The Enlightenment

1650-1789

Big Questions

1. What was the Enlightenment and how did it reflect new scientific ideas?

2. How did Enlightenment writers and thinkers set the stage for revolutionary movements?

Enlightenment Ideas•Reason is admired by philosophers.

•Used reason from science to improve all aspects of human life (government, religion, education, and economics).

•Pro-religious toleration.•Society could be improved by using reason and the Scientific Method

Enlightened Philosophers

Thomas Hobbes•Wrote the Leviathan.•Called for an all-powerful leader.

•People are inherently bad.

•Role of gov’t- to preserve peace and stability at all costs.

John Locke•Wrote Two Treatises on

Gov’t.•Man is improvable

through reason.•All men are born equal

with certain unalienable rights…life, liberty, PROPERTY (Natural Rights)

•Role of gov’t- to secure the rights for its citizens (revolts are ok).

Montesquieu•Wrote The Spirit of the

Laws.•Gov’t should operate

with a system of checks and balances.

•Separation of Powers-3 branches of gov’t.

Rousseau•Wrote “The Social

Contract”.•Viewed government as

a Social Contract among free individuals to create a society guided by the “general will”. (rebellion is ok, if necessary)

•Man in the state of nature is good

Voltaire•Pro-religious

toleration.•Enlightened

Despotism- Rational monarchs protect people’s rights (freedom of speech, religion, etc.)

Enlightenment Impact

Encouraged people to:1.Judge for themselves what was right or wrong in society.

2.Rely on human reason to solve social problems.

Hobbes vs. LockeHobbes:- People are selfish, self-serving, and

brutal. - Without control, society would be chaotic

Locke:- People are reasonable and able to make

their own decisions.- People should be able to govern

themselves.

Big Questions1. What was the Enlightenment and

how did it reflect new scientific ideas?

2. How did Enlightenment writers and thinkers set the stage for revolutionary movements?