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The Age of Reason
Began with the scientists and philosophers in Europe of the 17th
and 18th centuries
The Age of Reason
• “The Enlightenment”
• Rationalism: the belief that humans can arrive at truth by using reason– As opposed to the past and the
reliance on authority, religion, or intuition
Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727)
• Compared God to a clock maker
• God created perfect mechanism, but let it run on its own.
• God’s gift to humanity—the ability to think logically
In the Colonies
• Early Americans had to be generalists and tinkerers—to make do with what they had
Smallpox Plague
• Scientific exploration paid off!
• Cotton Mather: religious still but willing to seek cures– Borrowed from Turkish physician the
practice of innoculation– Perspectives and practices changing—
not rigidly only religious/ seeking more scientific answers
Deism
• Seeking God through nature
• The belief that all people can discover natural laws through God-given power of reason
• The belief that the universe is orderly
• The belief that humans are good and “perfectible” through reason
View of God
• Belief that God wants us to be happy
• Best serve him by helping others
Self-Made Americans
• Rags to Riches (ie, Benjamin Franklin)
• Writings rooted in reality (pamphlets, government documents, etc.)