T HE E NLIGHTENMENT Brief background and its legacy today

Q UESTION What is the Enlightenment?

K EY F IGURES IN E NLIGHTENMENT S CIENCE Newton and Galileo

K EY F IGURES IN E NLIGHTENMENT T HOUGHT Thomas Hobbes Nationality: English Major Work: Leviathan Contribution: the nature of society (all men are brutish). Idea that men must forfeit some personal freedoms for the benefit of having a strong ruler who maintains a peaceful and orderly society.

K EY F IGURES IN E NLIGHTENMENT T HOUGHT John Locke Nationality: English Major Work: An Essay Concerning Human Understanding 1690 Contribution: B lank slate theory, natural rights and the idea that man has the right to overthrow a ruler who does not protect those rights.

K EY F IGURES IN E NLIGHTENMENT T HOUGHT Voltaire Nationality: French Major Work: Contribution: tolerance; freedom of speech and religion.

K EY F IGURES IN E NLIGHTENMENT T HOUGHT Montesquieu Nationality: French Major Work: The Spirit of the Laws 1748 Contribution: separation of government, checks and balances.

K EY F IGURES IN E NLIGHTENMENT T HOUGHT Rousseau Nationality: French Major Work: Emile or On Education 1762 Contribution: Noble Savage, ideas on education, social contract, the General Will.

K EY F IGURES IN E NLIGHTENMENT T HOUGHT Adam Smith Nationality: Scottish Major Work: Wealth of Nations 1776 Contribution: capitalism, the invisible hand

K EY F IGURES IN E NLIGHTENMENT T HOUGHT Mary Wollstonecraft Nationality: English Major Work: A Vindication of the Rights of Women 1792 Contribution: women’s rights

K EY F IGURES IN E NLIGHTENMENT T HOUGHT Cesare Becarria Nationality: Italian Major Work: Of Crime and Punishment 1764 Contribution: opposed the use of torture

A NSWER The Enlightenment, also called the Age of Reason or the Age of Rationalism, was a period during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries when European philosophers stressed the use of reason as the best method for learning the truth. Such philosophers as Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) and Voltaire (1694–1778) in France and John Locke (1632–1704) in England pondered aspects of education, law, social theory, superstition, and ignorance. Hallmarks of the Enlightenment include the idea that the universe is systematic though vast and complex; the belief that men and women are capable of understanding the universe; and the philosophy of Deism. According to Deism, God created the world and natural laws, then withdrew from involvement in the workings of the universe. During the Enlightenment extensive intellectual activity took place, including the publication of several encyclopedias