The Enlightenment Flashcards
When was the Enlightenment?
1740-89 (roughly)
Thomas Hobbes
1588-1679
Wrote ‘Leviathan’ in 1651 about the limitations of human nature
A ‘leviathan’ (dominant state) is needed to keep order in society. It follows conservative ideas of hierarchy and authority. However, with liberal ideas of a democracy atleast the authority is from the choice of the people.
If society was in a state of nature, humans would be violent together and not respect rules- ‘a war of all against all’
John Locke
1632-1704
British
Man is inherently selfish but also rational (disagrees with Hobbes) ‘rational entities’
We acknowledge, as ‘rational entities’ that our liberties are best protected by the state
Man is born with the rights of life, liberty and property
Provided theoretical basis for the American Decleration of Independence
‘where laws do not exist, we have no freedom’
Reject divine right of kings
Separation of church and state
Montesquieu
1689-1755
Supporter of constitutional monarchy (a system of government that is ruled by a king or queen whose power is limited by its country’s constitution)
Political systems have to be organised so those in government can’t accumulate or abuse power
Separation of government powers, i.e. legislative and monarchical
‘The Spirit of the laws’ Despised by the Church and placed on a list of banned books
Voltaire
1694-1778
Pen name Voltaire, called Francois-Marie Arouet
Separation of Church and state
Spent a year in the Bastille for writing libellous poems about members of the aristocracy
1726 letters de cachet against Voltaire, spent 3 years in exile.
Fostered a spirit of toleration
Rousseau
1712-1778
Developed Locke’s ideas further
Government and people in effect have a ‘social contract’
Idea of ‘general will’- whole societies which should be enacted on at all costs
Educate the whole child, not just written learning.
‘Man is born free but everywhere he is in chains’
Why was the Enlightenment seen as a threat to the Ancien Regime?
Attacked the Church
-Criticised organised religion and the CoB and the corruption inside it
-Control over the ‘ignorant masses’ lived in fear of eternal damnation
‘Limited Monarch’
-Shared power with an elected parliament
-Montesquieu
Seperation of Powers
-‘Checks and balances’
-Prevent any one group or individual
from becoming too powerful
Civil Liberty
-Unwritten law codes, arbitrary court rulings and unfair sentences
Privileges of clergy, nobility, guilds and corporations were attacked
Questioning Mercantilism (strict regulation of the economy)
How were these enlightenment ideas initially spread?
To the Bourgeois
-Ideas spread through coffee houses, academies and social gatherings
-Clubs for intellectuals
Academia had reading rooms and libraries
Free masonry lodges
However…
Literacy rate was only 50% so only the elite read these ideas, mostly because they thought it was fashionable,
