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Welcome to the

Enlightenment!

The Enlightenmen

tlasted from about 1650-

1800.

Attitude and method of thought.

Enlightenment: A time when reason

was used to find out truths about human

beings!

“Dare to Know”Immanuel Kant

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Who were the major thinkers

that helped change lives?

Wait until you see how it affects

your life!

The Renaissance, Reformation, and Scientific Revolution all contributed with new ways of thinking

and looking at things.

Hobbes, Locke, Beccarai, Montesquieu,

Rousseau, Franklin, Jefferson, Voltaire,

Wollstonecraft, Smith, Bolivar

were religion and the domination of society by a hereditary aristocracy (upper class).

reason could be used to combat ignorance, superstition, and tyranny and to build a better world.

People make their own choices and decisions!!!

Some claimed that humans were like God, with a share of his creative power (make own choices.)

Various humanists had begun to ask dangerous questions and challenge the Church (make rules that helped them.)

1.) Repression- witch-hunts,wars of religion, and imperial conquest.

2.) Persecution- people could be imprisoned for attending the wrong church or for not attending any.

3.) Slavery- workers and debtors increase in colonies

4.) People realize change and they can write new charters, form new governments, pass new laws, begin new businesses

A new class of merchants brought back wealth from Asia and the Americas, partially displacing the old aristocracy whose power had been rooted in the ownership of land.

These merchants had their own ideas about the sort of world they wanted to inhabit, and they became major agents of change, in the arts, in government, and in the economy. They were naturally

convinced that their earnings were the result of their individual merit and hard work, unlike the inherited wealth of aristocrats.

The ability of individual effort to transform the world became a European dogma, lasting to this day.

The general trend was clear: individualism, freedom and change replaced community, authority, and tradition as core European values.

Great Britain developed its own Enlightenment, fostered by thinkers like John Locke and David Hume. England had deposed and

decapitated its king in the 17th century. Although the monarchy had eventually been restored, this experience created a certain openness toward change.

English Protestantism struggled to express itself in ways that widened the limits of freedom of speech and press. Radical Quakers and Unitarians challenged old dogmas.

The English and French Enlightenments exchanged influences through many channels. Because England had gotten

its revolution out of the way early, it was able to proceed more smoothly down the road to democracy.

But English liberty was dynamite when transported to France, where resistance by church and state was fierce.

Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, many of the intellectual leaders of the American colonies were drawn to the Enlightenment. Jefferson, Washington,

Franklin, and Paine were powerfully influenced by Enlightenment thought.

The God who underwrites the concept of equality in the Declaration of Independence is the same deist God Rousseau worshipped.

Voltaire and his allies in France struggled to assert the values of freedom and tolerance in a culture where the twin fortresses of monarchy and Church opposed almost everything they stood for. To oppose the monarchy openly

would be fatal. The Church was an easier

target: Protestantism had made religious controversy familiar. Voltaire could skillfully cite one Christian against another to make his arguments.

How did scientific progress promote trust in human reason?

How did the social contract and separation of powers affect views on government?

How did new ideas affect society and the economy?

Identify the philosophies of major Enlightenment thinkers such as: John Locke, Baron de Montesquieu, Adam Smith.

1500-1700: European scientists using reason to discover laws of natureVery successful: Planetary movements,

chemistry, vaccine for smallpox, etc. Early 1700’s: If people used reason

to find laws that governed the physical world, why not use reason to discover natural laws?Laws that govern human natureReformers begin studying human

nature and societal problems

Every social, political and economic problem could be solved through the use of reason

Governments are created to secure an orderly society

Separation of powers is the best way to protect human liberties

All men are created “free and equal”

A free market should be allowed to regulate trade

John Locke

Baron de Montesqui

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Voltaire

Thomas Hobbes John Locke•Humans are naturally

cruel, greedy and selfish.

•To escape this “brutish” life people entered into a social

contract.•Only a powerful

government could ensure an orderly

society.•Believed only an

absolute monarchy could keep a society completely orderly.

•Humans are naturally reasonable, moral and

good•Humans have natural rights: life liberty and

property•People form

governments to protect natural rights

•Best government was one with limited power

•If a government violates people’s

natural rights, people have the right to

overthrow government

Baron de Montesquieu: Criticized absolute monarchy and admired British governmentBritish protected themselves from

tyranny by dividing powers of government between three branches: legislative, executive and judicial (misconception)

Each branch of government should be able to ‘check’ the other two

What government does this sound like?

Physiocrats rejected mercantilism in favor of a policy called laissez faire.Physiocrats were Enlightenment thinkers who focused on economic

reforms Laissez-Faire: allowing business to

operate with little or no government interferenceReal wealth comes from productive land

not gold and silverSupported free trade and opposed tariffs

Adam Smith: Free market should be allowed to regulate business activity Manufacturing, trade, wages, profits and

economic growth are all linked to the market forces of supply and demand

Where there is demand, suppliers will seek to meet it because there are profits and economic rewards to be had

Smith supported laissez faire, but also believed that a government had a duty to protect society, administer justice, and provide public works.

His ideas lead to very productive economies during the Industrial Revolution (1800’s and 1900’s)

Detested the slave trade and slavery Deplored religious prejudice Defended freedom of speech Attacked divine right theory Urged education for all Hated unequal distribution of

property Believed governments should be

freely elected Women’s first duty was to her family

Women: Women were not equal and were criticized for attempting to gain equality

Salons: Men and women gather in living rooms to discuss Enlightenment ideas (chat rooms)

Music: Ballets and operas become popular (Bach, Handel, Mozart)

Art: Baroque gives way to rococo art (simple, elegant and charming)

Literature: Novels become popular (Robinson Cruesoe)

Majority/Lower Class/Peasants: Slow to change and hurt the worst Serfdom disappears in the west, rises in the east Peasants in Western Europe allowed to own or

rent land All peasants throughout Europe dealt with

similar issues Forced into military Lands could be torn up without compensation

by nobility Some peasants become eager for

change, some resist change completely

Who believed that people are naturally cruel and greedy?

a) Montesquieub) Hobbes

c) Rousseaud) Voltaire

Which of the following is true of the physiocrats?a) They rejected laissez faire in favor of

mercantilism. b) They rejected mercantilism in favor of

laissez faire.c) They rejected both mercantilism and

laissez faire.d) They focused on social reform.

Who believed that people are naturally cruel and greedy?

a) Montesquieub) Hobbes

c) Rousseaud) Voltaire

Which of the following is true of the physiocrats?a) They rejected laissez faire in favor of

mercantilism. b) They rejected mercantilism in favor of

laissez faire.c) They rejected both mercantilism and

laissez faire.d) They focused on social reform.

In republican governments, men are all equal; equal they are also in

despotic governments: in the former, because they are everything; in the

latter, because they are nothing.

~Baron de Montesquieu The Spirit of Laws Bk. VI,

Ch.2

The market price of every particular commodity is

regulated by the proportion between the quantity which is actually brought to

market, and the demand of those who are willing to pay the natural price of the commodity or the whole value of the

rent, labor and profit which must be paid in

order to bring it thither.

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The reason why men enter into society is the preservation of their property, and putting themselves

under government, is the preservation of their property.

~John Locke Second Treatise of Government ChXIX, “Of the Dissolution in Government”