1. The Enlightenment

2. Sir Isaac Newton Born 1642 in England Cambridge University
Studies math and science.
The invention of Calculus
The “hated” Professor Newton
Proves Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion
The spectrum, laws of gravity, planetary physics, and magic.

3. Religion and Science Newton was a very devout Catholic.
Wanted to prove God is in control of the universe and had an active role in it.
He finds out there are Natural Laws which control everything. The universe is run by a set of complex laws, not God.

4. The Beginning of the Enlightenment
If there are rules for how nature works…….are there rules for how society/science/math/all of life should work?

5. The Enlightenment
A movement to discover the rules of nature and society. “Natural Laws”
Based on these two principles:
1. There are laws which govern the universe.
2. Humans can discover those laws.
In other words, trying to discover how the universe works.

6. John Locke (1632-1704) “Tabula raza”, the blank slate.
“All men are created equal”
Power comes from the people.
There is no “natural right” to rule.
Therefore there should be no Kings.
The Social Contract
Government is a contract among people, and must protect the rights (life, liberty, property) of the people, if it fails to do so, the people can change it.

7. Other Enlightenment Thinkers
Adam Smith – “The Wealth of Nations”

8. Edward Gibbon
“The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”

9. Samuel Johnson

10. James Cook

11. Mozart and Beethoven

12. Dennis Diderot

13. Government Thinkers Voltaire – French Questioned absolute monarchs.
“Popular government is in itself, less unjust, less hated, than despotic power.”

14. Montesquieu -French Need to separate powers of government.
Legislative, Executive, Judicial Branches.
“There is no liberty if the judicial power is not separated from the legislative and executive branches.”

15. Rousseau – Swiss, living in Paris
In a natural state, we are all free and equal.
“Man is born free, yet everywhere he is in chains.”
“The government is created by a contract among the people, and receives its powers from them. The government exists to serve the people, and when it no longer does so, the people may change it.”

16. Those who listened….. Catherine the Great of Russia
Frederick II of Prussia

17. Those who did not…..
Louis XV and Louis XVI of France