The Enlightenment Questions and
Answers Already Passed
The Enlightenment
European intellectual movement of the late 17th and 18th centuries emphasizing reason and
individualism rather than tradition.
Social Contract
...
The Enlightenment Questions and
Answers Already Passed
The Enlightenment
European intellectual movement of the late 17th and 18th centuries emphasizing reason and
individualism rather than tradition.
Social Contract
The agreement by which people define and limit their individual rights thus creating an
organised society or government
Reason
Enlightened thinkers believed truth could be discovered through reason or logical thinking.
Scientific Revolution
Group of scholars mid 1500s published their works that challenged the ideas of the ancient
thinkers and the church based on logic and reason. This was the start of the Scientific Revolution
Natural Rights
Life, Liberty, and Property.
Natural Law
A body of unchanging moral principles regarded as a basis for all human conduct.
Principal Ideas of the Enlightenment
•Rationalism: Belief that truth can be arrived at only by
reason (rational, logical thinking)
• Cause and Effect: Belief that everything has a cause and an effect and that these can be
discovered through observation and experiment
• Natural Law: Belief that the universe is guided by simple laws preordained by God, such as the
law of gravitation. Denial of the possibility of miracles, which contradicts these natural laws
• Progress: Belief that society and individuals can be improved and progress toward perfection.
Denial of the medieval view that humanity is in a state of decline from a golden age of the
distant past (identified by medieval thinkers with the classical era of Greece and Rome)
• Freedom: Belief that individuals should be free to make up their own minds and form their own
beliefs without being restricted by superstition, religious dogma, or autocratic government
• Happiness: Belief that a morally good life is a happy life. Denial of the view of the medieval
Christian Church that people should endure hardship on Earth in the hope of reward after death
Thomas Hobbes
Believed in Social Contracts, he believed that all humans are wicked and cruel. Social Contract
is when people give up their rights so that Law and Order can happen, he believe that an absolute
monarch is the best.
John Locke
Believed that all people are born free, and that every human being has the three Natural Rights;
Life, Liberty, and Property
Philosophes
They were the intellectuals of the 18th century enlightenment.
Five Beliefs of the Philosophes
1. Reason, 2. Nature, 3. Happiness, 4. Progress, 5. Liberty
Voltaire
Fought for pure liberty for everyone, freedom was his goal, tolerance and freedom of religion.
00:0201:42
Beccaria
He tried to proceed to the abolishment of torture.
Montesquieu
A French political philosopher who advocated the separation of executive and legislative and
judicial powers (1689-1755).
Rousseau
Believed that all noble names should be abolish to earn equal rights.
Wollstonecraft
She fought for Women rights and equality, and that women should be able to go to school.
Legacy of the Enlightenment
The Enlightenment paved the way for the various revolutions such as the French and the
American, both of which had a significant impact on modern history.
Salons
Wealthy women who owed big mansions, and hosted the meeting of the intellectuals to discuss
about governmental systems.
Denis Diderot
The inventor of the Encyclopedia.
Spread of the Enlightenment
The Enlightenment spread into different fields of culture, for example: Art and Music was
influenced by The Enlightenment, making a new type of art called "Neoclassic" and started to
make more calmer music which is know today as "Classical" music. While everything in back
then was complex and busy, the Enlighten Arts became calmer and stable.
Enlightened Despots
Are monarchs that were converted by the Enlightenment with their ideas and believes. Catherine
II of Russia, she drafted a constitution with rules the Enlightenment wanted, but it was never
used.
Reason
Enlightened thinkers believed truth could be discovered through reason or logical thinking
Nature
The philosophes believed that what was natural was also good and reasonable.
Happiness
The philosophes rejected the medieval notion that people should find joy in the hereafter an
urged people to seek well-being on earth.
Progress
The philosophes stressed that society and humankind could improve
Liberty
The philosophes called for the liberties that
the English people had won in their Glorious
Revolution and Bill of Rights.
[Show More]