Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions based on the passage:
The term "enlightenment" describes a cultural milieu and intellectual movement that began in Western Europe in the seventeenth century and reached its peak in the eighteenth. Its main characteristic was the belief that human reason, universal and consistent, is adequate to solve basic issues and to set fundamental standards of living. For some Enlightenment thinkers, the model of reason was the inductive method of science, which infers universal laws from particular empirical observations. For others, particularly Descartes and his followers, reason was modeled on geometry, involving the deduction of specific truths from clear and distinct universal ideas known intuitively by the "light of reason." Many Enlightenment thinkers employed both
How did Descartes and his followers conceptualize reason?
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Explanation
The passage explicitly contrasts two different models of reason used by Enlightenment thinkers:
The Inductive/Scientific Model: For some, reason was based on the "inductive method of science," which uses "particular empirical observations" to infer universal laws.
The Deductive/Geometric Model (Descartes): The passage states, "For others, particularly Descartes and his followers, reason was modeled on geometry, involving the deduction of specific truths from clear and distinct universal ideas..."