Philosopher
Thomas
Hobbes
John Locke
What are the philosopher’s main
ideas/philosophy?
Men are motivated primarily by the desire
for power and by fear of other men, and
so need an all-powerful sovereign to rule
over them.
Men are ultimately selfish and
competitive.
Only matter exists, and human behavior
can be predicted by exact, scientific
laws.
If you turn politics into a science, in which
the clash of competing material bodies
(men), could be predicted with
mathematical accuracy, and thus
regulated.
What are some quotes that reflect the
philosopher’s ideas?
…in the first place, I put for a general
inclination of all mankind, a perpetual
and restless desire of power after
power, which ceaseth only in death.
(Hobbes, Leviathan)
What/who influenced the
philosopher?
The dramatic conflicts that unfolded in
Britian between the 1640s and the
1680s
The English Civil War: 1642-1649
Galileo
During the time men live without a
common power to keep them all in
awe, they are in that conditions called
war; and such a war, as if of every man,
against every man. (Hobbes, Leviathan)
“Of the Natural Condition of Mankind,
as concerning their Felicity, and
Misery”
"The first maketh men invade for gain;
the second, for safety; and the third, for
reputation"
Nature of humankind is innately good and A sound mind in a sound body, is a
people can live amicably together.
short, but full description of a Happy
People’s natural rights are life, liberty,
state in this World: he that has these
and the ownership of property and the
two, has little more to wish for; and he
task of the state is to protect these
that wants either of them, will be little
rights. Government is a contract
better for anything else. (John Locke)
between ruler and subjects.
“If any one think I take too much
liberty in speaking so freely of a man
who is the great champion of absolute
power, and the idol of
Those who worship it; I beseech him to
make this small allowance for once, to
one who, even after the reading of sir
Robert’s book, cannot but think
Glorious Revolution
The events of 1688-1689
Jean-Jacques
Rousseau
Rejection of existing forms of government
in favor of a community based on the
choice of all its citizens, and their
democratic participation in every major
decision.
Attack on the irrationality of
contemporary society and political
institutions.
himself; as the laws allow him a free
man: and I know no fault it is to do so,
unless any one, better skilled in the fate
of it than I, should have it revealed to
him that this treatise, which has lain
dormant so long”
Everything is good as it comes from the
hands of the Maker of the world, but
degenerates once it gets into the hands
of man (Jean-Jacques Rousseau)
All my misfortunes come of having
thought too well of my fellows. (JeanJacques Rousseau)
“Man is born free, and yet we see him
everywhere in chains. Those who
believe themselves the masters of
others cease not to be even greater
slaves than the people they govern."
Book 1, Chapter 1, p. 5.
"My design in this treatise is to enquire
whether, taking men such as they are,
and such laws as they may be made, it
is not possible to establish some just
and certain rule for the administration
of the civil order." Introduction to Book
1, p. 5
Baron de
Montesquieu
Human, natural and divine laws guide all
things, including forms of government,
and can best be discovered by empirical
investigation.
Liberty is the right to do what the law
permits. (Baron de Montesquieu)
A fool who, not content with having
bored those who have lived with him,
insists on tormenting generations to
come. (Baron de Montesquieu)
Voltaire
Praised the customs and institutions of
English life.
“I ask every sensible man if this chapter
is a treatise of divinity? if the author
had spoken of original sin, they might
have imputed
It to him as a crime that he had not
spoken of redemption.”
Dare to think for yourself. (Voltaire)
Man is born free, but is everywhere
seen bound by chains. (Voltaire)
Denis Diderot
Attacks the irrationality of contemporary
society and political institutions.
"If one religion only were allowed in
England, the government would very
possibly become arbitrary; if there
were but two, the people would cut one
another's throats, but as there are such
a multitude, they all live happy and in
peace."
Mankind shall not be free until the last
king is strangled in the entrails of the
last priest. (Denis Diderot)
"If exclusive privileges were not
granted, and if the financial system
would not tend to concentrate wealth,
there would be few great fortunes and
no quick wealth. When the means of
growing rich is divided between a
greater number of citizens, wealth will
also be more evenly distributed;
extreme poverty and extreme wealth
would be also rare."
Rousseau
How did the
Scientific
Revolution
affect the
Enlightenment?
Effects of the
Philosophers:
Ch. 18.2,3,4
The Scientific Revolution helped pave a way for Enlightenment thinkers. After philosophers explained the laws of governing
nature by using reason, people started to want and look to apply reason and the scientific method to all aspects of society
(government, religion, economics, and education). The effort to discover the natural laws which governed the universe led to
scientific, political and social advances.