Wyl.p1.t2 Enlightenment synthesis

Wyl.p1.t2 Enlightenment synthesis

Miranda Gontz, Sara Patterson, Helen Lee, Tori Kause

During the Enlightenment era, public discussion was a driver of new ideas and new criticisms. Every point made was one worth making, as it challenged how society was perceived and how people interacted in it. John Locke was a philosopher of the time, and was a very loud voice in the governmental sense. Though he often spoke of ways of perceiving the human mind and body, he is most famous for his liberalism theories and formulating new forms of government. This was amazing, as the previous acceptance of society and way of life was challenged to the point of him restructuring it. Most of his publications were in pamphlet form, spreading to many people. Voltaire was another mind of that time, a writer, who criticized intolerance through essays. He also did not restrict himself to this area, and freely denounced ideals, societal structures, and also philosophized on the capabilities of human creativity. Montesquieu was yet another thinker who went the essay route, but he was first and foremost a political thinker. Close in area of expertise as Locke with challenging governments, he favored a separation of powers. Fed up with the structure of government and how it affected society, he did not completely restructure the system, but rather noted that a separation of powers would be a less biased form of government. Whatever their formal title (philosopher, writer, political thinker...), whatever they most strongly criticized, all thinkers of this period seemed dissatisfied with the workings of society. And through their thoughts, essays, pamphlets, and musings, they all were able to inspire social change in the future.