Mentality

The conflict between the Church and the Enlightenment

The period between 1300 and 1600 was a time of great changes in Europe. The Renaissance was a rebirth of learning and the arts, inspired a spirit of curiosity in many fields. Meanwhile, the religious movement known as the Protestant Reformation promped followers to challenge accepted ways of thinking about God's salvation. The Great discoveries made the Western European royal families and the middle class especially rich, which measured the importance and not land. In the meantime, another revolution would change how people viewed the physical world around them: the scientific revolution,it took place from the sixteenth century through the seventeenth century and it was an emergency of modern science during the early modern period where several subjects were developed such as mathematics, astronomy, physics, biology, chemistry and so on. They basically changed the view of society. These were the reasons of the enlightenment but what is enlightenment?

This photo shows an engraving from the 1772 which is an edition of the Encyclopédie where truth is in the top center and it is surrounded by light and shown by the figures to the right of philosophy and reason. In the photo underneath you will see the Encyclopédie that was a very famous book in that period of time where the most importants thinkers of the century wrote the new ideas of the Enlightenment in the 17th century. The encyclopedia also named encyclopédie in french was promoted by two important french thinkers known as Diderot and D´Alembert.

Enlightenment, also known Age of Reason was a movement in the 18th century that took place in all Europe were the scientists and philosophers began to examin all the world through reason also called human intellect rather than spiritual faith and religion. 

During the Enlightenment there were very important thinkers such as Isaac Newton, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Diderot, John Locke, Bacon, Rosseau and Descartes. Their ideas touched many aspects of life and society such as politics, economics, science, religion... The word Enlightenment means a time of ilumination because a great group of writers, scientists and artists they actively used to saw the light of reason that was a rational thought. Due to this, they developed several fields in some other subjects such as mathematics, physics, astronomy... They also developed the basic human rights (John Locke) and democracy.

John Locke was an English philosopher whose work lead to the political empiricism and liberalism, he was one of the most important thinkers of the Enlightenment in the 17th century. He defended the basic human rights for every citizen: life, liberty and property. He said we have the right to live (life), live freely (liberty) and possess something (our property). He also agreed that the government should respect and protect these rights if not the citizens have the right to rebel. 

Instead Baron de Montesquieu went further: it is not enough to give power to the people in government. He said that the different branches of government should be separated to ensure liberty and to avoid the tyranny. These powers should control one to each other("checks and balances"). The relationship between governments and citizens and the basic rights of citizens should be written down in a constitution. From the 18th century and the Enlightenment on, people believed in reason( truth could be discovered though reason or logical thinking, in nature (what was natural was also good and reasonable), in happiness (people should seek well-being on earth), in progress (society and humankind could improve) and finally liberty (individual rights should be defended). While years pass, later they would take the biggest superpower of the time, Britain, and fight for liberty and equality in the American War of Independence. Then the Americans would create the first liberal or also democratic constitution which would keep serve the documents in a future. In France, the French Revolution will bore the "Declaration of Rights of Men and the Citizen" the basic and essential document of our lives and democratic societies. In conclusion history changes constantly and our life began to be formed.

- http://study.com/academy/lesson/the-enlightenment-thinkers-their-ideas.html

Here is the link of an Enlightenment video, where it explains how and where did it occurr and also all it´s ideas that the most important thinkers had of the period. It basically summeries what we have seen before.

- http://study.com/academy/lesson/political-thinkers-of-the-enlightenment.html

In this other link you will explore the ideas of major political thinkers who lived and wrote during the Enlightenment in all Europe. 

Liberalism, nationalism and conservatism

During this year we have learned the different "ISM"s there have been in history: liberalism, conservatism and finally nationalism. But actually what are does "ISM"s there have been along history?

Liberalism is a belief in agreat value of social and political change in history. We can also define liberalism as a movement in modern portestantism that emphasized the liberty and all the aspects of Christianity. 

Conservatism is a dominant political theories and ideologies that occur after the Enlightenment in the 17th century. 

Nationalism is based basically in the spirit of your own nation (culture, history, religion, language and your own territory).

These three "ISM"s had a great influence in history in Europe from 1815 to 1848.
The conservatives prefered the restoration of the royal families to the thrones and mantained the hierarchy that the lowered classes respected and obeyed their social which was superior. The conservatives (conservatism) supported the established church and they wanted to avoid the revolutionary ideas. That is why they say revolution brings chaos and insecurity at the end of the wars. Instead, on the other hand, the liberals (liberalism) were inspired by the Enlightenment and the French Revolution in 1789 and they keep proposing several ideas completely different from the conservatives ones: the consent of the government, the restrinction of the church and the state power, the republican form of government and the basic liberties of all the individuals. As you can see, they had a very different criteria in all aspects (politics, economy, liberty, religion...)  which made several revolutions in Europe form 1815 to 1848. 
In politics, the conservatives wanted  to mantain the hereditary monarchy and the liberals wanted a representative government and male suffrage.
In economy, the conservatives wanted to support mercantilism and the government involved in the business although the liberals supported free entreprise.
In terms of liberty, the conservatives believed in a strong and privileged land-owning aristocracy and the liberals demanded the freedom of assembly.
Finally talking about religion, the conservatives supported and official church recognised by the government and the liberals thought completely different from them,  they believed in the separation of church and including the state.
Later the demands for democracy (in the 19th century it means the bourgeoisie), mostly in the East of Europe the conservatives royal families like emperors and dynasties so that they soon can find out the independence and later on the self-government. Then it will be difficult to separate those demands because finally liberals (liberalism) and nationalists (nationalism) will find each other. 


Videos of the political Ideologies

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7qk8ZfuDJI  
(Liberalism)
- http://study.com/academy/lesson/conservatism-history-ideology-and-influence.html (Conservatism)
- http://study.com/academy/lesson/nationalism-grows-in-europe-timeline-events-impact.html 
(Nationalism)