Chapter 17

Section 2

The EnlightenmentAge of Reason

Philosophe – (fil-uh-sof)French for philosopher. Applied to all

intellectuals – writers, journalists, economists, and social reformers during the Enlightenment era.

Salon – Enlightenment ideas were spread in salons.

Wealthy upper class’s would congregate and discuss enlightenment ideas. Invited guests gathered to converse on new philosophes.

Vocabulary

Rights with which all humans are supposedly born, including the rights to life, liberty and property (Locke)

Natural Law – conditions that govern human behavior. Thinkers began to believe that the problems of society could be solved through reasoning. They wanted a just society and a good government, and they wanted to design a sensible economy.

Some still opposed this idea of thinking – Kings and the Roman Catholic Church

Natural Rights

John Locke1632-170417th century EnglishmanIdeas suggested that

people were molded by the experiences that came through their senses from the surrounding world.

Natural rights of manLifeLibertyProperty

Locke wrote Two Treatises of Government Ideas found in Declaration of Independence and US

Constitution.Locke argued that government was based on a cooperative

agreement between the people and the government of their choice. Locke had a more hopeful view of human nature than Hobbes for instance. Locke thought that people in a state of nature are guided by reason and good will. Individuals possess the natural rights of life, liberty and property.

Locke believed that the power to govern was a trust given to a ruler by the people. This idea is known as consent of the governed. The duty of the government to protect the rights of the governed became important to democracy in Europe and North America.

Locke’s Ideas

Montesquieu1689 - 1755French nobilityPolitical thinkerChecks and balances of

government through separation of powers was the most lasting contribution to political thought.

French PhilosopherThree basic kinds of governments

Republics (suitable for small states)Despotism [des-puh-tiz-uhm](appropriate for

large states)Monarchies (ideal for moderate-size states)

England’s Government had threeExecutive branch (Monarch)Legislative (parliament)Judicial (courts of law)

Montesquieu

1694 – 1778French writerHistorianPhilosopher“universe like

A clock”

Voltaire

Greatest figure of the EnlightenmentFrom Paris, FranceKnown for criticism of Christianity and strong

belief in religious toleranceDeism – 18th century religious philosophy

based on reason and natural law. (belief in a God who created the world but has since remained indifferent to it.)

Voltaire 1694 - 1778

1713-1784 French PhilosopherGreatest contribution to

the Enlightenment was the Encyclopedia

The Encyclopedia became the major weapon in the philosophes’ crusade against the old French society.

“to change the way of thinking”

Denis Diderot

Adam Smith 1723 - 1790ScotlandEnlightened leader of

Economic thought Author, Wealth of Nations

Laissez-faire – government should intervene as little as possible in the direction of economic affairs.

Government had three basic rolesProtecting society from

invasion (the army)Defending citizens from

injustice (police)Keeping up certain public

works i.e., roads, canals, etc.

"By pursuing his own interest [every individual] frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it. I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good."

(The Wealth of Nations)Adam Smith ––Scottish moral philosopher, political

economist

Adam Smith

Cesare Beccaria 1738 – 1794 (Milan) Before Beccaria, extreme

punishment was common to try to deter crime to make up for the lack of a state’s police force.

Proposed new approach to justice

Crimes and Punishment (1764) argues that punishments should not be exercises in brutality

Opposed capital punishment Sets an example for barbarism “Is it not absurd, that the laws,

which punish murder, should, in order to prevent murder, publicly commit murder themselves?”

Geneva, SwitzerlandIdeas influenced the French RevolutionThe Social Contract

Idea of the social contract: society agrees to be governed by its general will

Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1712 – 1778

Considered to be founder of European and American movements for women’s rights.

Mostly self-educatedWomen equal rights as man, power over

women is wrongA Vindication of the Rights Of Women

Mary Wollstonecraft, England1759-1797

John Wesley1703-1791, EnglandMinister, missionaryFounder of

Methodism, later the Methodist church

“Salvation comes from God”

Preached to masses of people