Enlightenment Essay

DEMOCRACY AS A WAY OF LIFE

The Enlightenment, or best known as the Age of Reason, had plenty of historical impacts in the society, especially in science, religion, and cultural field. Clearly, it was a remarkable and cosmopolitan movement in the eighteenth century which positioned reason in the first place and faith and science in the last. It seemed to be a key to the future whose objectives were focused on advocating for ideals such as fraternity, freedom, progress, tolerance, fortitude, constitutional government, and separation of church and state. However, it was characterized by the existence of a profound gap between two main thoughts: the defense of a democratic government and freedom, and the defense of a traditional system of autocratic power. Therefore, this document aims at defending a government that is not backed by the monarchy since citizens should have the formidable opportunity to freely choose who is going to politically represent them as a whole society or community.

First of all, a government without a monarchy undoubtedly fits better into society and brings a lot of benefits as justice, freedom of religion, and the opportunity to the community of making political decisions. These are the reasons why Voltaire, an enlightenment representative philosopher, defended the idea of implementing democracy as a form of government and avoiding those ways ruled by a king or queen. He strongly believed that the ruling society is so difficult because of the men’s influence; he considered that all forms of government are unfair. Nevertheless, he supported democracy as it also promotes an equal, free, and inclusive society. For instance, according to the BBC news, Norway and Switzerland are countries which have a well-structured culture that allows citizens to participate politically and continuously in referendums and in initiatives of the country, and therefore, creating confidence in the system, reducing inequality levels, and also generating greater confidence in their democratic institutions. Hobbes, from his perspective, maintained that human beings were not prepared to govern due to the existing human selfishness and thirst for power. It is for this reason that he defended that the best form of government was that led by a monarchy, an idea that has been criticized at this time.

Taking into consideration the unlimited political power that exists in a government controlled by the monarchy, it is essential to consider a division of it or to create rules that benefit all humankind, not just a sole person. The reason why according to Montesquieu, the best government would be one in which society's problems are reduced and human life is enhanced. Furthermore, in his theory, supported by the England model, he created the idea of separating the power into three important branches: executive which runs laws; legislative which makes laws; and, judicial which enforces laws; in order to make equal the right authority. On the other hand, John Locke’s ideas changed and influenced the world in many ways, his contributions to the Enlightenment had much to do with inspiring modern-day United States of America. He was a philosopher who developed the philosophy that the power to be a governor must be given by the people through voting, and everyone should have this right without social distinction. If at any time, in Locke's words, the government abuses its power, the people will be in charge of judging them.

In addition, it is possible to say that democracy is the best form of government that a country can have since it promotes the opinion of citizens so that in this way, an entire nation chooses a representative who can depict the ideals that seek society and improve the life of an entire community. The monarchy, on its part, presents a representative figure who does not have a political ideology, so it does not represent a single part of the citizens thus encouraging equality. It also offers a consolidated figure that is respected by the rest of the representatives, as they have often seen and recognized it from the beginning of their careers and forms an indivisible model of consolidated country-representation. Similarly, this form of government has greater freedom to offer trade relations, moving away from political parameters and functions as a representative of a country and economic or public relations liaison for various events, which facilitates conventions and treaties with the world for the improvement of the national population.

To sum up, the enlightenment was an intellectual, cultural and philosophical movement that using the reason and knowledge of the human being sought to rid humanity of ignorance, in this way, could discover the truths that the world, religion and politics hid, all in order to improve the quality of life of humanity. Despite this, it is an age in which multiple thoughts overwhelm people since the idea of political freedom is harshly questioned in relating it to those who have the power to govern a country as a result of a real heritage and those who are chosen to represent the ideals of a part of the citizenry.