文档介绍：—CHAPTER 7
Romanticism and Existentialism
Starting with the Renaissance humanists (see chap- Also, Enlightenment thinkers devalued the irra-
ter 4), the authority of the church began to be ques- tional (for example, emotional) aspects of human
tioned and a period of more objective inquiry con- nature. It is no wonder that the Enlightenment is of-
cerning the world and humans ensued. The work of ten referred to as the Age of Reason (Inwood, 1995,
such individuals as Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, p. 236).
Hobbes, Newton, Bacon, and Descartes ushered in According to Inwood (1995, p. 237), it is not
the period in philosophy referred to as the Enlight- clear exactly when the Enlightenment began and it
enment. The term Enlightenment was used to con- is even less clear when it ended, if it ever did. In any
trast the period with the irrationality and supersti- case, Enlightenment ideals were embraced by the
tion that was thought to characterize the Dark Ages. British empiricists (especially by Hobbes, Locke, and
For Enlightenment thinkers, who tended to be either J. S. Mill), the French sensationalists, and the posi-
deists or outright atheists, “beliefs are to be accepted tivists (see chapter 5). Enlightenment epistemology
only on the basis of reason, not on the authority glorified sensory experiences and rationality, the two
of priests, sacred texts, or tradition”(Inwood, 1995, ponents of science. In fact, as was noted
p. 236). Furthermore, knowledge was power. Knowl- in chapter 5, the British and French empiricists at-
edge meant understanding the abstract principles tempted to apply Newtonian science to an under-
governing the universe and power meant applying standing of human nature. That is, they attempted to
that knowledge to improve society. During the En- explain human nature objectively in terms of a few
lightenment it was widely believed that societal per- basic principles.
fection could be approximated through the applica