The Enlightenment Causes of Revolution

What are the main ideas of the Enlightenment philosophers? How do they challenge the powers of Absolute Monarchs? John Locke Thomas Hobbes Voltaire Objectives

Conclusion & Connections So… ◦What are the main ideas of the Enlightenment philosophers? ◦How do they challenge the powers of Absolute Monarchs?

Thomas Hobbes Leviathan (1651) Englishman Man motivated by power & fear –> needed an all- powerful sovereign ◦Without one, life would be “solitary, nasty, poor, brutish & short” Politics as a science

John Locke Individual must become rational, man innately good – TABULA RASA Virtue can be learned & practiced “Divine right of kings” is nonexistent “Two Treaties of Civil Government” Natural rights given to all ◦Life, liberty & property Favored a republic Social contract btw people & government (what is influenced by this idea??)

Baron de Montesquieu (Charles de Secondat) 1 st of the French Philosophes “The Spirit of the Laws” (1749) Separation of powers ensures freedom & liberty 3 types of government= monarchy, despotism & republic

Voltaire (AKA Francois Marie Arouet) Author & poet “Candide” (1759) Men are born equal- virtue makes the difference Directly critiqued French crown so fled

Jean Jacques Rousseau “The Social Contract” (1762) Virtue exists in nature, not in society “Man is born free, yet everywhere he is in chains.” Government is necessary Liberty, equality, fraternity (brotherhood) General will= with each other, not rulers Republican government with direct democracy ◦No legal protections for individual rights Influenced French revolutionaries & Karl Marx

Mary Wollstonecraft Vindication of the Rights of Woman English writer, philosopher Men & women are equal

Salons

Aftermath…Revolution? New forms of civil society arose Reform & critique couldn’t stop Birth of the “individual” ◦Natural rights Implications??