Scientific Revolution and The Age of Enlightenment

1
Scientific Revolution and The Age of
Enlightenment
2

• Also known as The Age of Reason
• Sci. Rev. new way of examining the world
  logically (scientific method, etc.) Began in
  1600s.
• Paved way for Enlightenment.
• Height mid-1700s

3
Key Ideas

• Enlightenment philosophers admire scientists use
  of reason to understand the natural world.
• Promote reason to understand government,
  religion, education, and economics.
• Advocate government reform and social improvement.

4
Enlightened Philosophers
5
Thomas Hobbes

• Believed people always acted in their own self
  interest
• Government needed to keep order
• Life w/o govt solitary, poor, brutish, short.

6
John Locke

• Thought people were reasonable had natural
  ability to govern themselves
• Purpose of government protect natural rights of
  life, liberty, and property

7
Voltaire

• Tolerance, reason, and freedom of thought,
  expression, and religious belief

8
Montesquieu

• Idea of Separation of Powers (3 branches of
  government) checks and balances to keep any
  individual or group from gaining complete control
  of the government

9
Rousseau

• Viewed government as a Social Contract among free
  individuals to create a society guided by the
  general will

10
Mary Wollstonecraft

• Argued for womens education and political
  participation
• Believed women, like men, need education to
  become virtuous and useful

11
How did Enlightenment writers and thinkers set
the stage for revolutionary movements?

• Encouraged people
• to judge for themselves what was right or wrong
  in society
• Rely on human reason to solve social problems

12
Major Ideas of the Enlightenment

• Natural Rights life, liberty, property Locke
• Freedom of Thought and Expression Voltaire
• Religious Freedom Voltaire
• Separation of Powers Montesquieu
• Rebellion against corrupt Govt is okay
  Rousseau
• Womens Equality Wollstonecraft

13
Questions

• Voltaire is credited with saying I disapprove
  of what you say, but I will defend to the death
  your right to say it. What does this statement
  indicate about Voltaires views on free speech?
  How is it similar to beliefs about free speech in
  the U.S.?

14
Whose ideas are most like your own? Why?

• Locke
• People are reasonable and able to make decisions.
• People should be able to rule themselves.

• Hobbes
• People are selfish, self-serving, and brutal.
• Without control, society would be chaotic

15
The End