•Religion, tradition,
and superstition limited independent
thought
•Accept knowledge based on observation,
logic, and reason, not on faith
•Scientific and academic
thought should be secular
A meeting of French
Enlightenment thinkers
The
Enlightenment era was characterized by secularism, challenges to authority,
and the glorification of reason.
Bullet
#1Many Enlightenment thinkers felt
that although the great minds of the medieval and Renaissance eras had
achieved much, they also had been overly constrained by religion, tradition,
and superstition. To truly achieve independent thought, one had to throw off
all limits and rely solely on reason.
Bullet
#2Like the pioneers of the Scientific
Revolution, Enlightenment thinkers also strove to make conclusions based on
observation, logic, and reason, rather than on faith.
Bullet
#3Enlightenment thinkers revived the
spirit of the Renaissance quest for knowledge, choosing to focus onhuman nature and the workings of society
rather than on spiritual matters and religious tenets. This secular approach
led to the development of the social sciences.
