Montetesquieu And Voltaire And The Enlightenment - 844 Words

As time continued through the European Scientific Revolution, a wide range of new thinkers and philosophers emerged in society to bring change to the continent throughout the eighteenth century. This development of new thinking was known as the Enlightenment. Philosophers of the time, commonly known as philosophes, sought to bring new information and ideas to the people of Europe and the world. Ultimately, these ideas pertained to all parts of society, including the government, economic policies, and religion. The continuation of Enlightenment attitudes reinforced faith in the ideas of change and progress through entertaining completely new forms of government, new theories in economic policy that aided the European people, and secular†¦show more content†¦This meant that the government should not interfere with the business of the country, which contradicted dictation of the government over economics, as in a mercantilistic system. Smith was considered the Father of Capital ism and he entertained the idea that anyone should be able to profit independently from business and that a government is unnecessary in regulating business. Collectively, Smith’s ideas about changing economic policy were very progressive and their relations to the Enlightenment reinforced faith in the overall idea of progress. The Enlightenment brought the emergence of deism, a new religious denomination. Desists believed that God was the creator of the heavens and Earth but that he was not directly attached to the everyday events of human life. They believed that he was not always present and watching over the people on Earth. This developed the idea that mankind had direct power over their lives and the world around them, not God. This new idea posed the expansion of the concept of relying on human importance and significance within the world. This went hand in hand with the belief that humans could be responsible for earthy events and accomplishments, and that these occur rences did not have to be connected to God. This so called â€Å"progress† gave man more confidence in his own personal abilities and skills without having to rely on God for everything, thus making it a very