CHAPTER 22

SECTION 2 THE ENLIGHTENMENT IN EUROPE

TWO VIEWS OF GOVERNMENT

• ENLIGHTENMENT- KNOWN AS THE AGE OF REASON

• REASON: the power of the mind to think, understand, and form judgments by a process of logic.

• BROUGHT FORTH IDEA IN ENGLAND DURING 1600’S AFTER POLITICAL TURMOIL

THOMAS HOBBES• WROTE LEVIATHAN (SEA MONSTER). • BELIEVED ALL HUMANS AS SELFISH & WICKED. • ARGUED PEOPLE GAVE UP THEIR RIGHTS FOR A

STRONG RULER FOR GAINING LAW AND ORDER & SELF INTEREST, THIS IS KNOWN AS A SOCIAL CONTRACT.

• BEST GOVERNMENT WAS ONE THAT HADAN ABSOLUTE MONARCHY IN WHICH THEY COULD IMPOSE ORDER AND DEMAND OBEDIENCE.

JOHN LOCKE• BELIEVED PEOPLE COULD

LEARN FROM EXPERIENCE AND HAD NATURAL ABILITY TO GOVERN THEIR OWN AFFAIRS AND TO LOOK AFTER THE WELFARE OF SOCIETY, FAVORING A SELF-GOVERNMENT.

• BELIEVED ALL PEOPLE WERE BORN FREE AND EQUAL WITH 3 NATURAL RIGHTS– LIFE– LIBERTY– PROPERTY

JOHN LOCKE

• PURPOSE OF GOVERNMENT WAS TO PROTECT RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE. IF GOVERNMENT FAILS CITIZENS HAVE RIGHT TO OVER THROW IT.

• GOVERNMENTS POWER COMES FROM CONSENT FROM THE PEOPLE. THEORY BECOMES FOUNDATION OF MODERN DEMOCRACY

U.S DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

• “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

THE PHILOSOPHES ADVOCATE REASON

• PHILOSOPHES- CRITICS IN FRANCE DURING MID 1700S BELIEVED THAT PEOPLE COULD APPLY REASON TO ALL ASPECTS OF LIFE–REASON–NATURE–HAPPINESS–PROGRESS– LIBERTY

• REASON- TRUTH COULD BE DISCOVERED THROUGH LOGICAL THINKING

• NATURE- BELIEVED MANY THINGS WERE NATURAL. LAWS OF ECONOMIC & POLITCS JUST AS LAWS OF MOTION

• HAPPINESS- LIVING BY NATURES LAW COULD FIND HAPPINESS. ACCEPT MISERY TO FIND JOY IN THE HEREAFTER

• PROGRESS- PROGRESS IN SOCIETY. • LIBERTY- SOCIETY COULD BE SET FREE.

Beliefs of the Philosophes

VOLTAIRE• MOST BRILLIANT AND

INFLUENTIAL PHILOSOPHER (FRANCOIS MARIE AROUET).

• USED SATIRE AGAINST HIS OPPENENTS. OFTEN TARGETED CLERGY, ARISTOCRACY, AND THE GOVERNMENT.

• FOUGHT FOR TOLERANCE, REASON, FREEDOM OF RELIGIOUS BELIEF, AND FREEDOM OF SPEECH.

MONTESQUIEU• FRENCH WRITER, STUDIED

ANCIENT ROME AND CONCLUDED THEIR COLLAPSE WAS DIRECTLY RELATED TO ITS LOSS OF POLITICAL LIBERTIES.

• SEPARATION OF POWERS- DIVISION OF POWER AMONG DIFFERENT BRANCHES

• CHECKS & BALANCES- EACH BRANCH OF GOVERNMENT IS EQUAL AND WOULD ELIMINATE EITHER BRANCH FROM GAINING MORE POWER THAN THE OTHER. HIS IDEAS BECAME BASIS FOR U.S. CONSTITUTION

JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU

• PHILOSOPHER, COMMITTED TO INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM

• “MAN IS BORN FREE AND EVERYWHERE HE IS IN CHAINS”

• DIRECT DEMOCRACY• ALL PEOPLE WERE

EQUAL AND THAT TITLES OF NOBILITY SHOULD BE ABOLISHED

Bonesana Beccaria• ITALIAN PHILOSOPHER• CRITICIZED COMMON

ABUSES OF JUSTICE; TORTURING WITNESSES & SUSPECT, IRREGULAR PROCEEDINGS IN TRIALS, CRUEL & UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT

• RECEIVE A SPEEDY TRIAL & TORTURE NEVER USED

• DEGREE OF PUNISHMENT SHOULD BE BASED ON CRIME

• NO CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

WOMEN & THE ENLIGHTENMENT• MARY ASTELL- LACK OF

EDUCATION FOR WOMEN; UNEQUAL RELATIONSHIP FOR MEN AND WOMEN

• MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT- WOMEN’S EDUCATION AS IMPORTANT TO MEN. ENTER FIELDS OF MEDICINE & POLITICS (DOMINATED BY MEN)

LEGACY OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT

• CHALLENGED –PRINCIPLES AS THE DIVINE RIGHT

OF MONARCHS–UNION OF CHURCH & STATE–EXISTENCE OF UNEQUAL SOCIAL

CLASSES

THREE LONG TERM EFFECTS

• BELIEF IN PROGRESS- HUMAN REASON COULD SOLVE SOCIAL PROBLEMS, GREATER SOCIAL EQUALITY, MORE DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT

• MORE SECULAR OUTLOOK- BEGAN QUESTIONING THE SUPERSTITION & FEAR OF RELIGION AND PROMOTE TOLERANCE OF ALL RELIGIONS

• IMPORTANCE OF THE INDIVIDUAL- OWN ABILITITY TO REASON AND JUDGE WHAT IS RIGHT OR WRONG.

THREE LONG TERM EFFECTS