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.)