The Age of Reason

The Age of Reason started in France, Britain, and Germany, and had a profound influence on all of Europe.  Critical ideas such as freedom, democracy, and logic were developed during the Age of Reason.  This period of time was eventually overtaken by Modernism (a cultural movement that again changed society).

It is thought that the work of René Descartes started The Age of Reason.  René Descartes set up most of the methodology for people who came after him.  In the Age of Reason, people began to study epistemology, metaphysics, logic, ethics, politics and physical science. 

Philosophers during this time were grouped into two categories;  the Rationalists and the Empiricists.  There were three main Rationalists:  Descartes, Baruch Spinoza, and Gottfried Leibniz.  The three main Empiricists were John Locke, George Berkeley, and David Hume.  The main difference between these two groups was that the Rationalists took mathematics as their model of knowledge and the Empiricists took physical science as their model.  Philosophers were grouped in terms of their metaphysical, moral, and linguistic theories.  

Another philosopher that lived during the Age of Reason was Nicholas Malebranche.  He was a French rationalist and was famous for his doctrines about God and occasionalism.  In his works, he tried to emphasize the thoughts of Saint Augustine and Descartes in order to demonstrate the role of God in every aspect of the world.

Probably one of the most famous philosophers of all time was Sir Isaac Newton.  He was a physicist, astronomer, alchemist, and a mathematician.  One thing he is famous for was his book, Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica.  This book was published in 1687.  In this book, he described universal gravitation and the three laws of motion, laying the ground work for classical mechanics.  In mathematics, Isaac Newton, along with Gottfried Leibniz, shared the credit for creating calculus.  In optics, Newton made the reflecting telescope.  Isaac Newton was a very ingenious man and invented new ideas used for many centuries to come.  He died March 31st, 1727, at the age of 84.  

Finally, one more famous person in the Age of  Reason was Gottfried Leibniz.  Gottfried was a German polymath who wrote primarily in Latin and French.  He was educated well in law and philosophy.  He played a major role in European politics.  Also, Gottfried discovered the binary system and some elements of calculus.  Gottfried is remembered for his optimism and intelligence. 

The Age of Reason applies to what we are learning in class because all of these philosophers set forth the basic elements we are learning in math, science, and English class. Many of the things we learn now are related to what the philosophers, scientists, and mathematicians discovered in the 17th century.  One class that especially relates to this is science class. All the principles of mechanics and many other scientific formulas we use pertain to back to what many famous men in the Age of Reason discovered.