The Enlightenment Era - Essay Example

This philosophy does not have some physical form, rather mostly through the expression in words. (Thomas, 2005) Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy. This is related to things like what reality is and what existence is defined as. And how do both of these function together? The enlightenment era gave birth to this idea. Sometimes, this era is also known as the "age of criticism" and rightly said so because all formerly beliefs were questioned so that science and logic could follow through. Kant studied metaphysics closely and his knowledge of the functioning of society was based on metaphysics.

He said that society has to retreat from what effect objects bring to the mind. He said that the new philosophy should be how the mind affects everything around it and those same objects. (Hunt, 2004). As far as the eighteenth-century philosophers are concerned, they did some great work to bring this era to light. Some of these include Kant in Germany, the Encyclopedists in France, David Hume (1711-76) in Scotland, and d'Holbach (1723-89). These philosophers became famous for their own different ideologies and concepts related to philosophy.

There are many other popular and renowned names also that are worth mentioning like Plato, Ren Descartes, Aristotle, etc. (Hunt, 2004). There have been many different philosophical ideas including rationalism, empiricism, the Encyclopedists, the analytic and synthetic, logic, and also determinism. Philosophy is dependent on all of these. Other ideas that floated through this century are science, religion, morality, truth, reason, faith, belief, class, power, rationality, etc. And all philosophers have written or shown their works through the expression of one of these or the other.

The major philosophers of this age were Kant and Voltaire. Victor Hugo Voltaire is a huge name in the world of philosophy when we talk about the eighteenth century. Apart from Voltaire, Kant and John Locke have been great thinkers too. Locke defined empiricism and his works greatly relate to this field of philosophy. (Hunt, 2004). John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau are some other names in the Enlightenment Era who have been said to create great works as thinkers in this period.

The most famous of these works being "noble savage" and endorsement of the idea of free trade principle. The patron of these works was Rousseau. Because of this afore-mentioned work, relations pertaining to political and economic criteria were greatly affected. Many views changed and the association promoted this free trade concept.