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A 4 page research paper that discusses the influence of the seventeenth century on the eighteenth. Examination of the scientific discoveries of the 17th century shows how these revelations influenced thought concerning the human condition, as well as consideration of how to perceive the Divine in the eighteenth century, the period known as the Enlightenment. The writer focuses on the role of Fontenelle in spanning the two periods and on the influence of Newton on Voltaire. Bibliography lists 2 sources.
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4 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_khinf17.rtf
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the natural world. Examination of the scientific discoveries of this period shows how these revelations influenced thought concerning the human condition, as well as consideration of how to perceive the
Divine in the eighteenth century, the period known as the Enlightenment. Gay (1977a) points out that the philosophical victories of practicing scientists, such as Boyle and Newton, were founded
on the ground prepared by the scientific pondering of Bacon and Descartes, earlier in that century. Bacon argued that humanity must "commence a total reconstruction of sciences, arts, and all
human knowledge, raised upon proper foundations" (Gay, 1977a, p. 310). Previous knowledge, whether pertaining to theology or the natural world, was viewed by these philosophers as adding to "confusion" rather
than clear understanding. Fontenelle spans the two ages, providing a bridge between the seventeenth and eighteenth century perspectives (Gay, 1977a). Nevertheless, in the debate between the ancient and modern
viewpoint, he was definitively a modern. He served to popularize the new scientific perspective and wrote "with equal competence about its results, its methods and its philosophy" (Gay, 1977a,
p. 317). Just as Cicero had spread Greek ideas among the Romans, Fontenelle spread Cartesian and Baconian concepts among his contemporaries (Gay, 1977a). Fontenelle delivered an influential series of
speeches in his position of Secretary of the Paris Academy of Sciences, in which he did a great deal to enhance both the cultural influence and social position of the
leading scientists of his day (Gay, 1977a). As a moralist, he updated and modernized classical ideas, in which he urged humanity to live according to the dictates of nature, which
he defined as "filled with passions which need to be gratified for the sake of inner peace" (Gay, 1977a, p. 318). Basically, Fontenelle successfully transferred the ways of thinking
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