Enlightenment Ideas
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Transcript of Enlightenment Ideas
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