1. The Enlightenment

2. What was it? Who: Intellectuals (well educated people)
What: Age of Reason
Where: Europe and American colonies
When: 18th century (1700’s)
Why: to reform society using reason and advance knowledge through science

3. Main Ideas Stressed logic and reason Don’t rely on tradition
Faith in science and education
Believed in improvement and experimentation
Secular view of the world
Religious tolerance
Political equality
Goal: to improve society

4. Philosophers
Those who considered themselves “Enlightened” were philosophers, or philosophes in France
Social critics and reformers
Thomas Hobbes
John Locke
Baron de Montesquieu
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Mary Wollstonecraft

5. Salons
A gathering in which Enlightenment thinkers would talk about the new and fashionable enlightenment ideas
Wanted to improve society

6. Thomas Hobbes Man is naturally “selfish and wicked”
The role of government is to provide order
Without government man would live in chaos

7. Hobbes’ Social Contract
Man willingly gives up some of his rights to the government in order to not live in chaos
Government provides order, safety, and stability for the people
Favored strong, absolute rulers

8. John Locke Man is naturally good and learns from his experiences
Purpose of government is to protect man’s natural rights
The people have the right to remove the government if it is not fulfilling its obligations

9. Locke’s Natural Rights
Life, Liberty, and Property
Inspired Thomas Jefferson and the American Declaration of Independence
American colonists did not believe the King of England was giving them their natural rights
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness

10. Baron de Montesquieu
Believed that corruption occurred when one individual person had too much power
Separation of powers in government would prevent one person or group from becoming too powerful
Influenced American Constitution
Three branches of government

11. Jean Jacques-Rousseau
Good people are made unhappy and corrupted by their experiences in society
In order for society to progress, man must be unhappy
The power to make laws must be in the hands of the people, not the elite
Proposed a direct-democracy

12. Mary Wollstonecraft One of a very few female philosophes
Exception, not the rule
Focused on women’s rights
Thought that women could gain equality through education
"Unfortunate Situation of Females, Fashionably Educated, and Left Without a Fortune"
Believed women are as intellectually as capable as men

13. Impact of the Enlightenment
New ideas about freedom, equality, and politics
Educational reforms
Challenges to the Church
Inspired revolutions in Haiti and America
Called for an end to slavery