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Essay / FAITH AND REASON IN THE 18TH AND 18TH CENTURIES...
FAITH AND REASON IN THE 18TH AND 18TH CENTURIESDuring the 17th and 18th centuries, many ideas were put forward that eventually changed people's faith and reason. These new ideas challenged the human conception of the universe and each person's place in it. They questioned a person's point of view and they also questioned the belief in economics. There were many scientists and philosophers at this time, Francis Bacon, René Descartes, John Locke, Nicolaus Copernicus, Isaac Newton and Adam Smith to name a few. All these people contributed to the change of people's faith and reason. They were given new ideas and a new way of looking at life. Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626) helped change people's minds. People believed that most of the truth had already been discovered. And those who "have applied themselves to the invention of the arts have but cast a glance or two at facts, examples, and experience..."1 Bacon believed that these people never really worried facts. He believed that these people were afraid that movements and changes in philosophy would result in attacks on religion. They also feared that their search for truth would be dangerous for them. But he believed “that all knowledge arises from sensory experience, observation and experimentation”2 and that much remained to be discovered. Bacon believed that we were servants and interpreters of nature. What we know and what we do is only what we have observed of the order of nature, in fact or in thought.3 René Descartes helped to change the idea of the appearance of the person. He also proposed a method of deductive reasoning. He believed that "human beings were endowed by God with the capacity to reason and that God was the guarantor of the accuracy of clear ideas."4 Descartes believed in "I think, therefore I am."5 He believed that all world had the capacity to reason. ability to think for themselves. Descartes provided a method of deductive reasoning, a way of arriving at an answer. The first step in this process is to not accept that anything is true unless it is clearly true. The second step is to divide each of the difficulties into as many parts as possible. The third step is to conduct your thoughts in order. And the final step is to write detailed reports to ensure nothing is missed.6 This method has had great influence in the past.