Briefly, describe the key features of the Enlightenment?
1 Answer
Reason, Individualism and rupture with the Past and traditions.
Explanation:
Diderot famously said "Reason is to the Philosopher what Grace is to the Christian". Many enlightment thinkers opposed Religion based on the idea of reason. They thought society had to be transformed in order to change individuals. They thought men were inherently good unlike Christianity and claimed that society made them act badly.
This is why they advocated the advent of the New Man( a New Adam) who would be uprooted from his traditions. They preached for the destruction of traditions and any determinism. Individuals have to be free to determine what they long to be instead of relying on society to determine what they are. Rousseau and his philosophical beliefs are probably the best examples of what the Enlightment actually was. The autonomy of the individual over society is a bkey feature of the Enlightment.
The Enlightment put an emphasis on the individuals, claiming that society should not be based on common good but rather on individuals' interests. The best example being the human rights declaration. For instance they advocated the granting of rights to the merchant class even if the latter would be harmful to society.
