Age of Enlightenment

a.) “Pragmatism”: A philosophic school linking the meaning of beliefs to the actions of a believer, and the truth of beliefs to success of those actions in securing a believer's goals.

The period of Enlightenment, typically known as “the age of reason”, was an intellectual movement that advanced freedom of ideas and the furthering of knowledge. The movement developed in France, Britain and Germany and was later brought to American when the Puritans fled from England and religious persecution. The era marked political changes as “governmental consolidation, nation creation, greater rights for the common people, and a decline in the influence of authoritarian institutions such as the nobility and the Church”. It is also given credit, by most philosophers and historians, for the rise of classical liberalism, democracy, and modern capitalism.

The ideals created in the era of Enlightenment (mentioned above) are the outline for such American documents as the Constitution, Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence. This movement connects with pragmatism; Holmes describes the conception of experience to be “not individual and internal but collective and consensual; it is social, not psychological”. This pragmatic idea is the basis of the American democratic governing system. Knowledge is the ultimate goal of the enlightened period. Every individual must dispel laziness and cowardice and have the courage to act, think, and speak as an individual (while still staying in the bounds of society). “The Federalist Papers”, written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and Jon Jay, define the delegation of power in the government; a “good” system is ruled by the majority. The Papers state that “if a faction consists of less than a majority, relief is supplied by the republican principle, which enables the majority to defeat its sinister views by regular vote.”

b.) I struggle to find a starting date of “American Philosophy”. Most of the philosophers I looked at for the period of enlightenment were early American or European philosophers, scientists, or political figures. I believe that it was these men that shaped what we now study in “American philosophy”, but I feel like we are leaving out a significant chunk of American-ness by neglecting to study the indigenous people of this region. I think that we should focus, at least, a small percentage of the course studying the philosophies of the Native Americans; I believe that the “starting period” should be significantly earlier than 1776.