This week, a discussion on the 18th century Enlightenment movement, including natural rights, reason, and self-improvement principles.

Messiah College professor John Fia explains.

Checks and balances, right? Why do you need checks and balances? Because if one branch of government, their passions run wild, they need to be controlled and checked by another branch of government, right?

So here we're suggesting that reason needs to be checked, a reason needs to check the passions.

Professor Fia also explores the relationship between religion and the Enlightenment and how it differed in America and Europe.

More after this.

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All right, welcome, everyone.

Like we were talking about last class,

we are now shifting a little bit

into a conversation and discussion

about some of these,

I would say these essential themes

of 18th century America.

We've spent the last, what, couple months talking about, you know, these regions, you know,

and how the colonies developed, how those colonies became integrated into the mercantile

empire, right, of the British Empire, the cultural empire. Today, we want to start with our first

...