The Enlightenment: An Intellectual Revolution

The Enlightenment: An Intellectual Revolution

• The Enlightenment was a period in European history that spanned from the late 17th century to the early 19th century, roughly covering the era from the end of the destructive religious wars in Europe to the popularization of democratic and liberal ideals.

Key Characteristics

• The Enlightenment was a philosophical and intellectual movement that emphasized a critical attitude towards knowledge and the provision of evidence to validate truth.
• It rejected the approach of validating truth through reference to higher authorities, such as social superiors, the church, or the state.
• Instead, it emphasized the provision of evidence through reason or experience to corroborate claims.

Impact on Epistemology and Education

• The Enlightenment transformed the system of epistemology and had a dramatic impact on social and political development in Europe, especially during the second half of the 18th century.
• The intellectual revolution created by the Enlightenment emphasized the importance of evidence-based knowledge acquisition and validation.
• It challenged existing ideas regarding the ability to acquire knowledge and the approach to knowledge acquisition.

Challenges to Traditional Education

• Before the Enlightenment, education focused on the "3R's" – Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic, and was largely controlled by and dominated by the church.
• The Enlightenment rejected the notion that knowledge was innate and exclusive to certain levels of people, such as the clergy and aristocracy.
• Instead, it emphasized that knowledge was socially acquired and that anyone could aspire to any level of knowledge.

Broader Impact

• The Enlightenment's approach to epistemology and education had a drastic impact on social, economic, and political systems across Europe.
• The changes were either willingly reformed by the leaders of different European states or forcefully changed by protests from the people who demanded change in line with the ideas propagated by Enlightenment scholars.