Reason and Enlightenment

[eversio11]

So for tens of thousands of years, humans were primarilly militaristic and barbaric.

Then some four or five hundred years ago, something smacked humans and the ages of Reason and Enlightenment began.

So, what happened? What woke us up?

[Damien]

Women began to think???







Ok, I'm sorry for that. Really, idk. It's odd they never teach us what happens. Every school textbook will go from people with clubs in caves to whole civilizations and farming.

[landyacht]

That's a good question if you follow the 'idea' of evolution. Take a look at in the Bible and that will clean up your confusion.

[dirtydx]

our surroundings were changing, the need for barbaric behaviour wasn't neccessary anymore. Its not like it just happened overnight though, the holocaust was only 60 years ago, same with Hiroshima...and people are being killed by the dozens in Iraq this very day. Idk, its all how you decide to look at it.

[DGB454]

Originally Posted by eversio11

So for tens of thousands of years, humans were primarilly militaristic and barbaric.

Then some four or five hundred years ago, something smacked humans and the ages of Reason and Enlightenment began.

So, what happened? What woke us up?

I think we are still militaristic and somewhat barbaric. As long as people are still willing to kill and hurt others out of greed, revenge, or simply out of anger then we are still barbarians and militaristic. Enlightenment may come to some but humans as a whole will probably never get there.(pride won't let them.)

[fredjacksonsan]

Originally Posted by eversio11

So for tens of thousands of years, humans were primarily militaristic and barbaric.

Then some four or five hundred years ago, something smacked humans and the ages of Reason and Enlightenment began.

So, what happened? What woke us up?

It's called free time. Instead of having to work all day to make food, better production was utilized and people had free time to experiment, discover, and pursue other things besides hunting, gathering, and killing each other about prime hunting and gathering spots.

[dirtydx]

Originally Posted by fredjacksonsan

It's called free time. Instead of having to work all day to make food, better production was utilized and people had free time to experiment, discover, and pursue other things besides hunting, gathering, and killing each other about prime hunting and gathering spots.

free time is what makes my life worse! if i was occupied with REAL duties, like harvesting food, gathering firewood, real surivival shit, I wouldn't be tempted to stupider habits like drugs, alcohol, lazyness. It all depends on what makes you happy. The only responsibilities in my life are the ones I designed...

[fredjacksonsan]

Well, not everyone was enlightened enough in the Renaissance to invent. There were plenty of alcoholics, drug takers, and layabouts back then I'm sure. It's all about choices. What do you choose to do with your free time?

[dirtydx]

yeah choices... but they are created because the influence of your surrounding environment. It all depends what we consider to be ideal, because chance gave us the opportunity.

do we purposely make bad choices? then are they actually bad?

[fredjacksonsan]

Originally Posted by dirtydx

yeah choices... but they are created because the influence of your surrounding environment. It all depends what we consider to be ideal, because chance gave us the opportunity.

do we purposely make bad choices? then are they actually bad?

While I'm sure that environment has a say in how someone behaves, in this day and age there is no excuse NOT to know what is going on outside your immediate environment, due to newspapers, tv, and other media. In the far past however, wysiwyg, so people were more affected by their environment.

[sivic02]

Originally Posted by DGB454

I think we are still militaristic and somewhat barbaric. As long as people are still willing to kill and hurt others out of greed, revenge, or simply out of anger then we are still barbarians and militaristic. Enlightenment may come to some but humans as a whole will probably never get there.(pride won't let them.)

Exactly. We may have become more technologically advanced but that doesnt mean we arent barbaric. About 60 million people(I think) died during WWII. We are still very barbaric.

[TEXSRT4]

its called the threshold of learning.

knowledge dialectic, the idea that great intellectual steps break, and due to that explosion, so then society as a whole benifits. we have nothing, then an idea is created and the world changes. another idea hits and the whole world changes. most of it seems overnight

[Fully_Sick]

where barbarians with big toys and a somewhat developed intellect.

[sivic02]

Originally Posted by Fully_Sick

where barbarians with big toys and a somewhat developed intellect.

Over there is where!

Originally Posted by TEXSRT4

its called the threshold of learning.

knowledge dialectic, the idea that great intellectual steps break, and due to that explosion, so then society as a whole benifits. we have nothing, then an idea is created and the world changes. another idea hits and the whole world changes. most of it seems overnight

Dialectic is basically the idea that every thesis leads to an antithesis, thanks to our good buddy socrates. Think of it as Newtons 3rd law of motion for mental processes (for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. I think you were on the right track but I just found it a little confusing how you tried to explain it so I figured id toss in my 2 cents.

[TEXSRT4]

your right there bud. the one thing that makes our intelligence great, only negates itself before moving forward. think about the industrial revolution. technology is what made it happen, but also made it fail. which led to modern america.

look at cars. the technology is great, allows to traverse the country, allow the economy to prosper. now look at gasoline prices. the technology negates itself and leads to the next step in technology (electric maybe)