1. The Enlightenment

2. Do Now Questions
1.What does it mean to be
enlightened?
2.What is reason?
These are tough! Do your best!!!

3. What is the Enlightenment?
An intellectual movement
where thinkers used reason
and the scientific method,
rather than religious
teachings, to help them
understand their world.

4. What is the Enlightenment?
They believed that human
reason could be used to
achieve 3 great goals:
knowledge, freedom &
happiness.

5. Also known as the...

6. When did it take place?
The Enlightenment started in the
late seventeenth century and
continued throughout the
eighteenth century.
late 17th century= late 1600s
eighteenth century=1700s

7. Where did the Enlightenment take
place?
The
Enlighten-
ment
started off
in Britain
and spread
to France.

8. Where did the Enlightenment take
place?
Later, it
spread
around
the globe,
including
the
Americas.

9. What was Europe Like Before the
Enlightenment?
•Most leaders
were absolute
monarchs-kings
that held all the
power and had
little respect for
the average
person.

10. What was Europe Like Before the
Enlightenment?
•Religious leaders
told people that
the purpose of life
was to do good
deeds in order to
get to heaven.
Many aspects of
life had religious
ties.

11. What was Europe Like Before the
Enlightenment?
•The average person had no say in
government or the creation of laws.
•Only wealthy men had access to
good education.
•Children were viewed as small
adults.
•Women were seen as inferior to
men.

12. Why did the Enlightenment happen?
Roots of the Enlightenment:
-Renaissance:
Reintroduction of classical
(Greek & Roman) thought,
focus on individual.
-Reformation: Questioning
of the Catholic Church &
its authority/supremacy.

13. Why did the Enlightenment happen?
-Scientific Revolution: If
people can use reason
to find laws that
governed the physical
world, why not use
reason to discover
natural laws? (Laws that
govern human nature.)

14. Who was involved?
• Men, of all social classes, were
part of the Enlightenment.
• In France, these thinkers were
referred to as philosophes,
which is the French word for
philosopher.

15. Who was involved?
• Women were also part
of the Enlightenment.
Some were philosophers
like Mary
Wollstonecraft, but
most often, women
organized events where
people could share
ideas and debate.

16. These gatherings were called salons.

17. What impact did the Enlightenment
have?
1.The ideas of the philosophers
encouraged changes in gov't,
society, and economic structures.
2.The ideas of various Enlightenment
philosophers encouraged
revolutions in Europe and around
the world.

19. What are we going to learn about
next?
There were many key thinkers
during the Enlightenment that
explored and challenged existing
ideas about the government,
society, and the economy. We are
going to focus in on a few of these
individuals and their ideas.