Section B Intellectual Change Flashcards
Thesis
Significant changes in the way that people thought about life, science, and their position in society. However, impact may be limited to ruling elite/ literate or political ‘class’.
Themes
religious change, role of the monarch, role of parliament, development of society, urbanisation, the public sphere
Key figures
the Levellers, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Francis Bacon, Isaac Newton
Levellers’ aim
They (especially John Lilburne, William Walwyn, and Richard Overton) would argue that they wanted a ‘levelling’ of society.
They wanted to throw off the ‘Norman Yoke’ (the tyrannical rules imposed by the Normans) and return to a style of life before the 1066, where they believed English people were free from unnatural rules and hierarchies.
Levellers’ downfall and key works
The group was never united and the ideas varied from one individual to another.
Key works include ‘England’s Lamentable Slaverie (October 1645)’, ‘A remonstrance of many thousand citizens’ (July 1646), and ‘An Agreement of the People’ (1647).
Levellers’ Putney Debates
They were central in the Putney Debates, where they argued for male suffrage, biennial parliaments, and a reorganisation of parliamentary constituencies. The House of Commons was supposed to have key legal standing.
Levellers’ not
Must not confuse them with the ‘True Levellers’ (the Diggers).
Thomas Hobbes overview
Lived 1588-1679
Fled to Paris during the Civil Wars
Tutor to Charles II (1647-1648)
Hobbes key work
The Leviathan (1651)
Hobbes key idea
Key idea: a ‘social contract’. This is an agreement between the people and the government. The people must listen to the government at all times, but in return the government must provide security. The Leviathan or government would have total control for the sake of security.
Hobbes impact on political/social ideas
Impact on political/social ideas: this would ensure that there was some form of a monarch. Ironically, it would help legitimise Cromwell’s authority as Lord Protector (something Hobbes did not necessarily intend).
Hobbes loss of support
The publication of the work meant that royalists, who had previously supported Hobbes, became quickly annoyed with him (they argued it brought on secularist ideas).
Hobbes had to flee back to England as the French also distrusted him. The Republican governments of 1650s gave him protection and he lived in London (Fetter Lane).
John Locke overview
Lived in England (1632-1704)
His father was a Puritan who fought for Parliament.
His patron was the Early of Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley Cooper, a prominent Whig (his father was a member of Charles II’s Cabal)
Locke key work
Two Treatises on Government (1689)
Locke key ideas
no government can be justified by an appeal to the divine right of kings and that the state of nature is when all men are free, equal, and are governed by reason.
