ENLIGHTENMENT PHILOSOPHES
Thomas Hobbes
 Political philosopher
 English
 In the natural world only the strong survive,
unless order is created by a great and
powerful ruler
Thomas Hobbes
 Wrote Leviathan in 1651
 In the beginning there was anarchy to stop
violence and danger people chose a leader to rule
them and created a social contract.
 The Social Contract was based on the
exchange of individual liberty for group
safety and social order.
John Locke
 Political philosopher
 English
 Accepted the idea of a social contract, but
believed that people had only given up some of
their individual rights.
 People should keep the right to live, enjoy
liberty, and to own property.
 Rulers should protect those rights.
 A ruler who violated those rights, had broken the
social contract.
John Locke cont.
 He wrote Two Treatises of Government
 He argued that individual rights were superior to
laws and governments.
 Governments existed to protect those rights.
 No ruler should have absolute power.
 A ruler who denied people their fundamental
rights was a tyrant and could be
overthrown by the people
Enlightenment
 1700’s
 The belief that truth can be determined solely
by logical thinking was called rationalism.
 The belief of natural law.
 Objects in nature are expected to act in ways
that were predictable.
 God had created the world and all living
things
The role of God in the
Enlightenment
 To live in harmony, people must live
according to natural law.
 God did not interfere in human affairs
 Individual actions mattered most in
determining the future.
 Some downplayed the importance of religion
this is called secularism. They believed there
should be a separation of church and the
government.
Philosophes
 Thinkers of the Enlightenment
 Not philosophers but critics of society.
 The Encyclopedia- a handbook describing the
ideas of the Enlightenment
 Edited by Denis Diderot and Jean d’Alembert
 Between 1715 and 1772
 It criticized many things in society such as the
church, the government, the slave trade, torture,
taxes and war.
 Diderot imprisoned for The Encyclopedia
Denis Diderot
Political Criticism
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Baron de Montesquieu
French
Adopted ideas of John Locke
Wrote The Spirit of the Laws -1748
 He described the perfect government
 Great Britain had the best at the time
 That government should be divided into three
branches
 He believed that the balance between the three
branches would provide checks to political power.
Baron de Montesquieucontributed to the U.S.
Constitution
Voltaire (pen name)
 Francois-Marie Arouet
 French
 Wrote satires making fun of the French
monarchy, the nobility, and the religious
controls of the church.
 Imprisoned twice and exiled to Britain
Voltaire cont.
 Freedom of Speech
 He wrote, “I may disapprove of what you say, but I
will defend to the death your right to say it.”
 Wrote Philosophical Letters
 Also believed Great Britain had the best from of
government.
 Wrote Candide- where he made fun of prejudice,
bigotry and oppressive governments.
Also believed in Freedom of Religion
Voltaire
Jean Jacques Rousseau
 French
 Published the Social Contract
 He wrote that people are born good, but that it is
their environment, education and the laws of the
land that corrupt them.
 He believed that people needed to be able to
choose their own government based on popular
sovereignty.
 That government must be created and controlled
by the people.
Jean Jacques Rousseau
Mary Wollstonecraft
 English
 Wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Women
 She believed in equality of the sexes.
 Wanted personal freedom and economic
independence
 Education for women so that women could
be better mothers.
 Women should have a say in the government.
Mary Wollstonecraft
Cesare Beccaria
 Italian
 Wrote On Crimes and Punishments
 Believed we needed a criminal justice system
but that it should have nor torture or cruel
and unfair punishments or fines.
Enlightened Despotism
 This is a government where an absolute
monarch would govern, but according to the
principles of the enlightenment
 There must be government AND individual
freedom
Quiz:
 1.The 17th century is known as the Age of
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Enlightenment. T/F
2.Natural law means that objects in nature
act in predictable ways. T/F
3. The Encyclopedia was a history of France.
T/F
4. Jean Jacques Rousseau believed that
people are naturally corrupt. T/F
5. Popular sovereignty is when a monarch is
liked. T/F