Did men of the Age of Reason see the order of the world in science or religion?

Answer 1

The Age of Reason is generally regarded as the period in the early seventeenth century that preceded the Age of Enlightenment, but is sometimes defined as the initial stage of the Age of Enlightenment. The period was dominated by two schools of philosophy - rationalists who believed that, at least in principle, all knowledge can be gained by the power of our reason alone, and empiricists who believed that all knowledge has to come through the senses and therefore from experience.

Most rationalists accepted that in practice we had to rely on the sciences for knowledge of the external world, with many of them actually involved in scientific research. Empiricists, while focussing on science, generally accepted that a priori knowledge was possible in the fields of mathematics and logic. This was a period of transition from mediaeval superstition in which reason and philosophy were merely tools for better understanding God’s world, to the view that reason and philosophy were useful in themselves, independent of religion.

Answer 2

Men of the Age of Reason tended to see the order of the world more through the lens of science rather than religion. They valued reason, rationality, and empirical evidence over religious doctrine in their quest to understand the natural world. This led to advancements in fields such as physics, astronomy, and Biology that challenged traditional religious beliefs.