The Enlightenment
Causes of Revolution
Objectives
What are the main ideas of the
Enlightenment philosophers?
 How do they challenge the powers of
Absolute Monarchs?

John Locke
Thomas Hobbes
Voltaire

Leviathan (1651)

Englishman

Man motivated by
power & fear –>
needed an allpowerful sovereign
◦ Without one, life would
be “solitary, nasty, poor,
brutish & short”

Politics as a science
Thomas Hobbes

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Individual must become
rational, man innately
good – TABULA RASA
Virtue can be learned &
practiced
“Divine right of kings” is
nonexistent
“Two Treaties of Civil
Government”
Natural rights given to all
◦ Life, liberty & property


Favored a republic
Social contract btw people
& government (what is
influenced by this idea??)
John Locke
1st of the French Philosophes
 “The Spirit of the Laws” (1749)
 Separation of powers ensures freedom &
liberty
 3 types of government= monarchy,
despotism & republic

Baron de Montesquieu (Charles de
Secondat)

Author & poet

“Candide” (1759)

Men are born equalvirtue makes the
difference

Directly critiqued
French crown so
fled
Voltaire (AKA Francois Marie Arouet)

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“The Social Contract” (1762)
Virtue exists in nature, not in
society
“Man is born free, yet
everywhere he is in
chains.”
Government is necessary
Liberty, equality, fraternity
(brotherhood)
General will= with each other,
not rulers
Republican government with
direct democracy
◦ No legal protections for
individual rights
Influenced French
revolutionaries & Karl Marx
Jean Jacques
Rousseau
• Vindication of the Rights of
Woman
•English writer, philosopher
•Men & women are equal
Mary Wollstonecraft
Salons

New forms of civil
society arose
◦ Literacy increasing

Reform & critique
couldn’t stop

Birth of the
“individual”
◦ Natural rights

Implications??
Aftermath…Revolution?

So…
◦ What are the main ideas of the Enlightenment
philosophers?
◦ How do they challenge the powers of Absolute
Monarchs?
Conclusion & Connections

Answer the following questions after you’ve
read the documents:
 (group-work is ok, but I only need 1 paper per group):
◦ How would these writers have come up with their
point of view?
◦ What is Hobbes main argument? Include details.
◦ What is Locke’s main argument/message? Provide
details.
◦ What are the major tenets/beliefs of Montesquieu &
Rousseau?

Answer individually (& turn in by the end of
class):
◦ Describe how 2 Enlightenment thinkers directly
challenged absolutism (absolute monarchy). Be
specific & give examples from the text.
Enlightenment Primary Source
Documents