Enlightenment in Europe
Mr. Porter
Chapter 6 Section 2
Enlightenment
• A new intellectual movement that stressed
reason and thought and the power of individuals
to solve problems. AKA- The Age of Reason
Thomas Hobbes & John Locke
Hobbes
Locke
• Both English Political Thinkers
during the 1600’s.
• Hobbes felt after the English
Civil War that humans were
naturally selfish & wicked.
• To keep law and order people
created government or a ruler.
• Social Contract- an agreement
by which people define and limit
their individual rights, thus
creating an organized society or
government.
Thomas Hobbes & John Locke
Hobbes
Locke
• Hobbes felt that the best
government was absolute
monarchy.
• Locke had a different view in
which people could learn from
life experiences to improve
themselves.
• All people born free and equal
.
• All people have 3 Natural Rights
(Life, Liberty & Property)
Thomas Hobbes & John Locke
Hobbes
Locke
• If the government failed, then
the people had the right to
overthrow the government.
• Idea of government by popular
consent.
Paris, France
• Philosophes- one of a group of social thinkers in
France during this time period.
• Five Concepts from their beliefs
• 1. Reason
• 2. Nature
• 3. Happiness
• 4. Progress
• 5. Liberty
Francois Marie Arouet (Voltaire)
• Published over 70 books and
targeted the clergy, aristocracy
and government.
• His ability to write was his
deadly weapon.
• He fought for tolerance,
reason, freedom of religious
belief and freedom of speech.
• His defense of Liberty was
quoted as “I do not agree with
a word you say but will defend
to the death your right to say
it.”
Baron de Montesquieu
• He looked at the British form of
government as the best one of the
time.
• Published On the Spirit of Laws
(1748) with a focus of separation of
powers.
• Idea of Checks and Balances
• Where to we see Checks and
Balances today?
Jean Jacques Rousseau
• He argued that civilization corrupted
people’s natural goodness.
• A good government was one that was
created by the people and guided by
society, a true democracy.
• People give up some of their freedom
for a common good.
• 1762 wrote the Social Contract
• All people were equal and titles of
nobility should be abolished
• His ideas inspired many leaders of the
French Revolution.
Cesare Bonesana Beccaria
• Italian philosophe who put his attention
towards the justice system.
• Abuse of Justice
• Torturing of witnesses and suspects
• Irregular trials
• He felt people accused of a crime should
receive a speedy trial without torture.
• Punishment should be based on the
seriousness of the crime.
• No capital punishment
Women of the Enlightenment
• Women were seen as a role of wife and mother.
• Late 1600’s women writers began to express
their beliefs on the rights of women.
• By the 1700’s Mary Wollstonecraft argued
against Rousseau that women should be
educated to be virtuous and useful.
• Wollstonecraft pushed for women to enter
medicine and politics.
Legacy of the Enlightenment
• New ideas, beliefs, theories that challenged the
church and state as well as the different social
classes.
• New Scientific discoveries
• Began to question the church
• Rise of individualism