The Age
of Reason in the 17th century can be viewed as the forerunner to the
Enlightenment of the 18th century. It was a time in the history of
philosophy when thinkers strived to unify epistemology, ethics, metaphysics and
logic into an integrated framework. Rationalists championed the primacy of
mathematics as their framework for knowledge while empiricists voiced support
for the physical sciences. The former was represented by Descartes, Spinoza,
Hobbes, Bacon and Leibniz. The latter was outlined in the writings of Locke,
Berkley and Hume.
Political
philosophy took center stage with Thomas Hobbes’ great work the Leviathan and John Locke’s Two Treatise of Government. Hobbes saw
strong government and the rule of law as central to a functioning society.
Locke sought to balance this with his emphasis on liberty, private ownership of
property and the sovereignty of the individual. Taken together both
philosophies would serve to underpin the future development of a western
democratic society.
One can
also look at the Age of Reason as a triumph of modernist thought over earlier
medieval scholasticism. It was at its base level cautious however it did
inspire a stronger radicalism that would become more prominent in the
continental philosophies of the later Enlightenment period.
John Locke
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