Philosophes Dbq

Over the course of the 18th century, a movement known as the Age of Enlightenment swept across Europe emphasizing, reason, individualism, economic growth, administrative reform, and religious toleration. The figures who lead this movement were known as philosophes as they advocated reform for the better of the world. Philosophes such as Voltaire saw the injustices birthed from religious discrimination while other philosophes saw religion as an obstacle of scientific study. As the 18th century progressed, different views of religion emerged from the minds of 18th century inhabitants. There were those who championed religious tolerance and those who strongly believed religion hinders an individual’s rationality. During the 1700s, religious …show more content…
This criticism of religion can be represented in the Treatise of the Three Imposters, written by an anonymous author. The author expresses the act of man following a God’s set fixed path for them as blind obedience due to their “ignorance of physical causes” (Doc. 1). Further emphasizing on the laws of nature, Scottish philosopher David Hume describes some aspects of religion, such as miracles, as a violation to the laws of nature in his Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. As a philosophe, Hume believed that religion distracted people from the reality of the world with the absurdities taught from religion (Doc. 2).This document might not be a reliable source of information as it was written by a philosophe, a person entirely devoted to rationality rather than the unexplainable phenomena of religious miracles, therefore it is possible that this information is biased and exaggerated. In addition to both Hume and the anonymous writer, the author of The System of Nature: Or, Laws of the Moral and Physical World, French-German philosopher Baron Paul d’Holbach, also disapproves of religion. d’Holbach reveals that “Man’s ignorance” is still in existence due to Man living a sluggish lifestyle containing routine and religious precedent rather than a life that follows experience (Doc 4). The

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