BackgroundThe Enlightenment developed as an extension of the Scientific Revolution. During
the Scientific Revolution, Europeans discarded traditional beliefs and began using reason to explain the world around them. While the Scientific Revolution focused on the physical world, the Enlightenment attempted to explain the purpose of government, and describe the best form of it. The most influential Enlightenment thinkers were Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Voltaire, Baron de Montesquieu, and Jean Jacques Rousseau.This chart is a good tool for comparing the ideas of the Enlightenment to Absolutist Monarchs.
Use it to create a comparison chart with the last blog entry.
- What was one major belief?
- How did they feel about power?
- Who should be in charge?
- Is free speech allowed?
- How do these ideas influence us today?
| Enlightenment Thinker | Ideas |
 John Locke |
- ideas used by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence
- believed all individuals had natural rights which include "life, liberty, and property
- state should protect individual rights
- citizens should rebel against unjust governments
- wrote Two Treatises of Government
|
Montesquieu |
- three-part government -- legislative, executive, and judicial
- separation of governmental powers
- U.S. government based on his suggested structure
- wrote On the Spirit of Laws
- Believed in the rights of the individual
- influence the writing of constitutions of many countries including the United States
|
 Rousseau |
believed politics and morality are not separate
he is considered an opponent of the Enlightenments emphasis on reason
believed people should rely more on instinct and emotion
state is created to preserve freedom
government is a contract between the ruler and citizens
wrote The Social Contract
|
| Hobbes |
- Believed in a brutish "state of nature" men are evil and fighting against each other in the state of nature. It is dangerous and chaotic.
- Men will give up some of their liberty to get the benefit of the government's protection
- This is a social contract.
|
 Mary Wollstonecraft |
Born 1759 in London
Became a teacher and a writer
disagreed with societies treatment of women
believed marriage was particularly unfair to women
advocated equal education for women and men
wrote Vindication of the Rights of Women
believed that both sexes could contribute equally to society
|
