MJ

Enlightenment Ideals

The Six Enlightenment Ideals

  1. The importance of reason:  a. freedom means being able to think rationally for yourself  b.reason will lead us to the truth

  2. Enlightenment is universal: all humans are equal by nature

  3. Progress: human history is the story of progress in the human condition

  4. Secularism: religion and politics should be separated. One’s method of worship should be a private matter

  5. The centrality of economics to politics: a society’s well-being depends on how its economy is structure

  6. The ideal of popular government: people are capable of rules themselves. The aristocracy is not the only class that deserved to rule