TOLERANCE

How Tolerant Was The Enlightenment?

How Tolerant Was The Enlightenment?

Tolerance and the Enlightenment Period

The term Enlightenment, often used as synonymous with eighteenth-century Europe, more specifically refers to the movement of intellectual, cultural and scientific traverses, to bring together the diverse manifestations of this movement the term Enlightenment was dedicated by the use. This notion of the Enlightenment is a collection of objects, schools of thought or sensitivity, of the historical actors who can also support a thematic approach. In the moral sense, tolerance in the enlightenment period was the virtue which is to accept what we would not agree voluntarily, such as when it goes against its own convictions. It is also the virtue which is to be vigilant as to only to the intolerable intolerance.

The principle of tolerance from the enlightenment period is controversial today. The Liberals argue that it condemns in advance the "tolerated" and the habits and behaviours that are departure from the norm (Morgan, 2000, pp.722). It can also empower the people in power to control diversity. Instead, they propose the concept of morality and civic pluralism. Proponents of traditional fundamentalism tolerance criticize because they see in it a form of moral relativism. Those who support it, define it as a respect for diversity. On the other hand, believe that this term in a narrow sense is more useful, because it does not imply a false endorsement of social attitudes unacceptable. Tolerance is historically variable. Today, tolerance is widely recognized throughout the world, but is sometimes questioned and undermined.



How Tolerant Was the Enlightenment Period?

The Enlightenment was a time in history and European intellectual and cultural movement, especially in France and England, which was developed from the late seventeenth century to the beginning of the French Revolution, although in some countries continued during the early years of the nineteenth century. This period was considered as a most tolerant based enlightenment period as there was a freedom of speech, less social inequalities, societies and culture were more tolerant and there was a massive respect for religious beliefs, values and practices.

The eighteenth century is known, for this reason, as the Enlightenment. Enlightenment thinkers argued that human reason could combat ignorance, superstition and tyranny, and build a better world (Lynch, 2000, pp. 3). The Enlightenment had a great influence on economic, political and social time. The aesthetic expression of this intellectual movement is called Neoclassicism. The Enlightenment was also a cosmopolitan and anti-nationalist movement with numerous representatives abroad. The Enlightenment penetrated both in Spain and the Spanish dominions in America.

In general view, the Enlightenment led to the French Revolution of 1789. As she embodied many ideals of the philosophers, the Revolution, in its phases of violence between 1792 and 1794, discredited these ideals temporarily in the eyes of many European contemporaries. Yet the Enlightenment bequeathed a lasting legacy in the nineteenth and twentieth century's. The eighteenth century marked the decline of the Church, opened the way for political and economic liberalism, and aroused the democratic changes in the Western world ...