Enlightenment Ideas

Presentation created by Robert Martinez

Primary Content Source: Prentice Hall World History

Images as cited. westernciv2.umwblogs.org

The Scientific Revolution of the 1500s and 1600s had transformed the way

people in Europe looked at the world. In the 1700s, other scientists expanded

European knowledge.

mrkash.com

Joseph Priestley and Antoine Lavoisier, for

example, built the framework for modern

chemistry. Edward Jenner developed a

vaccine against smallpox, a disease whose path of death

spanned the centuries. www.ebinrushed.com

Scientific successes convinced educated Europeans of the power of human

reason. If people used reason to find laws that governed the physical world, why not use reason to discover natural

laws, or laws that govern human nature?

mstruong.edublogs.org

Using the methods of the new science, reformers set out to study human

behavior and solve the problems of society. The Scientific Revolution led to another revolution in thinking, known as

the Enlightenment.

www.hermes-press.com

Through the use of reason, insisted

Enlightenment thinkers, people and governments could solve every social, political, and economic problem. Heaven could

be achieved here on

Earth.

jspivey.wikispaces.com

In the 1600s, two English thinkers, Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, set forth ideas that

were to become key to the Enlightenment. Both men lived through the upheavals of the English

Civil War. Yet they came to very different conclusions about human nature and the role

of government.

cronologia.leonardo.it

Thomas Hobbes set out his ideas in a work title

Leviathan. He argued that people were naturally, cruel,

greedy, and selfish. If not strictly controlled, they

would fight, rob, and oppress one another. Life in

the “state of nature” – without laws or other

control – would be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and

short.”

To escape that “brutish” life, said Hobbes, people entered into a social contract, an agreement by

which they gave up the state of nature for an organized society. Hobbes believed that only a powerful government could ensure an orderly society. For him, such a government was an

absolute monarchy, which could impose order

and compel obedience.

ydemokrat.blogspot.com

John Locke had a more optimistic view of

human nature. People were basically

reasonable and moral, he said. Further, they

had certain natural rights, or rights that

belonged to all humans from birth. These

included the right to life,

liberty, and property.

www.writeawriting.com

In Two Treatises of Government, Locke argued that people

formed governments to protect their natural

rights. The best kind of government, he said,

had limited power and was accepted by all

citizens. Thus, unlike Hobbes, Locke rejected

absolute monarchy. www.bl.uk

Locke then set out a radical idea. A government, he said, has an obligation to the people it

governs. If a government fails its obligations or violates people’s natural rights, the people have

the right to overthrow that government. This right to revolution would echo across Europe

and around the world in the centuries that followed.

youviewed.com

In the 1700s, France saw a flowering of

Enlightenment thought. An early and influential

thinker was the Baron de Montesquieu.

Montesquieu studied the governments of Europe,

from Italy to England. His sharp criticism of

absolute monarchy opened the doors for

later debate. www.philatelia.net

In The Spirit of the Laws, Montesquieu discussed

governments throughout history and wrote admiringly about British’s limited monarchy.

Montesquieu felt that the British were protected against tyranny

by dividing the various functions and powers of government into 3

separate branches: the legislative, executive, and

judicial. (* The British system did not separate powers this way.)public.gettysburg.edu

Montesquieu felt that the separation of powers was the best way to protect

liberty. He also felt that each branch of government should be able to serve as a check on the other two, an idea that we

call checks and balances.

banyanconcepts.blogspot.com

In France, a group of Enlightenment thinkers applied the methods of science to better

understand and improve society. They believed that he use of reason could lead to reforms of government, law, and society. These thinkers

were called philosophes, which means “lovers of wisdom.” Their ideas soon spread beyond France

and even beyond Europe.

www.voltaire.ox.ac.uk

Probably the most famous of the

philosophes was Voltaire. He used wit as a weapon to expose the abuses of

his day. He targeted corrupt officials and idle aristocrats. With his pen,

he battled inequality, injustice, and

superstition. He detested the slave trade and deplored religious

prejudice. www.fempop.com

Voltaire’s outspoken attacks offended both the French government and the Catholic Church.

He was imprisoned and forced into exile. Even as he saw his books outlawed and even

burned, he continued to defend the principle of freedom of speech.

www.larousse.fr

The most controversial

philosophe, Jean-Jacques Rousseau,

was a strange, difficult man. Coming

from a poor family, he never felt

comfortable in the glittering social world

of Enlightenment

thinkers. es.wikipedia.org

Rousseau believed that people in their natural state were basically good. This natural

innocence, he felt, was corrupted by the evils of society, especially the unequal distribution

of property. This view was later adopted by many reformers and revolutionaries.

www.prensalibre.com

In 1762, Rousseau set forth his ideas about government

and society in The Social Contract. Rousseau felt that

society placed too many limitations on people’s

behavior. He believed that some controls were

necessary, but that they should be minimal.

Additionally, these controls should be imposed only by governments that had been

freely elected. bookcoverarchive.com

Rousseau put his faith in the “general will,” or the best

conscience of the people. The good of the community as a

whole, he said, should be placed above individual

interests. Thus, unlike many Enlightenment thinkers who

put the individual first, Rousseau felt that the individual should be

subordinate to the community.

specialcollections.blog.lib.cam.ac.uk

Rousseau had influenced political and social thinkers for more than 200 years. Woven

through his work is a profound hatred of all forms of political and economic oppression. His bold ideas would help fan the flames of

revolt in years to come.

sovranidade.org

The Enlightenment slogan, “free and

equal” did not apply to women. Women did

have, “natural rights,” said the philosophes. But unlike the natural rights of men, these

rights were limited to the areas of home and

family. courses.wccnet.edu

Other thinkers known as physiocrats focused on economic reforms. Like the

philosophes, physiocrats looked for natural laws to define a rational

economic system.

Adam Smith

Physiocrats rejected mercantilism, which required government regulation of the

economy to achieve a favorable balance of trade. Instead, they urged a policy of laissez

faire, allowing business to operate with little or no government interference.

farm1.staticflickr.com

Unlike mercantilists, who called for acquiring gold and silver wealth through trade, the

physiocrats claimed that real wealth came from making the land more productive. Extractive

industries, they said, such as agriculture, mining, and logging, produced new wealth. Physiocrats also supported free trade and

opposed tariffs, or taxes on trade.

macpro.freeshell.org

British economist Adam Smith admired the physiocrats. In his

influential work, The Wealth of Nations, he argued that the free market should be

allowed to regulate business activity. Smith

tried to show how manufacturing, trade,

wages, profits, and economic growth were all linked to the market forces

of supply and demand.motorcitytimes.com

Smith was a strong supporter of laissez faire. He

believed that the marketplace was better off without any government

regulation. At the same time, he argued that government

had a duty to protect society, administer justice,

and provide public works. budirich.files.wordpress.com

Adam Smith’s ideas would gain increasing influence as the Industrial Revolution spread across Europe and beyond. His emphasis on

the free market and the law of supply and demand would help to shape immensely

productive economies in the 1800s and 1900s.

www.fatihler.net