Optimistic ideas of the Enlightenment essays

Optimistic ideas of the Enlightenment essays 1. To what extent did the Enlightenment express optimistic ideas in eighteenth century Europe? Illustrate your answer with references to specific individuals and their works. (1998, #5) During the eighteenth century, Europeans experienced the dawning of an age of knowledge, reasoning, and of great scientific achievements. Their views toward new discoveries and advancements were optimistic. People began to turn to science for a better understanding of their world and their society. Literature and essays were commonly used to express their hopes for further developments in society, politics, economy, and education. 1) Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690) a) Regarded the human mind of a person as a blank slate. b) Did not believe in intuition or theories of innate conceptions a) Attacked the theory of divine right of Kings. b) Argued that sovereignty did not reside in the state but with the people. 3) Some thoughts concerning education. a) Recommended practical learning to prepare people b) Lockes curriculum included conversational learning of foreign languages, especially French, mathematics, history, physical education, and games. 1) Descartes's philosophy, sometimes called Cartesianism. a) Elaborate explanations of a number of physical phenomena. a) Part of human blood was a subtle fluid, that he called animal spirits. a) Fundamental law of reflection: that the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection. b) Paved the way for the udulatory theory of light. a) Systematization of analytic geometry. b) First mathematician to attempt to classify curves according to the types of equations that produce them. c) Made contributions to the theory of equations. d) First to use the last letters of the alphabet to designate unknown quantities and the firs ...