The
Enlightenment
in Europe
The Enlightenment – a new intellectual
movement of the 1700s that stressed reason
and thought and the power of individuals
to solve problems
Also known as the Age of Reason
The application of the scientific method to an
understanding of life
Hobbes and Locke
• 17th century English thinkers
• Held totally different ideas about
human nature and the role of the
government
Thomas
Hobbes’s Social
Contract
Hobbes
• Argued that people are naturally cruel, greedy, and
selfish
– If people are not strictly controlled by governments, there
would be “war of every man against every man”
– Life without control would be “nasty, brutish, and short”
– To avoid that, people enter into a social contract, in which
they give up their freedom in order to have an orderly
society
Hobbes
• Only a powerful government could ensure an orderly
society
• For Hobbes, that meant an absolute monarchy which
could impose order and force obedience
• Government must have the power of a leviathan, a
giant sea monster
– Wrote a book called Leviathan
How is the
monarch
depicted in
this title
page from
Leviathan?
John Locke’s Natural Rights
• Thought people were basically reasonable and moral
• As reasonable beings, they could govern their own
affairs and look after the welfare of society
• People are born free and equal and have certain
natural rights (rights that belong to all humans at
birth)
– Include the rights to life, liberty, and property
• Did not support an absolute monarchy
Locke
• The purpose of government is to protect the people’s
natural rights
• If the government fails to do so, the people have a
right to overthrow it
• His belief that the government’s power comes from
the consent of the people is the foundation of modern
democracy
• Influenced the struggles for liberty in Europe and
Americas for
“Law is not to
abolish or restrain,
but to preserve and
enlarge freedom.”
- John Locke, Two
Treatises of Government
Absolute Monarchy?
Hobbes
Locke
During the 1700s, a group of
French thinkers, called the
philosophes, applied the
methods of science to
understand and improve
society
Five Core Beliefs of Philosophes
• Reason – truth can be discovered through reason or
logical thinking
• Nature – what is natural is good and reasonable
• Happiness – people should seek well-being on earth,
no only in the hereafter
• Progress – society and humankind can improve
• Liberty – called for the liberties of the Glorious
Revolution and the Bill of Rights
Voltaire
• The most famous of the philosophes
• “My trade is to say what I think.”
– Defended freedom of speech
• Critic of the church and aristocrats
• Critic of the French government; was jailed and
exiled
• Fought for tolerance, reason, freedom of religion,
freedom of speech
“I do not agree
with what you
have to say,
but I'll defend
to the death
your right to
say it.”
-Voltaire
Montesquieu
• Wrote The Spirit of the Laws, a study of
governments throughout history
• Believed the best way to protect liberty was to divide
the various functions and powers of government
among three branches (separation of powers):
– Legislative to make laws
– Executive to enforce them
– Judicial to interpret them
• Each branch should serve as a check on the other two
– What we call “checks and balances”
Rousseau: Champion of Freedom
• Committed to individual freedom
• Believed people in their natural state were basically
good
– Civilization corrupts that goodness
• Wrote The Social Contract stating his ideas about
government
– The only good government is one that is freely formed by
the people and guided by the “general will of society” (a
direct democracy)
– People must give up some of their freedom in favor of the
common good
Rousseau Differs from Locke and Hobbes
• Hobbes – social contract is agreement between society
and government
– Give up rights in exchange for an orderly government
• Rousseau – social contract is agreement between free
individuals to create a society and a government
– Individuals give up some of their rights in order to form a
government for the good of all
– Believed all people were equal
“Man is born
free, and
everywhere he
is in chains.”
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Beccaria Promotes Criminal Justice
• Believed laws existed to preserve social order, not to
avenge crimes
• Criticized abuses of justice such as torture, unfair
trials, punishments that were arbitrary or cruel
• Argued for speedy trials and that punishment should
be based on seriousness of the crime
• Capital punishment should be abolished
Women and the Enlightenment
• Philosophes challenged assumptions about government
and society, but were traditional in their view of women
– Most did not support equality or education for women
• Small group of women protested this view, but were
condemned
• Mary Wollstonecraft wrote A Vindication of the Rights
of Women in 1792
• Called for equal education for girls and boys
– Only education could give women the tools they needed to
participate in public life
“Women ought to have
representatives, instead
of being arbitrarily
governed without any
direct share allowed
them in the
deliberations of
government.”
- Mary Wollstonecraft
Legacy of the Enlightenment
• Theories of the philosophes influenced the American
and French revolutions
• Three other long-term effects that helped shape
Western civilization
– Belief in progress – success of Scientific Revolution gave
people the confidence that human reason could solve social
problems
• Argued for end to slavery, greater social equality and a more
democratic style of government
– A more secular outlook – people began to question their
religious beliefs; idea that mysteries of the universe could
be explained by math and science
• Also promoted religious tolerance
– Importance of the individual – as people began to turn
away from the church and royalty for guidance, they
began to look to themselves
• People should use their own reason to decide what is right and
wrong
• Emphasized the importance of the individual in society
• Government should promote the welfare of its citizens