... and materialism, could not avoid having to answer him. Spinoza highlighted the tensions of enlightenment. In 1673, the Elector of Palatine, Karl Ludwig, offered Spinoza the professorship of philosophy at Heidelberg University in Germany, with the condition that he remain reasonably orthodox. Spinoza declined to accept it because he preferred to assert his independence of thought. The majority of ... of man, cosmology, politics, social hierarchy, sexuality and ethics."" Spinoza's principal contribution to the Enlightenment was to pull together all the strands of atheistic thought from ori...

• Word Count: 2438
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... Europe and as the political power of Constantinople in the west declined. Finally in 800 an independent Western Empire was born when Pope Leo III crowned Frankish king Charlemagne emperor. Medieval Christianity in the West, unlike its eastern counterpart, developed into a single entity. Church and state clashed repeatedly over the delineation of their respective spheres of authority. Church and state did ... 900s a reaction had set in, led by philosophers who maintained that moral truths are established by God and can be known only through revelation. In the 11th century, attacks on phi...

• Word Count: 1764
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: Undergraduate