Enlightenment Philosophers

1. ENLIGHTENMENT PERIOD
17
th
and 18
th
Centuries

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

5. ENCYCLOPEDIA

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

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

17. THE SPIRIT OF THE LAWS

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

21. PHILOSOPHICAL DICTIONARY

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
but people 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

25. THE SOCIAL CONTRACT

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
France, wealthy women held
salons {informal gatherings}
where writers, musicians,
painters, and, philosophes
presented their works and
exchange ideas.
Salons originated in the
1600s when women started
inviting a few friends to
poetry readings.
People who were considered
witty, intelligent, and well-
read were invited to the
Enlightenment.
The middle-class women
such as Madame de Geoffrin
start to have salons.
Voltaire and leading
philosophes gathered at
Madame de Geoffrin’s salon
at least once a week.
Through their salons women
helped shape the
Enlightenment.
Emilie du Chatelet became a
noted physicist and
mathematician and
translated Newton’s work
from Latin into French.

28. POLITICAL CRITICISM
Political and 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