enlightenment thinkers
TRANSCRIPT
Enlightenment Thinkers
Thomas Hobbes
O People are greedy and
selfish by nature.
O Believed that the best
government has
complete control.
O Governments exist to
prevent people from
doing bad things.
Thomas Hobbes
O Government should
be as powerful as a
Leviathan.
John Locke
OBelieved that the best
government is one run by
the people.
OPeople were born with a
blank slate, experience
makes you who you are.
OGovernments exist
because people allow
them to.
John Locke
OEveryone has natural
rights:
O Life, liberty, and the
pursuit…
OYou have the “right” to
rebel…
O Influenced the
Declaration of
Independence
Isaac Newton
O“World Machine” The natural
world worked like a giant
machine.
OA universal moral law that, like
physical laws, could be
understood by applying reason.
OThe search for the “natural”
government.
Philosphes
O Philosphes: intellectuals during the
Enlightenment
O Mainly French writers, professors,
journalists, reformers.
O Ideas spread to England and the rest of
Europe
Montesquieu
O 3 Types of Governments
O Republic: small
O Despotism: large
O Monarchies: medium
O Best governments separate
their powers.
The Philosophes
Voltaire
O Critical of Christianity
O “all men are brothers under
God”
O Champion of Free Speech
O Deism: Clock Model
Voltaire’s Clock ModelOUniverse = Clock
OGod = Clock
Manager
O“God created the
clock, set in motion,
and then stepped
away.
Denis DiderotO Attacked religion as
“superstition”
O Called for religious
tolerance
O Encyclopedia
O Knowledge is power.
Mary Wollstonecraft
O Traditional view: the nature of
women made them naturally
inferior
O Government based on arbitrary
power doesn’t make sense
O Enlightenment of all human
beings
Which seems like they can
contribute to society more?
Cesare Beccaria
O On Crimes and
Punishments (1764)
O Remove barbaric
laws as punishment
O Opposed capital
punishment.
US Constitution Amendment 8
O Excessive bail shall not be required, nor
excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and
unusual punishments inflicted.
John Jacques Rousseau
O Laws & Government was in place to keep
private property.
O People have become enslaved to their
government.
O Social Contract: society agrees to be
governed by its general will.
Summary
Thinkers during the Enlightenment brought many
political changes. They started to think that
individuals/citizens have rights and that it was the
government’s job to protect them. This set up a
launching pad for America’s “radical” form of
government.