Enlightenment Rationalism and Romantic Subjectivism
Enlightenment Rationalism and Romantic Subjectivism
In the eighteenth century social theories had a huge impact on individuals within a society. Two social theories in particular came to be during radical times. The enlightenment rationalism theory was based on human reason and rational thought. The romantic subjectivism theory was based on the importance of individual freedom with an emphasis on the subjective mind and culture. These two social theories were both highly influential during their time period, but have many differentiating ideologies. Enlightenment rationalism was developed first primarily by Rene Descartes and was later opposed by the Romantics after the French Revolution. The Enlightenment focused on the human mind and then later the absolute mind which showed where reality came from, while the Romantics focused on the extreme individualism (p. 34 & 75). The Romantics contradicted the idea brought on by the Enlightenment that “individuals were not primarily rational, but were motivated by emotions and feelings and understood things intuitively…” (p. 83). This idea was the main contradiction between the enlightenment rationalism and romantic subjectivism. Rene Descartes expressed his thoughts with a famous line ‘I think therefore I am’ to explain his ideas for human reason (p. 35). He wanted to create a theory that all people holding reason would accept in order to use for their knowledge (p. 35). This idea sought to make it that all people would think the same way, with reason. However, Rousseau helps to contradict this idea and says that although people were born free, they were living in chains because they could not think for themselves (p. 81). The Romantics used this to contradict the idea of human thought that the Enlightenment started.
The subject of human thought was explained to come from different parts of the human body. As just mentioned, the Romantics believed thought came from intuition and emotion and was more important
In the eighteenth century social theories had a huge impact on individuals within a society. Two social theories in particular came to be during radical times. The enlightenment rationalism theory was based on human reason and rational thought. The romantic subjectivism theory was based on the importance of individual freedom with an emphasis on the subjective mind and culture. These two social theories were both highly influential during their time period, but have many differentiating ideologies. Enlightenment rationalism was developed first primarily by Rene Descartes and was later opposed by the Romantics after the French Revolution. The Enlightenment focused on the human mind and then later the absolute mind which showed where reality came from, while the Romantics focused on the extreme individualism (p. 34 & 75). The Romantics contradicted the idea brought on by the Enlightenment that “individuals were not primarily rational, but were motivated by emotions and feelings and understood things intuitively…” (p. 83). This idea was the main contradiction between the enlightenment rationalism and romantic subjectivism. Rene Descartes expressed his thoughts with a famous line ‘I think therefore I am’ to explain his ideas for human reason (p. 35). He wanted to create a theory that all people holding reason would accept in order to use for their knowledge (p. 35). This idea sought to make it that all people would think the same way, with reason. However, Rousseau helps to contradict this idea and says that although people were born free, they were living in chains because they could not think for themselves (p. 81). The Romantics used this to contradict the idea of human thought that the Enlightenment started.
The subject of human thought was explained to come from different parts of the human body. As just mentioned, the Romantics believed thought came from intuition and emotion and was more important
Cited: Thomson, Anthony. 2010. The Making of Social Theory Order, Reason, and Desire. Ontario, Canada. Oxford University Press.