Ideas of the Enlightenment

IDEAS OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT

KEY PEOPLE OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT

• John Locke• Isaac Newton•Denis Diderot•Voltaire

• Rousseau•Montesquieu•Mary

Wollstonecraft• Adam Smith

THE AGE OF REASON

• Originated between about 1650-1700. The Enlightenment lasted until the late 18th century.• Thinkers during the Enlightenment believed

human reason could be used to achieve three great goals- knowledge, freedom, and happiness- and that achieving these goals would improve society.

THE AGE OF REASON

• The use of reason in guiding people’s thought about philosophy, society, and politics defined the time period known as the Enlightenment.• How did the Enlightenment thinkers explain

the world?• They used reason and logical thought

THE ENLIGHTENMENT'S ROOTS• Greek and Roman philosophers developed the

concept of natural law.• Natural law- the idea that a law governed how

the world operated.• In nature (gravity, planetary motion)• Government (natural rights)

• Enlightenment thinkers began applying these beliefs not just to the natural world but also to the human world of society and government.

THE ENLIGHTENMENT’S ROOTS• Enlightenment thinkers disagreed with

the church’s claims to authority and its intolerance toward non-Christian beliefs.• Thomas Aquinas taught that faith

paired with reason could explain the world, however, the Enlightenment was mostly secular.• Secular- non-religious.

THOMAS AQUINAS

THE ENLIGHTENMENT’S ROOTS

• Scholars from the Renaissance and Reformation period believed that people could improve their world by studying it and changing it.

• These ideas contributed to the Enlightenment idea of progress- the idea that humans were capable of improving their world.

THE ENLIGHTENMENT’S ROOTS

• Scientists like Newton and Galileo discovered that the world did not work exactly the way the church explained it.

• They discovered laws that governed the natural world.

• Enlightenment thinkers believed that natural laws also governed human society and government.

NEW IDEAS

• French philosophers popularized many Enlightenment ideas.• Voltaire mocked government and religion in

his writings. Instead of trusting God to improve human happiness he believed that humans could improve their own existence.

VOLTAIRE

• Spoke out against censorship- removal of information considered harmful.• “I may disapprove of what you say, but I

will defend to the death your right to say it.”

• His ideas emphasized the Enlightenment goal of freedom of thought.

VOLTAIRE

DENIS DIDEROT

• French philosopher and writer who served as co-founder and chief editor of the Encyclopedia.

• This book included articles by more than 100 experts on science, technology, and history.

• The French King and the pope both banned the Encyclopedia.

DENIS DIDEROT

ROUSSEAU• French thinker who criticized divine right.

Believed in popular sovereignty.

• Popular sovereignty- government shall express the will of the people.

• Published The Social Contract in 1762

• Believed that citizens submit to the authority of government to protect their own interests, entering into a social contract.

• This social contract gives the government the power to make and enforce laws as long as it serves the people.

• Influenced Ben Franklin

MONTESQUIEU

• French nobleman who built on many of Locke’s Ideas in his The Spirit of the Laws in 1748.

• Believed that government should be divided into separate branches in order to protect peoples freedoms.

• This idea is known as the separation of powers.

• Each branch is limited by the others.

NEW IDEAS

• In spite of censorship, Enlightenment ideas spread. One important place for the exchange of ideas was the salon.• Salon- a social gathering held to discuss ideas.

• Most Enlightenment thinkers did not view women as equal to men. However, in hosting salons women could influence opinions.

NEW IDEAS

• British writers began to publish their ideas in books, pamphlets, and newspaper articles.

• Mary Wollstonecraft argued that women should have the same rights as men.

• Adam Smith believed economics was governed by natural laws. He argued that governments should not try to control the economy and that economic growth came when individuals were free to make their own choices.

MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT

• Wollstonecraft is best known for A Vindication for the Rights of Woman (1792), in which she argues that women are not naturally inferior to men, but appear to be only because they lack education. She suggests that both men and women should be treated as rational beings and imagines a social order founded on reason.

MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT

ADAM SMITH

• Wrote The Wealth of Nations, which is considered the first modern work of economics. It earned him an enormous reputation and would become one of the most influential works on economics ever published.

• Smith is widely cited as the father of modern economics and capitalism.

ADAM SMITH

SUMMARY

• Scholars during the Enlightenment drew on ideas from previous eras. • They proposed ideas about the

importance of reason and progress.