The West in the World, 4th Edition (Sherman)

Chapter 14: A New World of Reason and Reform

Chapter Summaries

By the end of the seventeenth century, discoveries in astronomy, physics, and the natural sciences replaced medieval ways of thinking about the world with a new scientific view of reality. Europeans were increasingly motivated by the search for knowledge and the power of human thought. Influenced by the discoveries, ideas, and applications of the Scientific Revolution, a cultural movement known as the Enlightenment emerged in the eighteenth century and profoundly impacted European and North American intellectuals. During this Age of Reason," western European intellectuals questioned traditional ideas, religions, and institutions, exercising their belief in inevitable human progress brought about by the application of human reason to all facets of life. Western intellectuals then suggested avenues of reform for Western political and social institutions, urging others to become involved in the progress of civilization.