What was the British Enlightenment about? You may disagree with the question.

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British Enlightenment

Introduction

What is enlightenment

It is the realization of major reforms in life and its beliefs occurred during the age of enlightment which was a short period in our human history when thinkers gave realistic recognition of the sad human state and condition and giving optimism to a new set of ideas (Roy

. 35

These set of ideas question tradition the very basis of pre conceived thoughts of the past . The set of ideas also had an attitude within

br themselves , which did a way with beliefs and justified modernism (Roy

br 50

The British Enlightenment

The British enlightenment was a movement which started about the year 1680 and it is believed to have ended in the year 1820 .This was a time and age which many philosophers and thinkers thought of ways to cope with challenges faced like ignorance and superstition (Gregory C .114

It was characterized by much scientific and intellectual accomplishment . It was the age of great thinkers . The British enlightenment was a movement which in many ways named itself since the thinkers and thought they were more enlightened than the general population at that time , since most of them were poor and lived in rural settings and thus the thinkers set out to enlighten them (Roy

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But the British enlightenment did not start from within , it was influenced by the greater Europe which had been undergoing Enlightenment ' the greatest influence on Britain was the Scottish and the French enlightenment which had started a little earlier than the British enlightenment (Burke ,

. 55

But also the British overthrowing their king earlier in the 17th century creating an opening for democracy and Protestantism started the French and the Scottish enlightenment . The British enlightenment was commonly referred to , as empiricism in Britain since the main characteristics of enlightenment namely search for knowledge and defiance of tradition were not so visible due to their social conditions . theless the things mainly targeted for change were hereditary aristocracy and religion especially Catholicism (Gregory C . 116

This period of enlightenment in Britain was characterized by rise in intellectual life , which brought improvement in Britain 's key sector of agriculture . More ways of maximizing output were realized thus reduced famine commonly experienced after every eight to nine years . The economy also advanced due to this and more people moved to urban areas in such of prosperity especially London which had close to a million people at the time (Gregory C .112

There were also a growing number of people who believed in science and disciplined reason . There was also a chance for common people to explore fanatism and passions , which were earlier , deprived by traditions and beliefs . Enlightenment had its benefits but had its fair share of downfalls . Due to increasing urban population , citizens drank and gambled causing a decay of morals and family values , streets were filled with prostitutes and people had lack of respect to values once strongly upheld (Gregory C .112...