Enlightenment vs Romanticism

Throughout the quarter we’ve learned about the ideas of the enlightenment and romanticism. To be brief, these movements’ ideas were the focus on reason and emotion respectively. I think it is crucial to realize that everyone should consider both perspectives. For example, someone living through the enlightenment perspective alone would lack a significant consideration of emotion or individualism. This could be a problem for governing entities where citizens may feel a need for their individuality to remain free and unique.

Brain vs heart; reason vs emotion

Human = Romanticism and Enlightenment

Image result for balance

I agree with both enlightenment and romanticism. I think to be a complete human you need a mix of both. You need to be able to make rational decision. But you also need to be mindful of your emotions. I think the ability to apply the scientific method to come up with concrete answers is really valuable. But I also think sometimes the ability to take in your emotions and thinking together and come up with answers is the key being a complete human being. I think a lot of people in the western culture fall towards more of the romanticism side. This is seen in politics almost all the time. People most of the time vote for the personality rather than the policy. If people don’t like someone, then they don’t want to vote for them. Which is reasonable to a certain extent. But we should also be more open to listen to their policies. Our judgement should be a mix of both. But we shouldn’t let either romanticism or enlightenment overpower the other. The most interesting part for me was seeing how people think back then. And how people though before all these changes. It is really fascinating to see how two generations can struggle with the same thing.