TEAM 8 SWAG: Enlightenment Synthesis

Moliere may provide majority of the best example of the omnipresent satire of the elite, as stated in the question, but many philosophers began questioning the importance and reason of past values that were established during the previous eras. Artists and philosophers during the Enlightenment period were often valued, but also criticized, for their work however in previous years they would have been punished for their unorthodoxy. For example, contrasting the previous structures in Shakespeare's plays, those of neoclassical playwrights such as Racine and Moliere use a single plot line and strictly limit the setting into one time and place. In addition, many artists began adding in science and new values into their works. Michelangelo’s sculptures and paintings captured realism, while using new ideas that were proven with science. This created an artistic environment of works with new features, such as paintings by Peter Paul Rubens. The writers and artists of the Enlightenment Era referred back to the ideals and art forms of classical times. Emphasizing more than their Renaissance predecessors the classical ideals of order and rational control, writers and artists incorporated reason and science into everything they did, placing new values in society of reason.
Philosophers were beginning to receive much attention as they started breaking down institutions, such as a church, that were corrupt and not based on natural law and/or reason. For example, John Locke was a philosopher who believed that divine right was wrong and society should be based on one’s “natural right” instead. Locke very much opposed the religious defiance of absolute monarchy. He showed how, originally, people find that they need to join together in order to protect their natural rights. Also Voltaire added onto the way people’s values changed, for he believed that there wasn’t any single religious view or tradition that was needed to believe in God. Voltaire instead believed that everyone was equal with his religion tolerant views. He once wrote in an essay, “It does not require great art, or magnificently trained eloquence, to prove that Christians should tolerate each other. I, however, am going further: I say that we should regard all men as our brothers. What? The Turk my brother? The Chinaman my brother? The Jew? The Siam? Yes, without doubt; are we not all children of the same father and creatures of the same God?” Although he believed this he also had the idea that every race has its own origin, rather than believing the “Adam and Eve” story. The Enlightenment thinkers and artists were able to popularize their opinions. In the end, the Enlightenment was able to expand the knowledge of reasoning to the rest of the world; including the world we live in today.