Essential Concepts of the Enlightenment

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Essential Concepts of the Enlightenment
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Terms to know

• Enlightenment
• despotism

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People to know

• Thomas Hobbes
• John Locke
• Voltaire
• Montesquieu
• Mary Wollstonecraft
• Jean Jacques Rousseau

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Why does it matter?

• For one, the major ideas of the Enlightenment
  exist today in one form or another
• Reason, deism, religious toleration, separation
  of powers, laissez-faire, natural law, social
  contract, progress
• Enlightenment thinkers such as Locke, Rousseau
  and others influenced Jefferson, Adams and
  Franklin before the troubles began in the 1770s.

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The Enlightenment was influenced by two 17th
century Englishmen

• Sir Isaac Newton
• John Locke

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Thomas Hobbes

• Wrote the Leviathan a work on political thought
  written in the disorder of the mid 1600s.
• Basically Hobbes said that to save themselves
  from destroying each other they must be ruled by
  an absolute ruler who possessed unlimited power.
  Absolute power is needed to preserve order in a
  society.

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Hobbes also believed and wrote

• Before society was organized, human life was
  solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.
• Human beings were not guided by reason and moral
  ideals but by a ruthless struggle for
  self-preservation.

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John Locke

• People were molded by the experiences that came
  through their senses from the surrounding world.
• If environments were changed and people were
  exposed to the right influences then people could
  be changed and a new society created.

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• Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams
  were greatly influenced by the ideas of John
  Locke.
• Locke believed that people were born with a blank
  mind.

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Hobbes and Locke

• Although these two philosophers disagreed upon
  certain subjects, they did occasionally agree
  with one another.
• Locke believed that government should base itself
  on the people.
• Hobbes said that only a king should reign.
• Both agreed that someone should rule over a
  country.

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Montesquieu

• Wrote the Spirit of Laws
• In this study of governments, Montesquieu tried
  to use the scientific method to find the natural
  laws that govern the social and political
  relationships of human beings.

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He identified three basic kinds of governments

• Republics suitable for small states
• Despotism appropriate for large states
• Monarchies appropriate or moderate size states

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Separation of power

• Montesquieus most lasting contribution of
  political thought was separation of power in
  government into three branches.
• Legislative, Executive and Judicial
• as well as checks and balances.
• His principles were later worked into the U.S.
  Constitution

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Voltaire

• Famous novelist, playwright.
• Especially known for his criticism of
  Christianity and his strong belief of religious
  tolerance.
• Voltaire championed deism, an 18th century
  religious philosophy based on reason and natural
  law.

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Mary Wollstonecraft1759-1797

• Considered by many to be the founder of the
  European and American movements for womens
  rights.
• Women should have equal rights in education as
  well as economic and political life.

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Rousseau

• Most famous work The Social Contract
• Through a social contract and entire society
  agrees to be governed by its general will.
• Liberty is achieved by begin forced to follow
  what is best for the general will because that
  is what is best for the community

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The Enlightenment

• Did not belong exclusively to the nobles and
  aristocrats but it had great appeal with them.
• Growth of reading
• Ideas were spread through the elegant drawing
  rooms of the wealthy upper class known as salons.

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Salons

• Were usually hosted by women of aristocracy.
• The women who hosted the salons were in a
  position to sway political thought.

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REVIEW QUESTIONS
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What political impacts did the Enlightenment have
on colonial America?

1. Loyalist leaders became more conservative
2. It inspired England to be more lenient to the
   colonists in regards to political policy
3. It shaped the thinking of future Revolutionary
   leaders
4. It led to founding of the House of Burgesses

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Which leader did Hobbes believe should rule?

1. A president
2. The British Parliament
3. A king
4. Himself

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Locke believed that each person came into the
world as

1. Gullible, careless, and happy
2. Good, independent, and equal
3. Bad, dependent, and unequal
4. Lying, cheating, stealing scum

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Which Enlightenment author argued that people
were born into a brutish state of nature?

1. Edward Gibbon
2. Thomas Hobbes
3. Adam Smith
4. Rene Descartes

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Locke mostly influenced

1. Englands government
2. The United States government
3. Prussian government
4. Frances government

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Which of the following writers of the
Enlightenment helped build a foundation for the
beginning of womens rights with the essay, A
Vindication of the Rights of Women?

• A) Voltaire
• B) Wollstonecraft
• C) Rousseau
• D) Hobbes

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The Age of Enlightenment was a time when scholars
believed in

• A) The use of absolution and balance of power
• B) The use of reason and the scientific method
  
• C) The use of capital and making a profit
• D) The use of intellectual and artistic
  creativity

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