World History Unit 8: The Enlightenment Guided Notes (Outline)
I. Enlightenment - an awakening
A. applying reason to all aspects of life; considering new ways to structure government and society
B. philosophes – thinkers
C. Paris – the heart of the Enlightenment
II. Philosophes
A. Thomas Hobbes - Leviathan
1. Believed people were naturally cruel and competitive and needed to be controlled
2. Social contract – agreement of giving up a state of nature for an organized society
3. Need an absolute monarchy to enforce order, otherwise we would live in chaos
B. John Locke - Two Treatises of Government
1. consent of the
– the best government is one accepted by all citizens
2. Natural rights – life,
, and property
3. Right to rebel against a
government that doesn’t protect your natural rights
4. Social Contract - an agreement to give up a
to live within an organized society
5. Law of
- no one has the right to harm another person; there are limits to our freedoms
C. Montesquieu - The Spirit of the Laws
1. Separation of powers – to divide the power among
authorities
a. executive branch
b. legislative branch
c. judicial branch
2. Checks and balances – powers of the government keep one branch from being too
.
D. Voltaire - Candide
1. Freedom of speech and
.
2. Makes attacks on the French government and the
Church for their injustices and prejudices
E. Diderot – The Encyclopedia
1. organized works into 28 volumes to make the Encyclopedia
2. articles by philosophes, scientists, theologians, scholars, etc.
3. topics – human knowledge, government, philosophy, and religion
F. Rousseau - The Social Contract – about an ideal
.
1. Social
– giving up a state of nature for an organized society; putting the good
of the community over individual rights
2. believed people are naturally good but are corrupted by society; people needed to work
together to get things we need
3. feared the government would only support the wealthy; needed a direct democracy where
all people vote on decisions for the
.
4. people would consent to the government to avoid a warlike society
G. Beccaria
1. the accused have rights
2. no torture or cruel and
l punishment
I. Adam Smith - The Wealth of Nations
1. physiocrat – an economic theorist
2. Laissez-faire – little government
in business
3. Free market, capitalism
4. Supply and demand