Enlightenment Thinkers
World History – Libertyville HS
“The Big Picture”
• Renaissance – changed the
way man interpreted MAN
• Reformation – changed the
way man interpreted GOD
• Age of Exploration – changed
the way man interpreted the
WORLD (& Europe’s place in it)
• Scientific Revolution – changed
the way man interpreted the
UNIVERSE
• WHAT’S NEXT?!?!
“The Big Picture”
• What’s the most common
form of government in the 18th
C.?
• Enlightenment – examination
of the relationship between
the people and government
• Examination based in reason,
thought – not emotion!
John Locke
• Wrote during the Glorious
Revolution, in England
(1688)
• Social Contract idea:
People give up some
rights, but retain others
• Inalienable rights
– Life
– Liberty
– Property
John Locke
• Wrote Two Treatise on
Government
– Purpose of government is to
protect inalienable rights
– People have right to
overthrow unjust government
Jean Jacques Rousseau
• Wrote The Social Contract
– People are good
– People need gov’t to keep
them that way
– People must have say in their
gov’t
• Spoke a lot about Popular
Sovereignty
– Gov’t created by people
– Gov’t subject to will of people
– Power o gov’t = people
Thomas Hobbes
• Believed that man is evil and
acts only in own self-interest
• A strong ruler was needed to
keep people in check
• Believed in absolute monarchs
• Hobbes’ Social Contract:
People give rights to gov’t to
ensure their own safety
• Wrote The Leviathan
– Gov’t should be very strong
– “W/o gov’t, life would be nasty,
brutish and short”
Voltaire
• Leading philosophe
• Salons
– Rich people’s sitting rooms
– Philosophes gathered to argue, debate
ideas
• Voltaire wrote Candide
– Supported freedom of speech, religion
– Often made fun of intolerant nobles,
churchmen
• “I disapprove of what you say, but
will die defending your right to say it”
Montesquieu
• Wrote about gov’t structure
– All gov’ts made up of executive,
legislative, judicial powers
– Separation of powers important:
E, L & J should be divided to
avoid dictatorship
– Checks and balances: each
branch of gov’t should balance
other branches
• Avoid gov’t with all power in
one pair of hands!
Beccaria
• Legal thinker
• Wrote about crime and
punishment
– Laws exist to preserve order
– Criticized torture, unfair trials,
cruel punishment
– Against capital punishment
– Punishment should be fair and fit
the seriousness of the crime
– All people had right to a fair and
speedy trial