Final Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Final - Essay Example Enlightenment presented us with an independent human being with free will and the reason he is provided with by nature. Some ideas of the philosophers of the Enlightenment are used today. Their philosophy differs much from the medieval one. For example, for Aristotle people are animals, which are immoral by nature. The opinion of the philosophers of the Enlightenment is quite the opposite. According to Jean Jacques Rousseau, people are on the contrary good by nature, but then our reality changes them. John Locke supports this idea stating that people have a reason by nature. Philosophy of the Enlightenment presents humans as creatures with free will and masters of their own life. â€Å"New† people were intelligent and had the ability to think and develop independently. The philosophic views of John Locke were supported by Voltaire. He was an active opponent of the church and religion as it imposed multiple ungrounded restrictions on people. The period of the Enlightenment is v ery important for the European history as it is characterized by break of the religious prejudices and the revival of human soul. Numerous masterpieces in various fields of art were created during this period. The Enlightenment changed the history of Europe having reduced the influence of church by affecting people’s minds. ... â€Å""In eighteenth-century France throne and altar were commonly spoken of as in close alliance; their simultaneous collapse ... would one day provide the final proof of their interdependence† (McManners). Napoleon created the terms â€Å"nationalism†, â€Å"nation of welfare†, which influenced the actions of many leaders. Some scholars state that Napoleon is a founder of dictatorship, however, they just do not pay attention to the significance of the French Revolution, while it played a very important role in the development of the modern democracy. It is essential to mention that the Revolution changed the position of women greatly. In pre-Revolutionary France women were considered to be â€Å"failed men† with no rights and influence. â€Å"Women’s testimony is in general light and subject to variation; this is why it is taken less seriously than that of men" as opposed to men, upon whom "Nature seems to have conferred†¦ the right to gover n." In general, "men are more capable than women of ably governing particular matters" ("Women"). The revolution and the example of Napoleon’s beloved Josephine made women re-think their position and provide them with the opportunities to penetrate political sphere. The Industrial Revolution and its impact on Europe The Industrial Revolution is the transition from manual labor to machine labor, from agrarian economy to industrial manufacturing. As a result agrarian society was transformed into industrial society. The Industrial Revolution is characterized by the rapid development of manufacturing on the basis of large-scale machine industry as well as the establishment of capitalism as a main economic system in the world. The industrial Revolution