2. WHAT WAS IT?
Less a set of ideas than it was a set of attitudes
At its core was:
Criticism
A questioning of traditional institutions, customs and
morals
Viewpoint summed up by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
in The Social Contract:
“Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains”
Most popular thinkers were those who could
simplify and publicise new viewpoints
3. CHARACTERISTICS OF
ENLIGHTENMENT
Everything had a cause and effect
Rationalism – truth can be arrived at
solely by reason, or rational, logical
thinking
Reasoning to Solve Social Problems
Questioning of established ideas
Did not attack religion, but superstition
Disliked Absolute Monarchy
aka – Age of Reason
4. IMMANUEL KANT
Read Kant’s What is Enlightenment from 1784 and
answer the following questions.
Where does freedom come from according to Kant?
...
Limit religion
Encourage own intelligence
Have the courage to use one’s own intelligence
6. PHILOSOPHERS
Published work in books, plays, pamphlets,
newspapers, and “encyclopedias”
At this time (1700s), the educated wrote in
French
Writings criticized the church, government,
slave trade, torture, taxes, and war
Wrote in a questioning style
7.
8. DEFINITION BY AN ENEMY
Just what is a philosophe? A kind of monster in
society who feels under no obligation towards its
manners and morals, its properties, its politics, or
its religion. One may expect anything from men of
their ilk.
9. PHILOSOPHERS
Thomas Hobbes - England
People enter into a
social contract in
which they exchange
freedom and rights for
security and order
A strong government
was necessary to
protect people from
themselves
10. THOMAS HOBBES
Published the Leviathan
In the beginning, people lived in anarchy
Life is violent and dangerous
People choose a leader to rule them
People give Monarch absolute power
A social contract creates stability
People only have the right to protect themselves
Hobbes preferred Absolute Rule
11. Famous Hobbes Quotes
“During the time men live without a common power
to keep them all in awe, they are in that conditions
called war; and such a war, as if of every man,
against every man.”
“It is not wisdom but Authority that makes a law.”
“The obligation of subjects to the sovereign is
understood to last as long, and no longer, than the
power lasteth by which he is able to protect them.”
“The Papacy is not other than the Ghost of the
deceased Roman Empire, sitting crowned upon the
grave thereof.”
12. PHILOSOPHERS
John Locke - England
People are reasonable
by nature and they
have natural rights
Life, liberty, and
property
Government should
protect those rights
Government power
comes from the
consent of the people
13. JOHN LOCKE
Published Two Treatises of Government
People have made a social contract
But have kept:
The right to live
The right to enjoy liberty
The right to own property
Rulers must preserve these rights
If not, people have the right to overthrow such ruler and
replace him for breaking the social contract
Locke’s preferred Government is a consensual
government between the people and their ruler
Democracy or a Constitutional Government
14. Famous Locke Quotes
“All mankind... being all equal and independent, no
one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty
or possessions.”
“Every man has a property in his own person. This
nobody has a right to, but himself.”
“Government has no other end, but the
preservation of property.”
“Our incomes are like our shoes; if too small, they
gall and pinch us; but if too large, they cause us to
stumble and to trip.”
15. BARON DE MONTESQUIEU
Political liberty could best be preserved through the
separation of powers among branches of government
A system of Checks and Balances is needed
Published The Spirit of the Laws
Promoted separation of powers
Legislative – makes the laws
Executive – administers the laws
Judicial – interprets and applies the laws
These powers should check each other
Will later influence the U.S. Constitution
16. Montesquieu
He preferred Non-
Absolute rule
Constitutional
Government
18. Famous Montesquieu Quotes
“Countries are well cultivated, not as they are
fertile, but as they are free.”
“If we only wanted to be happy, it would be easy;
but we want to be happier than other people, and
that is almost always difficult, since we think them
happier than they are.”
“To become truly great, one has to stand with
people, not above them.”
“There is no nation so powerful, as the one that
obeys its laws not from principals of fear or reason,
but from passion.”
19. VOLTAIRE
French Philosopher
Supported natural rights but felt that few people really had the
ability to rule
freedom of religion and freedom of speech
Tolerance of other’s religious views and viewpoints
Wit had him exiled from France
Used his intellect to criticize the French government and
the Catholic Church for their failure to permit religious
toleration and intellectual freedom.
Published novel Candide
Also wrote Letters on the English and Elements of the
Philosophy of Newton
Ridicules oppressive government, prejudice, and bigotry
Later fought in cases of injustice, particularly against
religious prejudice
20. Voltaire
Believes in Absolute
Rule if the ruler is:
Enlightened
Supports human rights
22. Famous Voltaire Quotes
“All murderers are punished unless they kill in large
numbers and to the sound of trumpets.”
“Common sense is not so common.”
“I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll
defend to the death your right to say it.”
“It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the
established authorities are wrong.”
“Judge a man by his questions rather than his
answers.”
“The art of government is to make two-thirds of a
nation pay all it possibly can pay for the benefit of
the other third.”
23. JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU
Believed in Direct Democracy
butpeople should give up some of their freedom for the common
good
all people are born equal
Published The Social Contract
“People are born good, but environment,
education, and laws corrupt them”
“Free and good people will only remain if
governed by popular sovereignty”
People can choose what government to live under
MAJOR influence on American and French
Revolutions
24. Rousseau
Supports a democratic
government
Government derives its
authority from the
consent of the people
Governed through a
contract
Government represents
the people
26. Famous Rousseau Quotes
“Every man has a right to risk his own life for the
preservation of it.”
“Free people, remember this maxim: we may
acquire liberty, but it is never recovered if it is once
lost.”
“Man is born free, and everywhere he is in
shackles.”
“People who know little are usually great talkers,
while men who know much say little.”
27. FEMALE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
ENLIGHTENMENT
In Paris and other places in The middle-class women
France, wealthy women held such as Madame de Geoffrin
salons {informal gatherings} start to have salons.
where writers, musicians, Voltaire and leading
painters, and, philosophes philosophes gathered at
presented their works and Madame de Geoffrin’s salon
exchange ideas. at least once a week.
Salons originated in the Through their salons women
1600s when women started helped shape the
inviting a few friends to Enlightenment.
poetry readings. Emilie du Chatelet became a
People who were considered noted physicist and
witty, intelligent, and well- mathematician and
read were invited to the translated Newton’s work
Enlightenment. from Latin into French.
28. POLITICAL CRITICISM
Politicaland Social Institutions should be changed
to benefit everyone instead of just certain groups
Popular Sovereignty – laws and government created
by and subject to the will of the people
Enlightened Despots – some Monarchs began to
adopt Enlightenment philosophies and ruled with
the respect of subject’s rights
Maria Teresa and her son Joseph II of Austria
Catherine II of Russia
Frederick II of Prussia
29. IMPACTS ON FUTURE
The ideas proposed by the Enlightenment thinkers
had a great impact throughout Europe in the 1700s.
Greater numbers of people began to question
established beliefs and customs.
This affected leaders and their development
Philosophers promoted nationalism and
individual rights
Revolutions were inspired by nationalistic ideas
growing out of the Enlightenment
British Colonial America
France
Haiti
