UNIVERSITY OF CASTILLA LA MANCHA

Albacetes Faculty of Education

Subject: Contemporary trends in education
Professor: Antonio Cebrin
Academic year 2016-2017

The Enlightenment and Education

Students:
Rebeca Garca Olivares
Jos Lpez Lpez
Javier del Olmo Muoz
Andrea Trraga Snchez
Sergio Tirado Olivares
Master degree in Primary Education
2 course group B

Jos
Introduction
The Enlightenment is the period in the history of western thought and culture, stretching
roughly from the mid-decades of the seventeenth century through the eighteenth century,
characterized by dramatic revolutions in science, philosophy, society and politics; these
revolutions swept away the medieval world-view and ushered in our modern western world.
Enlightenment thought culminates historically in the political upheaval of the French
Revolution, in which the traditional hierarchical political and social orders were violently
destroyed and replaced by a political and social order informed by the Enlightenment ideals
of freedom and equality for all, founded, ostensibly, upon principles of human reason.
The Enlightenment begins with the scientific revolution of the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries. The rise of the new science progressively undermines not only the ancient
geocentric conception of the cosmos, but, with it, the entire set of presuppositions that had
served to constrain and guide philosophical inquiry.
Questions:
T/F
The Enlightenment culminated in the French Revolution. True.
Multiple choice:
The enlightenment represents
a. The ideals of freedom and equality for all.
b. The traditional hierarchical political and social orders.
c. Both are correct.
Answer: a
Conclusions:
The enlightenment was a radical and abrupt change, with respect to the tradition, as far as
science and society were concerned, it was a shift towards freedom, which broke the chains
that tied it to the old, imparting great advances in thought Of society, who claimed for what
they wanted, for his rights.

Javier

The True: Science, Epistemology and Metaphysics in the Enlightenment

Isaac Newton's epochal accomplishment in his Principia Mathematica (1687), which consists
in the comprehension of a diversity of physical phenomena in particular the motions of
heavenly bodies, together with the motions of sublunary bodies in few relatively simple,
universally applicable, mathematical laws, was a great stimulus to the intellectual activity of
the eighteenth century.
Newton's system strongly encourages the Enlightenment conception of nature as an orderly
domain governed by strict mathematical-dynamical laws and the conception of ourselves as
capable of knowing those laws and thus plumbing the secrets of nature through the exercise
of our unaided faculties.
Before the Enlightenment, the educational system was not yet greatly influenced by the
Scientific Revolution. As a scientific revolution broke the traditional views at that time,
religion and superstition were replaced by reasoning and scientific facts. Philosophers such as
John Locke proposed the idea that knowledge is obtained through sensation and reflection.
This proposition led to Lockes theory that everyone has the same capacity of sensation, and,
therefore, education should not be restricted to a certain class or gender. Prior to the 17th and
18th century centuries, education and literacy were generally restricted to males who
belonged to the nobility and the mercantile and professional classes.

Questions:
T/F
Before the Enlightenment, the educational system was not yet greatly influenced by the
Scientific Revolution. True
Multiple choice
Isaac Newton's work called ____ was a great stimulus to the intellectual activity of the 18th
century.
a. Principia Geometrica.
b. Principia Mathematica.
c. Principia Philosophica.
Answer: b.

Conclusions
Luckily the religious wars and the intolerance of the 16th and 17th centuries ended to give
way to the scientific revolution and the reason. This had a positive impact on education,

which became universal from that time until today. I think we all should feel fortunate for
this period of history as it was one of the most beneficial to humanity in so many aspects.

Rebeca
John Lockes empiricism and education as conduct
The writings of the late 17th-century empiricist John Locke on philosophy, government, and
education were especially influential during the Enlightenment. In the field of education,
Locke is significant both for his general theory of knowledge and for his ideas on the
education of youth. Lockes empiricism, expressed in his notion that ideas originate in
experience, was used to attack the doctrine that principles of reason are innate in the human
mind.
In An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690), Locke argued that ideas come from
two fountains of experience: sensation, through which the senses convey perceptions into
the mind, and reflection, whereby the mind works with the perceptions, forming ideas.
Locke thought of the mind as a blank tablet (tabula rasa) prior to experience, but he did not
claim that all minds are equal. In Some Thoughts Concerning Education (1693) he insisted
that some minds have a greater intellectual potential than others. For education, Lockes
empiricism meant that learning comes about only through experience.
Education, which Locke felt should address both character and intellect, is therefore best
achieved by providing the pupil with examples of proper thought and behaviour, by training
the child to witness and share in the habits of virtue that are part of the conventional wisdom
of the rational and practical man.

Questions
TRUE/FALSE
According to Locke, learning comes before experience False.
MULTIPLE CHOICE
According to Locke, Character and Intellect:
a) Are developed before we are born, as a result of genetic.
b) Are inherited by mother.
c) Are developed with experience through education.

Personal opinion
The Enlightenment was a period of change, which broke with the past looking for new trends
and ways of thought. In that period new discoveries took place. Besides, in education religion
and superstition were replaced by reasoning and scientific facts. Philosophers such as John
Locke proposed the idea that knowledge is obtained through sensation and reflection. With
this conception, Locke led to the proposal that everybody had the right to receive and
education, whereas before it was only available to wealthy class men. Since that moment,
some women started to receive informal education, but that period meant a change in history
because the right of education began to be apply for everybody.
Moreover, Locke said that we learn through experience. And I agree with him, because the
best way to learn is through experience. In the school, books are not essential because
children can learn with real situations that we present them, and they would have to look for
the solutions of problems in real life. As Rousseau said, teachers should educate to be a man
and be able to meet the needs of the different situations that are presented in our lives.

Sergio
The background and influence of Naturalism
There were two Currents of thought: Pietists emphasize Christian devotion they focused on
reason and clear thinking as the sensible way to happiness. On the other hand, Rousseau and
his followers were intrigued by an elusive ideal: naturalism. He distinguished between
natural man (man as formed by nature) and social man (man as shaped by society). He
argued that good education should develop the nature of man.
For him, the man original lived a pure state of nature, but because of the creation of the
Arts , Sciences, etc. cause that man become less pure, more artificial an egoistic, changing
his original human nature and becoming as he said to a social man.
mile, his major work on education, attempt to educate a simple and pure natural child for
life in a world from which social man is estranged. mile is removed from man's society to a
little society where there are only the child and his tutor.
What he wants to show is how a natural education, without the artificial and formal education
of society, enables mile to become social, moral and rational while remaining true to his
original nature. Because mile is educated to be a man, not a priest or a soldier, he will be
able to do what is needed in any situation.
His dramatic portrayal of the estrangement of natural man from society influenced to
contemporary thinkers as Immanuel Kant and continues to intrigue philosophers and social

scientists. His idea that teachers must see things as children do inspired Pestalozzi and has
endured as a much-imitated ideal.
Finally, his emphasis on understanding the child's nature had a profound influence by
creating interest in the study of child development, inspiring the work of such psychologists
as Stanley Hall and Jean Piaget.
Personal opinion:
I am agree with Rousseau in general terms, however, under my point of view, there are some
aspects that I am not agree: It is true that when we born, we started to be in contact with
others, starting the process of socialization, which, as we saw in topic number two, is a
fundamental goal of education. However, say that we comes less pure, saying that in certain
mode, we "loses quality", I do not think that it is completely correct: in this world in which
we live, humans must live in society, linking us with the rest, we cannot live in a completely
independent way.
However, I am completely agree with him when he said that the man must be educated
precisely as that, as a man, and not determine him with a future role in the society, I keep the
phrase of "Emilie will be able to do what is needed in any situation."

Questions:
-

True / False:

Rousseau and his followers were focus on Christian devotion. False

-

Multiple choice:

According to Rousseau Emile was...

a) Nothing because he is related with Pietists
b) A simple example of how to teach a child
c) His major work on education
Andrea
Rise of Feminism in Education
The overall literacy for the general public had increased for both men and women during the
eighteenth century. However, there was a difference in the type of education that each gender
received. During the seventeenth century, there were number of schools dedicated to girls but
the cultural norm during this period for women was mainly based on informal education at
home. During the eighteenth century, there was an increase in the number of girls being sent

to schools to be educated, especially the daughters of middle class families whom wanted to
provide their daughters with aristocratic education.
Intellectual exchanges
During the eighteenth century, the increase in coffeehouses, clubs, academies, and Masonic
Lodges became alternative places where people could become educated. In England,
coffeehouses became a new public space where political, philosophical and scientific
discourses were being discussed. The first coffeehouse in Britain was established in Oxford
in 1650 and the number of coffeehouses expanded around Oxford.

Questions:
T/F: Talking about intellectual exchanges, during the 18th century, the increase in
coffeehouses, clubs, academies, and Masonic Lodges became alternative places where people
could become educated.
True
Multiple Choice: During the 18th century, there was an increase in the number of girls being
sent to schools to be educated, from what social class they were?
a. Low class.
b. Especially, middle class.
c. Only the richest ones.
Answer: B
Conclusion:
The relationship between Enlightenment and Education was a very good project to
work on. On reason of my impression is that I find a good kind of work, those which
link one topic with one cultural movement. This argument helps us to know more about
two different subjects,like in this one that teaches us some purposes of Education and
some new aspects of the Enlightenment period, and it also shows the way of thinking of
a lot of authors that remained in that period of time. We can realize that it was a
different way of teaching and they had a different culture, so we can compare it to the
current time.

Group conclusion
The enlightenment was a radical and abrupt change, imparting great advances in thought of
society, who claimed for what they wanted, for his rights.
The scientific revolution let to the transformation of education into universal education from
that time until today, which was really beneficial for the whole humanity.

In that period important philosophers developed their educations ideas and those ideas have
had influence in nowadays education. For Locke the best way of learning was through
experience. For example in schools, a new methodology carry out consists on problem
solving, and the pupils acquired knowledge through their proper decisions. According to
Rousseau, we disagree about avoiding the contact of the child with the society, because in
human beings socialization is essential to live.
The best way of socialization is through education, which become universal since that period
revealing the importance of it.

References:
YouTube. (2016). The Enlightenment and Education. [online] Available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6qwkpWbZzs