History of the United States I / Unit 4 USH1 0479 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
The Enlightenment's Four Ideas
The idea
The Enlightenment was an intellectual and cultural movement emphasising reason over superstition and science over blind faith. The anchor names four ideas. Rationalism is the idea that humans are capable of using their faculty of reason to gain knowledge, a sharp turn from relying on scripture or church authorities. Empiricism is the idea that knowledge comes from experience and observation of the world. Progressivism is the belief that through reason and observation humans could make unlimited, linear progress over time. Cosmopolitanism treats thinkers as citizens of the world, actively engaged in it rather than provincial.
In practice
Freemasons, a fraternal society advocating inquiry and tolerance, originating in London coffeehouses and spreading through lodges.
Where people slip
Progressivism matters as a response to the carnage of the English Civil Wars. These are answers to a century of religious slaughter, not abstractions, and reading them that way explains why they took hold when they did.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
Unlocks
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