Enlightenment in EuropeMr. PorterChapter 6 Section 2

Enlightenment

•A new intellectual movement that stressed reason and thought and the power of individuals to solve problems. AKA- The Age of Reason

Thomas Hobbes & John LockeHobbes Locke • Both English Political

Thinkers during the 1600’s.• Hobbes felt after the English

Civil War that humans were naturally selfish & wicked.

• To keep law and order people created government or a ruler.

• Social Contract- an agreement by which people define and limit their individual rights, thus creating an organized society or government.

Thomas Hobbes & John LockeHobbes Locke • Hobbes felt that the best

government was absolute monarchy.

• Locke had a different view in which people could learn from life experiences to improve themselves.

• All people born free and equal.• All people have 3 Natural

Rights (Life, Liberty & Property)

Thomas Hobbes & John LockeHobbes Locke • If the government failed,

then the people had the right to overthrow the government.

• Idea of government by popular consent.

Paris, France

•Philosophes- one of a group of social thinkers in France during this time period.

•Five Concepts from their beliefs•1. Reason•2. Nature•3. Happiness•4. Progress•5. Liberty

Francois Marie Arouet (Voltaire)

• Published over 70 books and targeted the clergy, aristocracy and government.

• His ability to write was his deadly weapon.

• He fought for tolerance, reason, freedom of religious belief and freedom of speech.

• His defense of Liberty was quoted as “I do not agree with a word you say but will defend to the death your right to say it.”

Baron de Montesquieu• He looked at the British form of

government as the best one of the time.

• Published On the Spirit of Laws (1748) with a focus of separation of powers.

• Idea of Checks and Balances

• Where to we see Checks and Balances today?

Jean Jacques Rousseau• He argued that civilization

corrupted people’s natural goodness.

• A good government was one that was created by the people and guided by society, a true democracy.

• People give up some of their freedom for a common good.

• 1762 wrote the Social Contract• All people were equal and titles

of nobility should be abolished• His ideas inspired many leaders

of the French Revolution.

Cesare Bonesana Beccaria• Italian philosophe who put his

attention towards the justice system.

• Abuse of Justice• Torturing of witnesses and suspects• Irregular trials• He felt people accused of a crime

should receive a speedy trial without torture.

• Punishment should be based on the seriousness of the crime.

• No capital punishment

Women of the Enlightenment

•Women were seen as a role of wife and mother.

•Late 1600’s women writers began to express their beliefs on the rights of women.

•By the 1700’s Mary Wollstonecraft argued against Rousseau that women should be educated to be virtuous and useful.

•Wollstonecraft pushed for women to enter medicine and politics.

Legacy of the Enlightenment

•New ideas, beliefs, theories that challenged the church and state as well as the different social classes.

•New Scientific discoveries•Began to question the church•Rise of individualism