Reason, Nature and God

This era covers the ideas, people and changes in the 18th century that constituted the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment had a broad impact on European culture and history.

In general, the Enlightenment challenged traditional beliefs that had been at the heart of Western civilization. In place of such traditional beliefs as the natural emergence of one social group (nobles) to provide protection for all others; the importance of the clergy in determining what was appropriate for others to think; and the necessity of powerful monarchs to preserve the peace among all others, the Enlightenment proposed new ideas based on the fundamental ability of each individual to use reason to determine what to believe.

The Enlightenment's emphasis on human reason came from the writings of several 17th-century philosophers, especially the Frenchman Ren Descartes. During the period of religious conflicts in France , Descartes wrote an essay that, he said, could settle many disputes between Catholics and Protestants by proving the existence of God without using the Bible or the teachings of the Church. Descartes thought that you could prove God's existence by relying on human reason alone.