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Enlightenment

Explore the meaning of the Enlightenment period (1600-1800s) and its influence on society, politics, and religion. Learn about key thinkers, such as Locke, Montesquieu, and Voltaire, and their ideas on reason, natural rights, and the separation of powers. Discover how the Enlightenment inspired democratic revolutions worldwide.

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Enlightenment

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  1. Enlightenment 1600-1800s

  2. What does it mean to be Enlightened?

  3. To gain knowledge or wisdom: To be freed from prejudice, ignorance or superstition.

  4. Characteristics Enlightenment thinkers • Influenced by ideas of reason in Scientific Revolution • Applied reason to the human world, not just the natural world

  5. Stimulated religious tolerance • Fueled democratic revolutions around the world

  6. Enlightenment • Was rooted in 3 new theories • Individualism • Relativism • Rationalism

  7. I. What was it? • Emerged out of the Scientific Revolution and culminated in the French Revolution • Spokesmen = Rising Middle Class • Paris = Center of Enlightenment • Optimism about mankind’s abilities

  8. II. Key Ideas • Distrust of Tradition and Revealed Religion • Scientific method could be applied to society as well • Society can get better as risks are taken • Man is naturally good • Good life is on earth

  9. Age of Reason

  10. Thomas Hobbes Wrote Leviathan-(1651)

  11. Thomas Hobbes • Thought the state must have central (ALL) authority to manage behavior • Influenced by English Civil War • Supports absolute rulers, rejected separation of powers

  12. A Leviathan (Sea Monster) • Taken from Biblical book Of Job

  13. Thomas Hobbes!

  14. John Locke Two Treatises on Government(1690)

  15. John Locke • Believes in Democracy • Government should protect people’s rights, People are sovereign- People have the power

  16. John Locke • Locke believed government had to protect three rights of peopl • People have natural rights-life, liberty, & property

  17. John Locke • Believed people are born with minds as a blank slate to be filled up: not naturally good or bad • Believed it was human nature to want to figure things out and to want to make sense of the world around you • Disagreed with Hobbes that people are naturally wicked • Believed humans were reasonable creatures capable of figuring out anything

  18. Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence drew from ideas of Locke and others

  19. “among those rights are life liberty and the pursuit of happiness”

  20. A. Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) • The Spirit of the Laws (1748) • Despotism could be avoided if political power were divided and shared by a diversity of classes • Power must check power • French parlements must be defenders of liberty • Influence in the US

  21. Believed in separation of powers in government-

  22. Influence U.S. government • Executive, Legislative, Judicial • Influences “checks and balances” in U.S.

  23. Jean Jacques Rousseau • Social Contract-1762 Humans were better off in primitive stage, not civilization

  24. Government is a contract between rulers and the people

  25. Theory of Natural Man • “The first man who, having fenced in a piece of land, said "This is mine," and found people naive enough to believe him, that man was the true founder of civil society. From how many crimes, wars, and murders, from how many horrors and misfortunes might not any one have saved mankind, by pulling up the stakes, or filling up the ditch, and crying to his fellows: Beware of listening to this imposter; you are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and the earth itself to nobody.

  26. Voltaire • Real name Francois Marie Arouet • Championed separation of church and state • Religious toleration • Religious fanaticism is bad

  27. Voltaire (1694-1778) • Reformer not a revolutionary • Admirer of Louis XIV • Relationship with Frederick the Great

  28. Voltaire • One of his most famous sayings “ I disagree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it”

  29. Influences or Effects of Enlightenment F.A.S.T 1. (F)uel revolutions such as French and American Singing ofDecl. of Independence • Storming of the Bastille

  30. 2. (A)pplied Reason to the human world (government and law

  31. 3. (S)timulated religious tolerance

  32. (T)aught that our rights come from natural law NOT the government • Natural Rights

  33. The Beast Incident • Occurs in Gevaudan 1767 • Shows that Enlightenment People were Not all about Just reason And logic

  34. Understanding #1 • Enlightenment thinkers believed that human progress was possible through the application of scientific knowledge and reason to issues of law and government

  35. Understanding #2 U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights incorporate enlightenment ideas

  36. Exit Quiz • 1. The enlightenment period was influenced by ideas of the __________ revolution. • 2. The Enlightenment period fueled ____________ revolutions around the world • 3. Hobbes supported what form of ruler?

  37. 4. Locke believed who was sovereign, or held the power? • 5. What was Locke’s book called? • 6. What two groups were the treatises between in Locke’s book? • 7.____________ believed in the “ Separtion of Power” • 8. Who wrote the “social contract”and believed people were better off in their natural state.

  38. __________ championed separation of church and state. • Who championed freedom of speech? • 11. Name the two revolutions the Enlightenment period fueled. • 12. Who was a major enlightenment philosopher that Thomas Jefferson derived much inspiration from?

  39. 12. What are two parts of the United States government that incorporate Enlightenment ideas? • 13. Name two English philosophers of the Enlightenment. • 14. Name three French philosophers of the Enlightenment. • 15. Enlightenment thinkers believed that human progress was possible through the application of scientific knowledge and _____________.

  40. 16. Describe the effects of the Enlightenment. • 17. Why was Hobbes’s book called Leviathan?

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