These men claimed that philosophy should be a free and independent inquiry concerning truth and life.
All modern philosophy is in quest for the meaning of nature and experience.
It rejects the authority of tradition and works independently of ecclesiastical dogmas and religious beliefs. The Scholastics had presented a theory of the State which defined the temporal power of the hierarchy and subordinated the State to the Church. They made theology supreme and declared that the purpose of all government is human welfare. The Church is the representative of God on earth and all matters of State are subservient to the Church. Politics, like philosophy, is therefore the handmaid of theology.