The Enlightenment SS.912.W.5.2 Identify major causes of the Enlightenment. Standards SS.912.W.5.3 Summarize the major ideas of Enlightenment philosophers. SS.912.W.5.4 Evaluate the impact of Enlightenment ideals on the development of economic, political, and religious structures in the Western World Objectives 1 Understand the causes of the Enlightenment. 2 Identify important Enlightenment thinkers and summarize their ideas. 3 Explain how new ideas affected the social, economic, cultural and political conditions throughout Europe. Where did we leave off in Europe? • The Scientific Revolution, a period in Western European history (in the 16th and 17th centuries) that was defined by increased scientific discourse (written or spoken communication or debate) and discovery. Scientists like Galileo Galilei and Sir Isaac Newton discovered truths of our world and beyond like the fact that the Earth orbits the sun and laws of planetary motion (gravity). This period was marked by the scientific method and its influence in how scientists used reason to discover truths about the natural world rather than old superstitious ways of figuring out how things work. The Enlightenment era is a period in Western European history (17th and 18th centuries) that directly draws from the progress of the Scientific Revolution. The Enlightenment Period • Scientific successes convinced educated Europeans about the power of human reason to discover truth. Natural law, or rules discoverable by reason, govern scientific forces such as gravity and magnetism. Why not, then, use natural law to better understand social, economic, and political problems? The Enlightenment is defined by this question. Using human reason to understand social afflictions (pain or suffering). Many different thinkers differed in their answers on how to solve societies sicknesses, but their imprint is deeply found in the fabrics of Western European and the eventual United States’ governments. We will find out who these thinkers are and how they influenced our government! Check for understanding • How did the Scientific Revolution contribute to the Enlightenment? Thomas Hobbes and Leviathan • In 1649, a civil war broke out over who would rule England— Parliament or King Charles I. The war ended with the beheading of the king. Shortly after Charles was executed, an English philosopher, Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679), wrote Leviathan, a defense of the absolute power of kings. • Hobbes began Leviathan by describing the “state of nature” where all individuals were naturally equal. Every person was free to do what he or she needed to do to survive. These are our natural rights, according to Hobbes. As a result, everyone suffered from “continued fear and danger of violent death; and the life of man [was] solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. “ • Hobbes borrowed a concept from English contract law: an implied agreement. Hobbes asserted that the people agreed among themselves to “lay down” their natural rights of equality and freedom and give absolute power to a sovereign. The sovereign, created by the people, might be a person or a group. The sovereign would make and enforce the laws to secure a peaceful society, making life, liberty, and property possible. Hobbes called this agreement the “social contract.” Many believe the social contract to be the influence to the Founding Fathers drafting of the constitution, a document that models the rules of government in order to protect our natural rights. John Locke and the Two Treatises of Government • On the back of the work of Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan, Locke imagines the state of nature, a time before organized society with laws, religion, or other types of control. He believed that humans were a blank canvas, neither good or evil, but mostly rational. • In his work Two Treatises of Governments, Locke argues that people signed social contracts, agreements to leave the state of nature to form an organized society to protect our natural rights, rights that we are born with. • To Locke, the best kind of government is a government that had limited power and was accepted by all citizens. Locke stated our natural rights are our rights to life, liberty, and property. These rights profoundly impacted Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison. Profoundly enough to be included in our constitution. It was no coincidence that Locke advocated for the peoples’ right to revolution Jean-Jacques Rousseau and his Social Contract • Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) was born in Geneva, Switzerland, where all adult male citizens could vote for a representative government. Rousseau traveled in France and Italy, educating himself. • In 1751, he won an essay contest. His fresh view that man was naturally good and was corrupted by society made him a celebrity in the French salons where artists, scientists, and writers gathered to discuss the latest ideas. • A few years later he published another essay in which he described savages in a state of nature as free, equal, peaceful, and happy. When people began to claim ownership of property, Rousseau argued, inequality, murder, and war resulted. • According to Rousseau, the powerful rich stole the land belonging to everyone and fooled the common people into accepting them as rulers. Rousseau concluded that the social contract was not a willing agreement, as Hobbes, Locke, and Montesquieu had believed, but a fraud against the people committed by the rich. • In 1762, Rousseau published his most important work on political theory, The Social Contract. His opening line is still striking today: “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.” Rousseau agreed with Locke that the individual should never be forced to give up his or her natural rights to a king. • The problem in the state of nature, Rousseau said, was to find a way to protect everyone’s life, liberty, and property while each person remained free. Rousseau’s solution was for people to enter into a social contract. They would give up all their rights, not to a king, but to “the whole community,” all the people. He called all the people the “sovereign,” a term used by Hobbes to mainly refer to a king. The people then exercised their “general will” to make laws for the “public good.” Rousseau’s general will was later embodied in the words “We the people . . .” at the beginning of the U.S. Constitution. Charles Montesquieu and The Spirit of the Laws • Montesquieu published his greatest work, The Spirit of the Laws, in 1748. Unlike Hobbes and Locke, Montesquieu believed that in the state of nature individuals were so fearful that they avoided violence and war. The need for food, Montesquieu said, caused the timid humans to associate with others and seek to live in a society. “As soon as man enters into a state of society,” Montesquieu wrote, “he loses the sense of his weakness, equality ceases, and then commences the state of war.” • Montesquieu did not describe a social contract as such. But he said that the state of war among individuals and nations led to human laws and government. Montesquieu wrote that the main purpose of government is to maintain law and order, political liberty, and the property of the individual. • In his book The Spirit of the Laws, Montesquieu discusses the various governments through history and concluded that the best way to protect liberty was to divide the various functions and powers of government among three branches: the legislative, executive, and judicial. He also felt that each branch should check each other’s power. This idea is idea is in our US constitution as the checks and balances nature of our government. Check for understanding What is the state of nature? What are our natural rights? Voltaire and his criticisms of the French Kingdom • Moving to Voltaire, a French writer who famously said, “My trade is to say what I think…”. Voltaire used his biting wit to expose abuses of his day, especially religious prejudices and censorship. Voltaire outspokenly attacked the French government and the Catholic Church, influencing the United States’ constitutional defense of freedom of speech and separation of church and state. Adam Smith and Laissez Faire Economics • Adam Smith, Scottish Economist, wrote The Wealth of Nations, in which he argues for laissez faire economics. Laissez faire means “let them do” in French which accurately describes its economics of allowing business to operate with little or no government interference. Smith argued that the market is the only force that should decide business activity. Wherever there was a demand for goods or services, he said, suppliers would seek to meet the demand in order to gain profits. Trade, wages, manufacturing, and profit were all linked to supply and demand according to Smith, who attempted to use scientific and mathematical laws to support his theories.
