant influence on culture, politics and on government.

In light of the above, critically discuss the impact of the Enlightment on modern society.

(100 marks)

In your essay, you are expected to:

• Explain the Age of the Enlightment period. What were the main ideas of the Age of Enlightment? What new ideas about society and human relations emerged in the Enlightment.

• Engage in critical discussion on Immanuel Kant’s thoughts on the Enlightment and its underlying philosophies.

• Assess and determine how the Enlightment changed social ideas and practices on today’s modern society. How did Enlightment ideas influence society and culture, politics and government.

Answer 1

. The Age of Enlightenment was an intellectual and philosophical movement that dominated Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries with global influences and effects. Terms in this set (22) An eighteenth-century intellectual movement whose three central concepts were the use of reason, the scientific method, and progress. Enlightenment thinkers believed they could help create better societies and better people. The new ideas that emerged in the Enlightenment were methods or natural science should be used in everyday life, scientific method, and progress.

. Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher and one of the foremost thinkers of the Enlightenment. His comprehensive and systematic work in epistemology (the theory of knowledge), ethics, and aesthetics greatly influenced all subsequent philosophy, especially the various schools of Kantianism and idealism.

. The Enlightenment was marked by an emphasis on the scientific method and reductionism along with increased questioning of religious orthodoxy. The core ideas advocated by modern democracies, including civil society, human and civil rights, and separation of powers, are the product of the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment helped combat the excesses of the church, establish science as a source of knowledge, and defend human rights against tyranny. It also gave us modern schooling, medicine, republics, representative democracy, and much more.