Enlightenment Thinkers
John Locke 3 concepts of gov’t: Consent of the goverened a social contract between a fair gov’t & responsible citizens right to revolution Locke believed Property was the most impt. of his natural rights!
Friedrich Melchior Key figure in spread of enlightenment ideas - French Wrote a cultural newsletter, edited for the benefit of foreign sovereigns and nobility newsletter
Montesquieu French College educated - lawyer Political Philosopher Explained how government can be preserved from corruption
Jean Jacques Rousseau one of the most influential books of republican thought proposed a form of contract that should grant people liberty
Mary Astell Not born into wealth/nobility Considered the first feminist philosopher Supported education of women
Mary Wollstonecraft British Feminist writer Established a girls school in Newington Green Contributed to the publication Analytical Review “society breeds ‘gentle domestic brutes’, a confined existence makes women frustrated and transforms them into tyrants over their children and servants”
Voltaire French Philosopher Exiled three times He argued in favor of "deism”
Thomas Hobbes English Political Philosopher main concern is the problem of social and political order: how human beings can live together in peace and avoid the danger and fear of civil conflict “state of nature” that closely resembles civil war – a situation of universal insecurity, where all have reason to fear violent death and where rewarding human cooperation is all but impossible.