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Enlightenment

Published on Dec 01, 2015

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PRESENTATION OUTLINE

ENLIGHTENMENT

THE AGE OF REASON

  • In the 1600s new philosophers began to view REASON as the best way to understand human nature and society
  • This new optimism and time of possibility is called the Enlightenment or The Age of Reason
  • Reached its peak in Paris 1700s when wealthy women hosted salons, social gatherings, where scientists, philosophers, artists, and writers met to discuss their ideas

NEW VIEWS ON GOVERNMENT

  • Enlightenment thinkers applied reason to understanding the organization of government
  • Thomas Hobbes- Social Contract: exchange some freedoms for the protection of government
  • John Locke- disagreed: role of government is to protect citizens' rights. Church and government should be separate and people have the right to rebel against government
  • Jean-Jacques Rousseau- believed in people's goodness and equality; if government did not protect citizens' rights, liberty, and equality of life, then the social contract was violated
  • Baron de Montesquieu- government is best under three separate branches: Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. 'No one branch could have all that power...' This idea influenced the way US government is set up.

NEW VIEWS ON SOCIETY

  • Voltaire was a famous "philosophes" that made many enemies by speaking for justice, religious toleration, and liberty
  • Diderot- wrote the encyclopedia
  • Mary Wollstonecraft- argued for women's rights
  • Adam Smith- "laissez faire" or "let them do"; free markets of supply and demand without government interference

ENLIGHTENMENT IDEAS SPREAD

  • Some European rulers reformed their governments- this movement was called enlightened despots
  • It reached kingdoms from Prussia, to Russia, and Austria
  • These kings and rulers wanted to reform their governments, but without church and landowners support a lot of reforms were denied.