Enlightenment:
Emancipation and Constitution
The Enlightenment was a European
movement of thought that made reason
and 'natural laws' the basis with which
to judge issues of social order, human conduct and religious beliefs. Traditions
and the divine rights of the kings were questioned; institutions were put
to the test. The movement, which started with the Reformation and Humanist
thinking during the Renaissance, culminated in the 18th century (American
Declaration of Independence, French Revolution) and laid the foundation
for political and social emancipation.
The movement's emphasis on reason had great impact on science
and education; it triggered changes in
all fields of life.
The Restoration of the monarchy
in England was accompanied by an awakening of political awareness
which advanced political emancipation in England:
In 1689 JOHN LOCKE published
his Two Treatises of Government. Important
ideas expressed by LOCKE were:
- the separation of the legislative and the executive powers of the state;
- the endowment of all men with inalienable rights;
- the view that governments should be institutions protecting these rights;
- the right to alter or remove a government if it acted "contrary to the trust imposed in it".
Also in 1689 the Bill of Rights
was passed, guaranteeing the civil liberties of the individual and parliamentary
control over the King. The constitutional monarchy was established in
England at a time when continental Europe was ruled by absolutism.
Great advancements in science were the introduction of the inductive method
(1620, FRANCIS BACON, Novum Organum) and the
discovery of the law of gravity (1682, SIR ISAAC NEWTON).