1. The Age of Enlightenment

2. CAUSES Ideals of the Renaissance Scientific Revolution Absolutism
Individualism, secularism, rebirth of classical teachings
Scientific Revolution
logic, reason, mathematics
New way of thinking based on willingness to question assumptions
Absolutism
Reaction to government of total control
Questioning of DIVINE RIGHT

3. OVERVIEW
People try to apply the scientific approach to all aspects of society
Political scientists propose new ideas about government
Philosophes (philosophers) advocate the use of reason to discover truths
Address social issues through REASON

4. Characteristics of Enlightened Thought
Ideas incorporating the themes listed below were heavily discussed during this era
1. REASON-justification
2. HAPPINESS-What makes people happy?
3. LIBERTY-freedoms
4. PROGRESS-tolerance, diversity, science
5. NATURE- outside (plants, earth, universe, etc)
- inside (emotion, human interactions, etc)

5. SALONS
A gathering of men and women in private homes of Parisian intellectuals to discuss enlightened ideas

6. Voltaire
“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” -Voltaire
His intelligence, wit and style made him one of France’s greatest writers and philosophers
in favor of religious tolerance and interested in the study of the natural sciences
Believed in ENLIGHTENED KINGS

7. Jean –Jacques Rousseau
“Never exceed your rights, and they will soon become unlimited.” ROUSSEAU  
 contended that man is essentially good, a "noble savage" when in the "state of nature"  
good people are made unhappy and corrupted by their experiences in society  
most important work is "The Social Contract" that describes the relationship of man with society
"compact" agreed to among men that sets the conditions for membership in society.
“Man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains.” -Rousseau

8. "Wherever Law ends, Tyranny begins." -John Locke
"Government has no other end than the preservation of property.“ –John Locke
He postulated that the mind was a "blank slate" or "tabula rasa“; people are born without innate ideas
believed that human nature is characterized by reason and tolerance
Believed people govern not the government
"Wherever Law ends, Tyranny begins." -John Locke

9. Mary Wollstonecraft
VINDICATION ON THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN- 1792
advocating equality of the sexes
Saw women as helpless, charming adornments in the household
women were too often nauseatingly sentimental and foolish.
Education held the key to achieving a sense of self-respect and anew self-image
“Strengthen the female mind by enlarging it, and there will be an end to blind obedience.”

10. “Liberty is the right of doing whatever the laws permit.” -Montesquieu
He is famous for his articulation of the theory of separation of powers in government; executive, legislative and judicial
largely responsible for the popularization of the terms feudalism and Byzantine Empire
“Liberty is the right of doing whatever
the laws permit.” -Montesquieu