Enlightenment
the enlightenment Nov 23, 2010 The Enlightenment -natural science should be used to explain all aspects of life -Rationalism- secular, critical way of thinking; no faith Emergence of the Enlightenment -Bernard de Fontenelle- Conversations on the Plurality of Words made science entertaining for the masses human mind is capable of making progress -Medieval/Renaissance: sin/salvation; looked backwards, antiquity Pierre Bayle- French Huguenot Skeptic- despised Louis XIV Nothing can be known beyond all doubt -Truth/Reality= Relative not absolute terms -John Locke?s Essay Concerning Human Understanding Tabula Rasa: blank slate The Philosophes and the Public -?republic of letters?- imaginary realm of educated people