Enlightening the Burden of Ignorance II
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The Enlightenment or Age of Reason is often appropriately credited with producing great 18th century
thinkers of philosophes (Fr.) and Aufklarers (ger.)., but I contend that the greatest idea or value of the movement is that it changed the status quo of ignorance, which in itself had maintained a choke-hold of Europe for far too long.
The byproducts of the Enlightenment were a scientific revolution, social advancments, and the overall improvement in human conditions, and mass acceptance of Euro-inspired surges toward progress in other intersecting areas such as the humanities and arts. Utopian idealism surfaced amidst new platforms of world rationalism as philosophers, scientists, and artists began to visualize a better world. The freedom of reasoning that had been prevalent of the period provided the impetus to break away from the repression of religion and monarchy. People believed that ignorance and societal problems could be overocme through education, inquiry, and free will.
University of Hawaii at Manoa Religion Professor David Panisnick, Ph.D., stated in a January 28, 2003 lecture, “The Church had been keeping Europe in the dark for a long time. People often dont understand that religion is not just about God and worship. Its about politics. Politics and religion are constant themes as far back as with Paul when he literally built Christianity from the ground up years after Jesus had been crucified.”
Free will and reasoning became formidable opponents of religious ideology. Its reasonable to conclude that the Church establishment viewed such independent thinking and thinkers as sinful activities and real threats to its decrees. The politics of church and monarchy would change with scientific advancements and political concepts such as Newtons Natural Laws and constitutionalism. Thus, new systems of government and the weakening of religious hierarchies
were possible by radical changes in political thought. Among the many contributors or earliest political scientists were Rousseau, Hobbes, Locke, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson (just to name a few).
In closing thought, I often feel nowadays that the world is in a state of devolution and that many political figures and the general masses are losing touch with the core principles of The Enlightenment and general progress toward