The Enlightenment(1600-1750)
GoalTo understand the natural
world and humankind's
place in it solely on the
basis of reason and
without turning to
religious belief
Fundamental Concepts
faith in nature
belief in human progress
Apply scientific methods to the study of human society
Basic principles about human affairs
Human beings are naturally good
Humans can be educated to be better
Reason was the key to truth
Main Currents of Enlightenment Thought
Hugo Grotius(1583 – 1645)
• Natural law
• Natural duties
• Natural rights
• Just War (De Jure Belli ac Pacis, 1625)
Benjamin Franklin(1706-1790)
Pennsylvania
Printer/Scientist/ Diplomat
Poor Richard’s Almanac
“Well done is better than well said”
Thomas Hobbes(1588 – 1679)
Leviathan (1651)
religion useful as propaganda
human life "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short"
Thomas Jefferson(1743-1826)
Virginia
Planter/Politician/ President
Declaration of Independence
Religious Freedom
John Locke(1632-1704)
Second Treatise on Government (1680)• Divine Right theory of
Kingship• power to govern was
obtained from the permission of the people
• natural rights: life, liberty and property
Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690)tabula rasa
James Madison(1751-1836)
Virginia
Planter/Statesman/Political Theorist
“Father of the United States Constitution”
The United States Bill of Rights
Adam Smith(1723 – 1790)
• Wealth of Nations (1776)
self-interest the division of labor the function of markets laissez-faire economy “invisible hand”
John Adams(1735-1826)
Massachusetts
Lawyer/Statesman/ President
“Thoughts on Government”
Virtuous Citizens and a Well-Designed Government
Voltaire(1694 – 1778)
Deism
Candide (1759)
Thomas Paine(1737-1809)
England?
Corset maker/Political Writer
Common Sense
Divine right?
“Without the pen of the author of Common Sense, the sword of Washington would have been raised in vain”
Montesquieu(1689 – 1755)
De L'Esprit Des Lois (On the Spirit of Laws) (1748)
checks & balances
Cesare Beccaria (1738 – 1794)
On Crimes and Punishments (1764)
• heighten happiness and power while at the same time reducing misery and weakness
• prevent crimes than to punish them
• laws, not punishments, should be feared
• nature of the evidence presented should determine whether imprisonment is a reasonable punishment
• punishment should befit the crime
The Enlightenment & Revolution