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The EnlightenmentCauses of Revolution
What are the main ideas of the Enlightenment philosophers?
How do they challenge the powers of Absolute Monarchs?
John LockeThomas Hobbes
Voltaire
Objectives
Thomas Hobbes
Leviathan (1651)
Englishman
Man motivated by power & fear –> needed an all-powerful sovereign◦ Without one, life would
be “solitary, nasty, poor, brutish & short”
Politics as a science
John LockeIndividual must become
rational, man innately good – TABULA RASA
Virtue can be learned & practiced
“Divine right of kings” is nonexistent
“Two Treaties of Civil Government”
Natural rights given to all◦Life, liberty & property
Favored a republicSocial contract btw people
& government (what is influenced by this idea??)
Baron de Montesquieu (Charles de Secondat)
1st of the French Philosophes“The Spirit of the Laws” (1749)Separation of powers ensures freedom &
liberty3 types of government= monarchy,
despotism & republic
Voltaire (AKA Francois Marie Arouet)
Author & poet
“Candide” (1759)
Men are born equal-virtue makes the difference
Directly critiqued French crown so fled
Jean Jacques Rousseau
“The Social Contract” (1762)Virtue exists in nature, not in
society“Man is born free, yet
everywhere he is in chains.”
Government is necessary Liberty, equality, fraternity
(brotherhood)General will= with each
other, not rulersRepublican government with
direct democracy◦No legal protections for
individual rights Influenced French
revolutionaries & Karl Marx
Mary Wollstonecraft
• Vindication of the Rights of Woman
•English writer, philosopher
•Men & women are equal
Salons
Aftermath…Revolution?
New forms of civil society arose◦Literacy increasing
Reform & critique couldn’t stop
Birth of the “individual”◦Natural rights
Implications??
Conclusion & Connections
So…◦What are the main ideas of the Enlightenment
philosophers?
◦How do they challenge the powers of Absolute Monarchs?
Enlightenment Primary Source Documents
Answer the following questions after you’ve read the documents:
(group-work is ok, but I only need 1 paper per group):◦How would these writers have come up with their point of
view?◦What is Hobbes main argument? Include details.◦What is Locke’s main argument/message? Provide details.◦What are the major tenets/beliefs of Montesquieu &
Rousseau?
Answer individually (& turn in by the end of class):◦Describe how 2 Enlightenment thinkers directly
challenged absolutism (absolute monarchy). Be specific & give examples from the text.