Socials: The Enlightenment

• Enlightenment: Age of Enlightenment; age of reason; intellectual and philosophical movement
• The enlightenment began in the 17th century and ended in the 18th century (exactly 1685-1815) in Europe
• It started because people were influenced by the renaissance (which was when there was a rebirth in art, literature, and science)
• Enlighten means to give. greater knowledge or understanding of a subject or situation
• It was a period where there was an increase of interest in knowledge through reasoning

  Ex: many philosophers began more in depth contemplations on ideas like God, reason, nature, and humanity as well as society and systemic roles
• Some philosophers were Hobbs, Locke, Marx, and Russeau
• Hobbs:

  • weaker groups gave up freedom
  • nasty and short
  • against freedom, needs violence, dictators
  • wishes of individuals threatens interests of collective
• Locke:

  • Rational and reasonable
  • life, liberty, and property
  • people can have individual rights
  • against dicier rights of kings
  • American revolution; tarnation of tea
• Russeau:

  • repressing natural character for goodwill
  • against selfish individuals
  • social contrasts
  • forced democracy
  • aboriginal peoples
• Marx:

  • democracy = widen the difference between rich and poor
  • needs dictatorship, then create a society without a government (becoming unified)
  • communism
• Collective = Hobbs and Marx

  Individualistic = Locke and Russeau
• during the 1640s Hobbes witnessed the violent upheavals of a civil war in England
• Hobbes was convinced that if people were left alone they would constantly fight among themselves
• Hobbes published a book in 1651 called Leviathan
• Hobbes described a state of nature where people had no laws or government which he said would be nasty and brutish
• Hobbes said people should lived in a contract where they gave up their freedom and agreed to obey a ruler, in exchange the ruler ensured peace and order
• The best government to Hobbes was one where the ruler had absolute power and where the people could not rebel
• In 1690 John Locke published "Two Treaties on Government"
• Locke agreed with Hobbes but thought people should be allowed to rebel if the ruler was a tyrant
• Locke believed people had natural rights to life, Liberty, and property and the government was responsible for protecting these rights
• Many writers and thinkers who expanded on Locke's ideas were known as philosophers
• Philosophers were concerned about many social issues and urged religious toleration and condemned wars of religion
• Philosophers called for freedom of speech and believed government censorship of the press was harmful as it prevented people from learning about new ideas
• Philosophies denounced slavery and they spoke out against torture and cruel punishment for crimes and inhuman treatment of the mentally ill
• physiocrats looked for natural laws to explain economics
• Mercantilism influenced the economic policies and was an economic philosophy maintaining the nations economic strength by exporting more goods than importing
• physiocrats opposed mercantilism
• physiocrats argued that land was the true source of national wealth not gold and silver so they urged rulers to encourage farming
• physiocrats believed that there should be no restrictions on trade so farmers could sell their product wherever there was a market which was called a free market
• Montesquieu was born ti a noble family and was a jeeb student of the government
• Montesquieu read the works of Newton and Lock and wrote a book called "The Spirit of Laws"
• Montesquieu believed the English government preserved the Liberty of the separation of the government into three branches: Legislative, Judaical, Executive
• Montesquieu believed the legislature made the laws, the executive (the king) enforced the laws, and the judiciary (the courts) interpreted the laws
• Montesquieu believed each branch should be carefully defined to provide a system of checks and balances
• Montesquieu's ideas on checks and balances and separation of power influenced the men who wrote the Constitution of the United States
• Francois Marie Arouet used the pen name Voltaire
• Voltaire became popular for his witty plays and novels and his pamphlets attacking evils in society
• Voltaire spent most of his life arguing about religious toleration and freedom of thought
• Voltaire is credited with saying "I do not agree with a word you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
• Voltaire praised English liberties and the works of Newton and Locke