Age of Enlightenment


	The Age of Enlightenment

� Introduction to the Age of Enlightenment � The 1700�s were referred to as an �Age of Enlightenment� (also known as the Age of Reason). They believed themselves to have discovered the �light� of logical thinking revealed by science.

1) Because of advances in methodology by Descartes and Newton�s explanation of the universe, researches made great advances in the physical science.

2) During the Enlightenment scientists applied scientific ideas to politics.

French ideas

(1) Reason (Rationalism),

(2) Progress,

(3) Nature- laws of nature that govern human behavior such as, government, society, and economics made life better.

17^th Century-Scientific Method- used reason to discover laws of nature that governed physical world; philosophers believed they could also use reason to discover the human behavior and interactions.

(4) Happiness

(5) Liberty- reaction to the church or king controlling them, monarchy.

� Characteristics of the Age of Enlightenment

1. The thinkers of the Age of Enlightenment believed in observation and in cause and effect relationships between natural events. Philosophes were the thinkers of the Enlightenment. Philosophe is the French word for philosopher.

- The were critics of society

- They published their ideas in books, plays, pamphlets, newspapers, and �encyclopedias.�

- Most philosophes favored the enlightened despotism, which is a dictatorship where the rulers ruled according to the Enlightenment

- also believed in natural law and the discoveries of Newton and other scientists also seemed to support the idea that national law governed the universe.

- another one of the belief of the thinkers of the Enlightenment was that God had created the world and made rules for all living things

o In order to live in harmony, people had to use reason to discover natural law. If they lived according to this natural law and made their government and other institutions follow it, the world would become a perfect place.

o Just as the law of gravity governed the physical movement of planets, so other laws governed human behavior

2. The Encyclopedia � a handbook or reference book on the Enlightenment, which became the most famous publication of this period.

- The encyclopedia was edited by the philosophe Denis Diderot. He published 35 volumes of the encyclopedia between 1751 and 1780.

- The writings of the philosophe in the encyclopedia criticized the church, the government, the slave trade, torture, taxes, and war.

3. Salons � were gatherings of the social, political, and cultural elite. Here the philosophes could meet with one another and discuss the important issues of the day.

4. Rationalism � the belief that truth can be arrived solely by reason, or rational, logical thinking. Life went from religion � reason. The idea of �seeing is believing� was also introduced and everything became based on reason rather than religion.

� Political Criticism

1. Montesquieu � in 1748 he published The Spirit of the Laws. He believed that England had a nearly perfect government. He wrote that its greatest strength lay in the fact that power was divided equally among 3 branches of government (but he was wrong because power was not divided equally in the English government-the legislative branch had ultimate power)

- legislative � made the laws

- executive � administered them

- judicial � interpreted and applied them

These branches represent the checks and balances system.

2. Voltaire � the French writer, known as Fran�ois-Marie Arouet. He said �Liberty is speech.� He defended the freedom of speech and critical thinking. He brought and supported the idea that people had the right to choose. He was attacked on his views while returning to France but then rallied against the injustice.

3. Rousseau � believed that man is born with a �clean slate� but society corrupts him. In his book published in 1762 he wrote that people are born good but that environment, education, and law corrupts them.

- Popular sovereignty � the laws and government should be created by the will of the people. Rousseau believed that popular sovereignty was the was to achieve a good society and people rule over themselves and have the right to control their own lives.

4. Hobbes (1588-1679) - Book The Leviathan- believed in �state of nature� without laws where he calls it a state of anarchy, without laws people become greedy and selfish, which results in chaos, death, and corruption. Hobbes suggests that people give up freedom for king, in return for order. He called this the unwritten social contract, but the only right the people had to keep was the right to protect their own lives. Picture on sheet of cover of his book represents power of king (sword and scepter) and his body is made up of people, which symbolize the mutual social contract.

5. Locke-Book Two Treaties on Government He agreed with Hobbes that without government there is a state of anarchy. Also that an unwritten social contract is a good idea but the people are allowed to keep their natural rights. He says everyone is born free and equal, and an individual is born with natural rights- life, health, liberty and possessions. . Government is created in order to protect the people and their natural rights. Locke believes that if the government doesn�t protect natural rights, the people have a right to overthrow the king and government.

6. King Fredrick the Great - Enlightened despot- absolute ruler (King of Prussia) whose goal was to enlighten and make the people happy. �I am the first servant to the state�- absolute ruler who used his power to bring about social and political change. For example: codified laws in Prussia for the good of the people= enlightened people (opposite to Louis XVI who said �I am the state�)

o Answered questions by using reason

o Knowledge made people happy

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