Enlightenment Philosopher and Thinkers



Enlightenment Philosopher and Thinkers

|Who was Thomas |English philosopher |

|Hobbes and what did |Believed in natural law which is a universal moral law of truth and reason can be used to explain all things |

|he believe? |Tried to used natural law to explain government |

| |Used natural law to argue an absolute monarchy (powerful king) was the best form of government |

| |Believed violence and disorder came naturally to humans and without government chaos would occur (state of nature) |

| |Believed people should form a social contract which is an agreement between people to give up freedom and obey the rules of the |

| |ruler |

| |Said people did not have the right to rebel against an unjust government |

| |Wrote book called Leviathan in 1651 |

| | |

|Who was John Locke |English Philosopher |

|and what did he |Struggled with the idea of natural law and government |

|believe? |Based his theories on the ideas of natural law |

| |Believed people in a state of nature were reasonable and moral and had natural rights—natural rights are rights belonging to every|

| |human and include life, liberty and property |

| |Writings were widely read in the Americas—Thomas Jefferson was influenced by Locke’s ideas |

| |Believed if governments failed in protecting the rights of the people, the people had the right to overthrow the government |

| |Wrote book called Two Treatises of Government |

| | |

|Who was Montesquieu |Strongly believed in the rights of individuals |

|and what did he |Promoted the idea of separation of powers—believed power should be divided equally among the legislative branch, executive branch,|

|believe? |and judicial branch—believed the legislative branch should make the laws, the executive branch should enforce the laws, and the |

| |judicial branch should interpret the laws and judge violations |

| |Wrote The Spirit of Laws, 1748 |

| | |

|Who was Voltaire and|French author who wrote poetry, plays, essays, and books in an entertaining and satirical manner |

|what did he believe?|Most famous satire was Candide, which challenged the notion that everything happens for the best |

| |Often in legal trouble in France—was exiled to England |

| |Believed in free speech, relative freedom of the press, and religious freedom |

| | |

|Who was Rousseu and |French philosopher |

|what did he believe?|Believed human beings were naturally good but civilization and institutions corrupted them (made them bad) – urged people to throw|

| |off civilization and return to nature as much as possible (think simple life) |

| |Believed people relied too heavily on reason and that they should rely more on instinct and emotion |

| |Wanted education to preserve a child’s natural goodness |

| |Wrote several books; La Nouvelle Heloise (1760), Emile (1762), and his most famous book The Social Contract (1762) |

| |Believed sovereignty (the right to rule) rested with the people (popular sovereignty) |

| |Believed people gave up individual rights to the general will (will of the majority) |

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