Chapter 22—Section 2
The Enlightenment in Europe
Pages 629-634
Objectives
 1. Explain the ideas of Hobbes and Locke
and other Enlightenment philosophers.
 2. Describe women and the
Enlightenment.
 3. Explain the legacy of the Enlightenment
 The Age of Enlightenment philosophers
thought a lot about the responsibilities of
individuals and governments toward each
other.
 What responsibilities do you have as
citizens?
Two Views on Government
 Enlightenment: Intellectual movement
that focused on reason and thought.
What was powerful was that individuals
could solve problems. This movement
was also known by another name Age of
Reason.

Hobbe’s Social Contract
 Leviathan (1651) In his work he
discussed the gruesome behavior of the
English Civil War which convinced him
that human beings were naturally selfish
and wicked. Without an organized
government to keep order, Hobbes said,
there would be “war…of every man
against every man,” and life would be
“solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”
 Social Contract: He argued to have order
people had to hand over their rights to a
strong ruler, in exchange they will gain law
and order. Bottom line people act in their
own self interest. Hobbe’s leaned towards
an absolute monarchy in which demanded
order and obedience.
Locke’s Natural Rights
 John Locke: Philosopher who had a
different view of human nature. His
thoughts that people learn from
experience and can improve themselves.
He felt that human beings were
reasonable and could govern their own
affairs and look after the welfare of
society. Locke did not agree with absolute
monarchy and favored self-government.
Locke Continued
 Locke felt all people were born free and
equal, having three natural rights; life,
liberty, and property.
 Purpose of government is to protect these
rights. If government does not do this, the
citizens have the right to overthrow
government. His philosophy is the
foundation for modern democracy. His
ideas inspired struggles for liberty in
Europe and the American colonies.
The Philosophes Advocate Reason
 France reached Enlightenment in the mid-
1700s. Paris was the meeting place for
politics and ideas. This time period is
known as philosophes: French word for
philosophers. The philosophes
believed that people could apply
reason to all aspect of life. The five
areas of their core beliefs: Reason,
Nature, Happiness, Progress, and
Liberty.
Voltaire Combats Intolerance
 Voltaire: brilliant and had great influence on
the philosophes. Over the course of time he
published 70 books of political essays,
philosophy, and drama. Voltaire used satire
in his writings, attacking clergy, aristocracy,
and the government. He made enemies and
was sent to prison two times. He was finally
exiled to England for two years. He never
lost sight or fighting for religious freedom,
tolerance, and freedom of speech. His
famous quote: “I do not agree with a word
you say but will defend to the death you right
to say it.”
Montesquieu and the Separation of
Powers
 Montesquieu: French writer who devoted his
life to study of liberty. In his own opinion
Britain was best governed and most
politically balanced for his time.
 Executive: King and his ministers had the power
 Legislative: members of Parliament who made
laws
 Judicial: interpreted the laws to see how each
applied to a specific case.
 Separation of Powers: division of power in the
different branches.
 On the Spirit of Laws (1748): Book
written by Montesquieu proposing
separation of powers would keep an
individual or group from seizing total
power. He wrote, “should be a check to
power.” This would become known as
checks and balances.
 His ideas of separation of powers and
checks and balances will become the
basis for the U.S. Constitution.
Rousseau: Champion of Freedom
 Jean Jacques Rousseau: he was committed to the idea of
individual freedom. He disagreed with the other philosophes
on many matters. He argued that civilization corrupted
people’s natural goodness. He said, “Man is born free, and
everywhere he is in chains.”
 The Social Contract (1762): He believed that government
formed by the people and guided by the “general will” of
society.
 His was different from Hobbes. Hobbes, the social contract
was an agreement between a society and its government.
Rousseau, it was an agreement between free individuals to
create a society and government.
 His ideas inspired the French Revolution to overthrow the
monarchy in 1789. He believed in direct democracy and all
people were equal and titles of nobility abolished.
Beccaria Promotes Criminal Justice
 Beccaria: Italian philosophe who
concentrated his efforts in regard to the
justice system. He believed that laws existed
to maintain social order, not to avenge
crimes. He did not believe in capital
punishment. He criticized the judicial system
which included, torturing witnesses and
suspects, irregular proceedings in trials, and
punishments that were arbitrary or cruel.
 Believed in a speedy trial and torture should
never be used. His ideas influenced criminal
law reformers in Europe and North America.
State of Nature
 Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau all
discussed the state of nature, or human
nature, in their philosophies. This referred
to the way humans behaved before the
structures of society existed. Hobbes
thought this state of nature was selfcentered and brutish. Locke believed
humans were naturally reasonable and
able to make decisions Rousseau thought
they were happiest when solitary.
Women and the Enlightenment
Traditional views of women still remained
the same, even though philosophes were
changing about government and society.
Rousseau was very progressive about
education, but women were to remain in
the traditional education role of being
helpful wife and mother. Some men
argued that women should have education
and equality in the marriage.
Continued
 A Serious Proposal to the Ladies: 1694, written by
English writer Mary Astell. The book discussed the lack
of educational opportunities for women. In her later
writings she discussed the unequal relationship
between men and women in marriage.
 Mary Wollstonecraft: In 1792, she published an essay
called A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, She
disagreed with Rousseau that women, like men need
education to become virtuous and useful. She also
thought women should pursue careers in medicine and
politics.
 Emilie du Chatelet: was educated about the sciences
trained in math and physics. She translated Newton’s
work from Latin into French.
Illustrating Enlightenment Ideas
 Task: Creating posters to illustrate
quotations from the section two.
 Purpose: To improve students’
understanding of Enlightenment ideas
 Instructions: You will be organized into
small groups and each group will be given
a quote from the section.
 Thomas Hobbes: Without governments, there




would be “war…of every man against every
man.”
Voltaire: “ I do not agree with a word you say
but will defend to the death you right to say it.”
Baron de Montesquieu: “Power should be a
check to power.”
Jean Jacques Rousseau: “Man is born free,
and everywhere he is in chains.”
Mary Astell: “ If absolute sovereignty be not
necessary in a state, how comes it to be so in a
family?...If all men are born free, how is it that all
women are born slaves?”
Instructions
 Each group will copy its quote onto your
poster and create an image to illustrate it.
 Groups will present their poster to the
class.
Legacy of the Enlightenment
 Enlightenment produced three long term effects
that helped shaped Western Civilization:
 Belief in Progress: with the Scientific
Revolution, Philosophes urged more democratic
style of government.
 A More Secular Outlook: during the Age of
Enlightenment people started questioning their
religious beliefs and the teachings of the church.
 Importance of the Individual: rise of
individualism, as people turned away from the
church and royalty for guidance, they looked at
their own self-interest.
Project Overview
Type a brief overview or summary of your project here.
Research
Summarize your research here in three to five bullet points:
• 1st bullet point
• 2nd bullet point
• 3rd bullet point
• 4th bullet point
• 5th bullet point
Variables

Controlled variables: These are the things that are kept the same throughout your experiments.

Independent variable: The one variable that you purposely change and test.

Dependent variable: The measure of change observed because of the independent variable. It
is important to decide how you are going to measure the change.
Planet
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Mass
Period of
rotation
Distance
from the
sun
Works Cited
Be sure to include print and electronic
sources and put them in alphabetical
order.