The Enlightenment

1. The Enlightenment KEY IDEA: A revolution in intellectual activity changed Europeans’ view of government and society.

2. Setting the Stage: The Social Philosophers • The Scientific Revolution led to the examination of essence of human nature. Out of this inquiry, people began looking for the laws governing human behavior. • The Age of Reason is born as people began to apply the scientific method to all aspects of society including government, religion, economics and education.

3. Thomas Hobbes- (1651) Leviathan • The horrors of the English Civil War convinced Hobbes that all humans were naturally selfish and wicked. • He believed that “without governments to keep order, there would be war of every man against every man”.

4. Hobbes: The Social Contract • Hobbes believed that in order to escape a bleak life of constant warfare, people formed a social contract—an agreement—in which they gave up their rights so they could secure order and safety. • According to Hobbes, the best government, he said, is that of a strong king who can force people to obey.

5. John Locke(1690) Two Treatises on Government • Locke believed that humans were born with the ability to reason, therefore, they had the natural ability to govern themselves and look after the welfare of society.

6. John Locke: Natural Rights • John Locke believed that all people have the right to life, liberty, and property. • The purpose of government is to protect those rights. When it fails to do so, he said, people have a right to overthrow the government.

7. Locke Inspires Political Reform • Locke believed that government’s power comes from the consent of the people. This is the foundation of modern democracy. • The ideas of government by popular consent and the right to rebel against unjust rulers helped to inspire the struggles for liberty in Europe and the Americas.

8. The natural condition of humans is one of continuous conflict and competition. “In such condition, there is no place for knowledge, no account of time, no society and worst of all, continual fear and danger of violent death; and the life of people solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.” The natural condition of human is “ a state of perfect freedom to order their actions, and dispose of their possessions and persons as they think fit…without asking leave or depending upon the will of any other man. A state of equity, wherein all the power and jurisdiction is shared, no one having more than the other.” Contrasting Views of Individual Liberty Who Said……

9. Who Said?…….He Said!! Locke: Optimistic about the nature of man Hobbes: Pessimistic about the nature of man

10. The Philosophes Advocate Reason • The philosophes were social critics in France in the mid-1700s. The core of their belief was that people could apply reason to all aspects of life, just as Newton and Kepler had applied reason to science.

11. The Core of the Philosophe’s Philosophy • Five important concepts formed the core of their philosophy: • Reason • Nature • Happiness • Progress • Liberty

12. Reason • The philosophes believed that that truth could be discovered through reason or logical thinking. • They said “reason was the absence of intolerance, bigotry or prejudice in one’s thinking”.

13. Nature • The philosophes believed that what was natural was good and reasonable. • They believed that economics and politics were governed by natural laws just as there were natural laws that governed planetary motion.

14. Happiness • The philosophes believed that a person who lived according to nature’s laws would find happiness. • They believed that the medieval notion that a person should accept misery in this world in order to find joy in the hereafter was ridiculous. • They believed that it was possible and preferred that person should be able to find well-being on earth as well as in eternity.

15. Progress • The Philosophes believed that society should try to better itself. • They believed that through a scientific approach, society and humankind could be perfected. • This idea gave rise to the sciences of psychology and sociology.

16. Liberty • The Philosophes wanted for the French people the same kind of freedom won by the English in the Glorious Revolution. With the creation of the English Bill of Rights, the English were guaranteed certain rights of speech, religion, trade and personal travel. • The philosophes believed that through reason, all societies could be set free.

17. Voltaire • Voltaire was a very influential philosopher of his day. He corresponded with many monarchs and nobles. • Voltaire wrote against intolerance and criticized the laws and customs of France. Francois Marie Arout “Voltaire”

18. Voltaire’s Early Years • Born in Paris, the son of a lawyer, Voltaire received an excellent education but decided not to go into law. • He quit school at age 16 and joined a group of irreverent young aristocrats who began to write satirical verses about politics. • Voltaire’s writing often got him into trouble with the law. He was twice sent to prison and he was exiled to England for two years.

19. Voltaire Pursues Reason, Tolerance and Freedom • Voltaire’s came to admire the English government much more than the government of France. • He is credited for having said, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it”. • Although he made many powerful enemies, he continued to fight for tolerance, reason, freedom of religious belief, and the freedom of speech.

20. Voltaire and the King • Voltaire spent three years in Frederick II’s (Prussian king) palace. • After a while, Frederick began to irritate Voltaire. The king asked Voltaire to edit his poetry which Voltaire found to be very boorish. Voltaire tried to sneak away from the palace but he was captured by some of Frederick’s soldiers and forced to spend the night in jail.

21. After returning to France, he describe Frederick as a “Nasty Monkey, perfidious friend and a wretched poet”. • Frederick responded to Voltaire’s insults by describing him as a “miser, dirty rogue and a coward”. Nasty Monkey Dirty Rogue

22. Montesquieu • Montesquieu made a long study of laws and governments. • He thought government power should be separated into different branches. Each should be able to check the other branches to prevent them from abusing their power. Baron de Montesquieu

23. Montesquieu’s Early Years • Montesquieu was born into wealth but his privileged status did not keep him from becoming a voice of democracy. • Like Voltaire, he ridiculed the French elite. • He advanced the idea of the separation of powers- a foundation for modern democracy.

24. Montesquieu’s Version of Equality • He did not consider all persons to be created equal. He held a common belief of the time that men were superior to women. • He believed that women could be very good government officials because their “weakness” would make them gentle rulers, thus benefiting the people.

25. Separation of Powers • Like Voltaire, Montesquieu believed that the British government was the best- governed county of the day. • He proposed that the separation of powers would keep any group from gaining total control of the government. • His ideas about checks and balances became the basis for the United States Constitution.

26. Rousseau: Champion of Freedom • Jean Jacques Rousseau wrote strongly in favor of human freedom. • He wanted a society in which all people were equal. • He believed that the only good government was one that was formed by the people and guided by the general will of society. Jean Jacques Rousseau

27. Civilization Corrupts People • Rousseau disagreed with the other philosophers of his time. While his contemporaries believed that reason, science, and art would improve life for all people, Rousseau argued that civilization corrupted people’s natural goodness. “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains”

28. Rousseau believed that before the rise of civilization, people had lived as free and equal individuals in a primitive state of nature. • As people became civilized, the strongest among them forced everyone to obey unjust laws and freedom and equality were destroyed.

29. Rousseau’s Social Contract • Rousseau believed that people willing gave up some of the freedom in favor of the common good. This is his version of the social contract. • His ideas differed from Hobbes, in that according to Hobbes, the social contract was an agreement between society and its government. • For Rousseau, the social contract was an agreement among free individuals to create a society and a government.

30. Rousseau’s Guilt • All through his life, Rousseau was plagued with the feelings of guilt and inferiority. • He spent most of his life as an outsider in society. This may be a result of a very sad, loveless childhood. His mother died while giving birth to him and his father continually reminded him that he was responsible for her death. When he was 10 years old, his father abandoned him. • As an adult, he realized he was more comfortable opposing society than trying to fit into it.

31. Rousseau’s Version of Equality • Unlike Montesquieu, Rousseau believed that all people were equal and that the titles of nobility should be abolished. • These ideas of equality inspired the French Revolution.

32. Cesare Becarria • The Italian Cesare Beccaria wrote about crime and justice. Trials should be fair, he said, and punishments should be made to fit the crime. Cesare Beccaria

33. Crime and Punishment • Beccaria believed that laws existed to preserve social order, not to avenge crimes. • He viewed the torturing of witnesses, cruel and unusual punishments, irregular trial procedures and arbitrary prison sentences to be an abuse of the system. • He believed that a person accused of a crime should receive a speedy trial and that the degree of punishment should be based on the seriousness of the crime. He opposed the death penalty.

34. Mary Wollstonecraft • Wollstonecraft argued that women deserved the same rights as men. • She had received very little education, she and her sisters taught themselves by studying books at home. Mary Wollstonecraft

35. Women’s Rights • Many Enlightenment thinkers held traditional views about women’s place in society. They urged equal rights for all men but ignored the fact that women did not enjoy such rights. • Wollstonecraft protested this unfairness. “If all men are born free,” she wrote, “how is it that all women are born slaves?” • She believed that women should be offered the same educational opportunities as men. • She also believed that women should be allowed the right to participate in politics.

36. Impact of the Enlightenment • Enlightenment ideas had strong influence on the American and French Revolutions, which came at the end of the 1700s. Jefferson Washington Robespierre Napoleon

37. Belief in Progress • Enlightenment ideas helped spread the idea of progress. • By using reason, people thought, it is possible to make society better. • They argued for equality and improvements in education

38. A More Secular Outlook • Enlightenment ideas also helped make Western society more secular—that is, more worldly and less spiritual. • People began to openly question their religious beliefs and the teachings of the Church. • They wanted to rid religious faith of superstition and fear and promote tolerance of all religions.

39. Importance of the Individual • Enlightenment ideas promoted the notion that the individual person was important. • The philosophes encouraged people to use their own ability to reason in order to judge what is right or wrong.

40. The End