1. Scientific Revolution and The Age of Enlightenment

2. Also known as “The Age of Reason”
Sci. Rev. = new way of examining the world logically (scientific method, etc.) Began in 1600s.
Paved way for Enlightenment.
Height = mid-1700s

3. Key Ideas
Enlightenment philosophers admire scientists’ use of reason to understand the natural world.
Promote reason to understand government, religion, education, and economics.
Advocate government reform and social improvement.

4. Enlightened Philosophers

5. Thomas Hobbes Believed people always acted in their own self interest
Government needed to keep order
Life w/o gov’t = solitary, poor, brutish, short.
Thomas Hobbes expressed is views in a work called Leviathan (1651). The horrors of English Civil War convinced him that all humans were naturally selfish and wicked. Without governments to keep order, Hobbes said, “there would be “war of every man against every man.” In this state of nature, as Hobbes called it, life would be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”
Hobbes argued that to escape such a bleak life, people gave up their rights to a strong ruler. In exchange, they gained law and order. Hobbes called this agreement, by which people created govenrment, the social contract. Because people acted in their own self-interest, Hobbes said, the ruler needed toatl power to keep citizens under control. Hobbes believed that an absolute monarchy was the best government.

6. John Locke
Thought people were reasonable & had natural ability to govern themselves
Purpose of government = protect natural rights of life, liberty, and property
John Locked believed that people could learn from experience and improve themselves. As reasonable beings, they had the natural ability to govern their own affairs and to look after the welfare of society. Locke criticized absolute monarchy and favored the idea of self-government. Locke’s ideas about government are the foundation of modern democracy.

7. Voltaire
Tolerance, reason, and freedom of thought, expression, and religious belief
Born in Paris, Voltaire was the son of a lawyer. He received an excellent education but chose not to follow his father into law. Instead, he ended his schooling at age 16 and devoted h8imself to literary pursuits. He joined a group of irreverent young aristocrats and began to write witty political verses. As a young man, Voltaire got himself into a certain amount of trouble with his writing, but he also managed to meet like-minded people. Through acquaintances with philosophers, artists, and thinkers, and also through his won desire to learn and understand the world, Voltaire became a great thinker.

8. Montesquieu
Idea of Separation of Powers (3 branches of government) & checks and balances to keep any individual or group from gaining complete control of the government
Like Voltaire, Montesquieu believed that Britain was the best-governed country of his own day. He believed that “Power should be a check to power” and he called the division of power among different branches “separation of powers.”

9. Rousseau
Viewed government as a Social Contract among free individuals to create a society guided by the “general will”
All through his life, Rousseau was plagued by feelings of guilt, depression, and inferiority. His attempts to form friendships often failed, and he spent his life as an outsider is society. These difficulties may have been the result of a very unhappy childhood. Rousseau’s mother died giving birth to him. His father made him feel guilty for this and was either warm and affectionate or cold and rejecting toward his son. When Rousseau was ten years old, his father abandoned him. As an adult, Rousseau realized the was more comfortable opposing society than trying to fit into it.

10. Mary Wollstonecraft
Argued for women’s education and political participation
Believed women, like men, need education to become virtuous and useful
Wollstonecraft received very little formal edcuation. She and her two sisters taught themselves by studying books at home. Wither her sisters, she briefly ran a school. These experiences shaped her thoughts about education. She died at age 38, after giving birth to her daughter, Mary, who wrote the classic novel Frankenstein.

11. to judge for themselves what was right or wrong in society
How did Enlightenment writers and thinkers set the stage for revolutionary movements?
Encouraged people
to judge for themselves what was right or wrong in society
Rely on human reason to solve social problems

12. Major Ideas of the Enlightenment
Natural Rights – life, liberty, property = Locke
Freedom of Thought and Expression = Voltaire
Religious Freedom = Voltaire
Separation of Powers = Montesquieu
Rebellion against corrupt Gov’t is okay = Rousseau
Women’s Equality = Wollstonecraft

13. Questions
Voltaire is credited with saying: “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” What does this statement indicate about Voltaire’s views on free speech? How is it similar to beliefs about free speech in the U.S.?

14. Whose ideas are most like your own? Why?
Locke
People are reasonable and able to make decisions.
People should be able to rule themselves.
Hobbes
People are selfish, self-serving, and brutal.
Without control, society would be chaotic

15. The End