France
Renaissance
In the 1300s, a brilliant cultural movement arose in Italy. Over the next 300
years, it spread to the rest of Europe, helped by the development of the
printing press. This movement was called the Renaissance from the French
word for rebirth. The Renaissance was marked by renewed interest in
classical culture. This included the restoration of old monuments and works of
art and the rediscovery of forgotten Greek and Latin manuscripts.
Renaissance thinkers and writers began to explore ideas about political power
and the role of government in the lives of ordinary people. They began to
question what the role of the individual was in government. The Greek and
Roman ideas about democracy were quite different from the style of
governments they were experiencing in Europe.
ideas. The social critics of this period in France were called Philosophes, the
French word for philosophers. The philosophes believed that people could
apply reason to all aspects of life.
While France was the center of the Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers
were from all over Europe.
Most Famous Enlightenment Thinkers:
John Locke
(England)
The philosophers of Ancient Greece had established the idea of natural laws
that could be discovered by careful observation and reasoned inquiry.
Judaism and Christianity contributed the belief in the equality of all human
beings. During the Renaissance these ideas were revitalized.
Scientific Revolution
The Scientific Revolution of the 1500s and 1600s was an even more
immediate source of Enlightenment thought. It stimulated new ideas about
society and the government. The Scientific Revolution causes thinkers to rely
on rational thought rather than just accept traditional beliefs. The Scientific
Revolution inspired Enlightenment thinkers to apply the scientific method to
human affairs. They wanted to use observation and the testing of theories to
discover natural laws that governed society, just as scientists used the
scientific method to discover physical laws.
Enlightenment
During the 1600s and 1700s, an intellectual movement called the
Enlightenment, or Age of Reason, developed. These thinkers built upon a long
history of Western thought to develop their ideas. They sought new insight into
the underlying beliefs regarding government, religion, economics, and
education. The Enlightenment reached its height in France in the mid-1700s.
Paris became the meeting place for people who wanted to discuss politics and
Baron de Montesquieu
(France)
Jean Jacques Rousseau
(France)