Locke in the Enlightenment
Throughout the English revolution of 1688, and just after the establishment of the freedom of the press in 1694, the conditions were perfect for a development of a new understanding of knowledge. John Locke, who, in the field of theology, found his starting point, like most prominent thinkers of the age, in the conflict of systems, beliefs, and practices. Out of his reflections on the known facts of experience, he developed new abstract and ethical ideas. In spite of his supernaturalist tendencies, Locke believed and taught that only reasonable demonstration of power and experience, not supposed obligation or kingly position, can establish the true leadership and power of an individual. In the Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690), Locke had investigated the understanding of revelation from the standpoint of the theory of the nature, sources, and limits of knowledge, and laid down the criteria by which the true revelation is to be distinguished from other beliefs which claim such authority. This meant that strict proof of something must be present, and however we were to understand the proof must be able to be backed up by both external and internal evidence, and its content must be shown to correspond with rational phil
osophy and ethics. In other words, Locke argued that everyone, not just those who were supposedly "specially called by God", has a right to rise up and overthrow a tyrannical government. There are basically five main accomplishments of the moderate phase of the French Revolution. All of these events took place between May of 1789, and September of 1792. These five events include the Tennis Court Oath, the storming of the Bastille, the march to Versailles, the flight to Varennes, and finally the trial and execution of Louis XVI. All five of these events greatly impacted France and the French revolution in their own obvious ways. Locke preached that revelation is revelation, but, after it is once given, it may be shown to be rational, which meant it had to be capable of being deduced from the premises of our reason. Only where this is possible is there a belief in favor of the purely mysterious parts of revelation. Where these criteria are disregarded the way is open to the excesses of religious groups and priesthoods by which religion, the difference of the reasoning man, has often made him appear less rational than the other radical thinkers. Locke advances therefore the remarkable conception of a revelation that reveals only the reasonable and the universally perceivable. He then writes a thesis about Reasonableness of Christianity as Delivered in the Scriptures (1695), which is his attempt to end the religious conflict through the recovery of the truths of the primitive, rational Christianity. Next, the march to Versailles, with its angry women and their threatening behavior, was one of many violent disturbances that occurred during the French Revolution. The march on Versailles's main purpose was to obtain bread and force the price of bread down to where it had been unnecessarily raised. Versailles was known as a royal paradise, and many very important people lived there along with the King and his family. Bread was the main diet of the French people at this time. In fact, working people back in the revolutionary days spent around half of their wages to buy bread for food. This incident showed exactly how much bread meant to the people in Paris. The women got to the Hotel de Ville where they numbered around 6,000, while the men were encouraging the women to perform the march. The King was scared and overwhelmed by the angry groups of people that stood before him. Since the national assembly had most of the power in the country of France and the king now had very little, he gave in to the women's demands. He then told the women that he would have all of the bread in Versailles ordered out to them. But more than bread arrived in Paris. The King decided to move his court to Paris was well, a decision that would have terrible consequences for him as the revolution unfolded. That afternoon, a huge group of French guards and angry citizens tried to break into the fortress. There were over
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1970
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)
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