The Enlightenment

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The Enlightenment

• or Wow, do I feel smarter!

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• The Enlightenment may be seen as a period in the
  late 1600s and 1700s when writers, philosophers,
  and social critics re-examined the rules that
  governed individuals and societies.
• They were influenced in their thoughts by the
  Renaissance, Reformation and Scientific
  Revolution all of which encouraged new ways of
  thinks often trying to apply reason and
  rational thought.

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Natural Laws

• Early Enlightenment thinkers rejected the idea
  that all laws and rights were granted to
  individuals from their governments or the church.
• They believed that from birth people possessed
  natural rights and were governed by natural laws
  that could not be changed by people.

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Thomas Hobbes

• Believing in natural laws did not mean that all
  Enlightenment thinkers applied the concept the
  same.
• Thomas Hobbes believed that people were naturally
  cruel and evil. In his book, Leviathan, Hobbes
  stated that only through a strong
  ruler/government can the natural brutishness of
  people be controlled.

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• Hobbes helped to develop the theory that people
  lived together through social contracts.
• Unwritten understandings that people give up
  freedoms/tendencies to the government in order to
  live in an orderly society

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John Locke

• John Locke rejected the old concept that people
  were born evil. He promoted the idea of tabula
  rasa blank slate.
• Locke believed that people were born neutral and
  life experiences made people good or bad.

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• Tabula rasa was an earth shaking concept.
• According to Locke, societies created either good
  or bad people THEREFORE societies needed to be
  good THEREFORE people needed to actively pursue
  good societies THEREFORE people need to first
  affect their governments rather than vice versa.
• Locke wrote many books, but is best known for TWO
  TREATISES OF GOVERNMENT.

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Les Philosophes

• French writers were at the forefront of the
  Enlightenment called philosophes.
• France did not have freedom of the press and the
  nobility of France controlled most of society
  this fact was often criticized by the philosophes
  sometimes landing them in jail.
• This may be seen as part of the start of the
  French Revolution and American Revolution!.

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Montesquieu

• Baron de Montesquieu in 1748 published The Spirit
  of the Laws in which he promoted the idea of
  separation of powers and checks and balances as a
  way to keep tyrants from assuming power.
• His views were used by the Americans in forming
  their government.

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Voltaire

• Francois-Marie Arouet wrote under the name
  Voltaire.
• His essays and fiction writing bitterly attacked
  established society and governments.
• He attacked prejudice, religion, corruption, and
  the idle rich.
• His most famous work was the satirical novel
  Candide.

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• Voltaires attacks on the French government and
  nobility often caused him to be imprisoned in the
  Bastille or to be exiled out of France.
• He was a friend and correspondent to Catherine
  the Great of Russia and Frederick the Great of
  Prussia.
• How could this be???

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Voltaires Death Mask
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Diderot

• Denis Diderot applied reason to the collection of
  knowledge.
• For over 25 years he collected information about
  everything and placed it in 28 volumes known as
  the Encyclopedie.

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Jean-Jacques Rousseau

• In his book The Social Contract Jean-Jacques
  Rousseau stated that people should give up only a
  small amount of their rights to a government and
  that government MUST be freely elected by the
  people.
• He believed that people were basically good and
  should be left alone as much as possible.

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Tomb of Rousseau
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Mary Wollstonecraft

• Angered over the exclusion of women from the
  writings of the Enlightenment, English writer
  Mary Wollstonecraft wrote On the Vindication of
  the Rights of Woman.

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Adam Smith

• In a rejection of mercantilism, Adam Smith wrote
  The Wealth of Nations in 1776.
• He promoted free enterprise laissez-faire where
  the government does not control trade.
• How could this be enlightened?

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Enlightened Despot

• A despot is an monarch or ruler with supreme
  power absolutism.
• It may seem contradictory, but many of the
  despots in Europe in the 1700s read and at some
  level agreed with the writers of the
  Enlightenment.
• Frederick the Great of Prussia, Catherine the
  Great of Russia, and Joseph II of Austria tried
  to use reason and rational thought in their rule.

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• Some abolished torture, some tried to control the
  state church, and some tried to give their
  subjects limited rights.
• In the end, most Enlightened despots did not
  change their kingdoms much as true Enlightened
  change would have destroyed their power.

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Joseph II HRE Catherine the Great of Russia
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Frederick the Great of Prussia