The Enlightenment

Sir Isaac Newton• Born 1642 in England• Cambridge University

– Studies math and science.– The invention of Calculus– The “hated” Professor

Newton– Proves Kepler’s Laws of

Planetary Motion

– The spectrum, laws of gravity, planetary physics, and magic.

Religion and Science• Newton was a very devout

Catholic.– Wanted to prove God is in

control of the universe and had an active role in it.

– He finds out there are Natural Laws which control everything. The universe is run by a set of complex laws, not God.

The Beginning of the Enlightenment

• If there are rules for how nature works…….are there rules for how society/science/math/all of life should work?

The Enlightenment

• A movement to discover the rules of nature and society. “Natural Laws”

• Based on these two principles:– 1. There are laws which govern the universe.– 2. Humans can discover those laws.

In other words, trying to discover how the universe works.

John Locke (1632-1704)

• “Tabula raza”, the blank slate.– “All men are created equal”

• Power comes from the people.• There is no “natural right” to rule.

– Therefore there should be no Kings.• The Social Contract

– Government is a contract among people, and must protect the rights (life, liberty, property) of the people, if it fails to do so, the people can change it.

Other Enlightenment Thinkers

• Adam Smith – “The Wealth of Nations”

Edward Gibbon

• “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”

Samuel Johnson

James Cook

Mozart and Beethoven

Dennis Diderot

Government Thinkers

• Voltaire – French– Questioned absolute

monarchs.

– “Popular government is in itself, less unjust, less hated, than despotic power.”

Montesquieu -French

• Need to separate powers of government.• Legislative, Executive, Judicial Branches.

• “There is no liberty if the judicial power is not separated from the legislative and executive branches.”

Rousseau – Swiss, living in Paris• In a natural state, we are all

free and equal.

• “Man is born free, yet everywhere he is in chains.”

• “The government is created by a contract among the people, and receives its powers from them. The government exists to serve the people, and when it no longer does so, the people may change it.”

Those who listened…..

• Catherine the Great of Russia

Frederick II of Prussia

Those who did not…..• Louis XV and Louis XVI of France