APEH 2.1 Essay

As we look back on intellectual movements throughout history, it can be seen that the perceptions of nature changed drastically. The Enlightenment and Romantic movements are not separate from this observation; in fact they are prime examples, seeing as that in both eras nature is a major theme and exploration point for the people of the time. This interest in nature, however, is where the majority of similarities end between the two movements. In order to fully understand the differences in ideals between the two movements, we must focus on the disciplines they study most, the themes created when they are studied, and the way humanity is compared to nature.

During the Enlightenment, everything was to be submitted to rationalism, as opposed to faith. This was set into motion by the Scientific Revolution going on during the same time period. Because of this, the subjects focused on in Enlightenment era art and literature tended to of scientific ideologies as well as political ideologies based off of more rationalized thinking methods. For example, one of the most renowned Enlightenment philosophes, Bernard de Fontenelle wrote Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds, which addressed a scientific view of the universe (and the nature that resides in it), and used the dialogue of a young aristocratic man and woman to discuss the enlightenment views of the universe and how other worlds may exist. I

“Upon this principle they imagin'd the earth rested in the center of the Universe,” the book said, “while all the celestial bodies (which were made for it) took the pains to turn round to give Light to it. They plac'd the Moon above the Earth, Mercury above the Moon, after Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn; above all these they set the ...

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...saw human reason as untrustworthy, to them human experience was an emotional and subjective experience.

In short, it can be seen that while there are some basic similarities between Enlightenment and Romantic thinking -- because of the fact that they do explore nature-- their convergence, ideologically, ends there. In fact, it seems that nature’s ability to be so subjective has led to the two ideologies being exact opposites in almost every regard. The Enlightenment focuses on human’s achievement in regard to nature, while Romanticism focuses on the insignificance of humans in comparison to the immensity of nature. It seems that, in the end, the movements of Enlightenment and Romanticism were just what the description entailed – moving. It can then be wholly concluded that the two movements were far more different than alike based on their ideologies and creations.