The Enlightenment

An Age of New Ideas

Intellectuals during the 17th and 8th century began to emphasize reason over tradition and individualism over community values.
Enlightenment did not bash traditional religion but made it less persuasive for political and social affairs.
The Age of Isms: Schools of ideologies rose as they taught socialism and liberalism to society.
Nationalism: Idea that emphasizes the unification or pride for a group with social, ethnic, historical, or lingual ties.
Revolutionary ideas brought revolts and the desire to create states for a unified group, breaking apart European imperial empire.

Empiricism: Belief that true knowledge comes from experiences and observations rather than established principles.
Social Contract: idea started by John Locke and Thomas Hobbes, people give their natural rights to governments in exchange for protection, law, and order. Although only Locke believed the people had a right to revolt.
Tabula Rasa: Influential idea from John Locke, proposed that people were born as a clean slate and ready to absorb knowledge. This argued traditional ideas that ancestry decided fate.
Philosophes: 18th century group of writers and thinkers new ways to look at political, social, and economic theories. Ex: Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Adam Smith.
Laissez Faire system: Proposed that governments should leave economic activities alone and allow a free market where businesses and consumers could thrive with free choice.
Capitalism: Economic system where industries and factories are owned by private owners for profit.
Deism: Belief that a divinity simply set natural laws in motion and does not intervene.

As industrialization and urbanization increased, argument rose over who is to blame for the social ills that came with and whether government help is needed.
Conservatism: Belief in traditional institutions, favoring reliance on practical experience over ideological thinking.
Socialism: A system of public or direct worker ownership over production of goods/needs (community ownership.
Classical Liberalism: Belief in natural rights constitutional government, laissez faire economy, and reducing money spent on churches and armies.
Feminism fought for the increase in women rights such as voting, education, and participation in professional society.
- Seneca Falls Convention was the first womens right convention in America.
Abolitionism: Movement to end the Atlantic slave trade and free enslaved people.
- In most parts of the Americas, slavery was abolished within 30 years of the end of the Atlantic slave trade system.
As industrialized economies increased, serfdom decreased and gradually was abolished from European countries.
Zionism: The belief of Jews that wanted to reestablish an independent homeland where their ancestors had lived in the middle east.
Anti-Semitism: Hatred towards the Jewish people.
Zionists faced difficulties in their mission as Muslim nations were already established in the middle east, but they did found Israel.

Intellectuals during the 17th and 8th century began to emphasize reason over tradition and individualism over community values.
Enlightenment did not bash traditional religion but made it less persuasive for political and social affairs.
The Age of Isms: Schools of ideologies rose as they taught socialism and liberalism to society.
Nationalism: Idea that emphasizes the unification or pride for a group with social, ethnic, historical, or lingual ties.
Revolutionary ideas brought revolts and the desire to create states for a unified group, breaking apart European imperial empire.

Empiricism: Belief that true knowledge comes from experiences and observations rather than established principles.
Social Contract: idea started by John Locke and Thomas Hobbes, people give their natural rights to governments in exchange for protection, law, and order. Although only Locke believed the people had a right to revolt.
Tabula Rasa: Influential idea from John Locke, proposed that people were born as a clean slate and ready to absorb knowledge. This argued traditional ideas that ancestry decided fate.
Philosophes: 18th century group of writers and thinkers new ways to look at political, social, and economic theories. Ex: Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Adam Smith.
Laissez Faire system: Proposed that governments should leave economic activities alone and allow a free market where businesses and consumers could thrive with free choice.
Capitalism: Economic system where industries and factories are owned by private owners for profit.
Deism: Belief that a divinity simply set natural laws in motion and does not intervene.

As industrialization and urbanization increased, argument rose over who is to blame for the social ills that came with and whether government help is needed.
Conservatism: Belief in traditional institutions, favoring reliance on practical experience over ideological thinking.
Socialism: A system of public or direct worker ownership over production of goods/needs (community ownership.
Classical Liberalism: Belief in natural rights constitutional government, laissez faire economy, and reducing money spent on churches and armies.
Feminism fought for the increase in women rights such as voting, education, and participation in professional society.
- Seneca Falls Convention was the first womens right convention in America.
Abolitionism: Movement to end the Atlantic slave trade and free enslaved people.
- In most parts of the Americas, slavery was abolished within 30 years of the end of the Atlantic slave trade system.
As industrialized economies increased, serfdom decreased and gradually was abolished from European countries.
Zionism: The belief of Jews that wanted to reestablish an independent homeland where their ancestors had lived in the middle east.
Anti-Semitism: Hatred towards the Jewish people.
Zionists faced difficulties in their mission as Muslim nations were already established in the middle east, but they did found Israel.