The Enlightenment: A Period Of Success

The Enlightenment was a period of intellectual and social growth which took place in Europe during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries . It was a huge and dramatic change throughout the world. It changed the way people looked at the world. During this period, Declaration of the rights of men and citizens were passed by the government. People started to search the world around them and started to create new ideas and inventions. The enlightenment was a period of success because it focused on the use of reason and logic, developments in science and art and political philosophers rethought the role of government.
As the enlightenment began, European thinkers started to apply reasons in order to understand the human conditions. During this

period, enlightenment philosophers believed that society could be improved by using reason and natural law. They also believed that governments receive their authority from the people not from the God. Some of these thinkers began to examine the organization of government. There were three philosopher during this period that were John Locke, Montesquieu and Voltaire. John Locke was one of the great philosopher who gave his philosophies about the role of the government in the society. He believed that people were naturally happy, tolerant and reasonable. He thought people could learn from their experiences and can improve themselves. According to John Locke, all people are born free and equal and have natural rights- life, liberty and property. He thought that the purpose of a government is to protect these laws. If any government cannot protect these laws people should have power to overthrow them. He wrote a book named “Two Treatises of Government” in which he rejected divine right of kings. “In his book he explained that political power make laws and those laws are made to protect people and for regulation of property” (citation). Baron de Montesquieu was another enlightenment philosopher who believed in democracy. He believed that the best form of government included a separation of powers. He published his book “The spirit of the laws” in which he explained how government should work. “He also established that in order to prevent kings from being too strong, power in government should be divided into three branches ( executive, legislative and judicial)”(citation). He believed that the separation of powers allow each branch of government to serve as a check against the power of the others. That concept known as the system of checks and balances. Another
During the enlightenment, with the scientific method and reason, scientists had made countless discoveries about the physical world, human nature and society. Sir Isaac Newton was one of the english scientist who changed the world of science by bringing together astronomy, physics and mathematics. He developed theory of gravity and new kind of math known as calculus, which he used to predict the effects of gravity.