inspiration for the enlightenment

Carol Rioux

Kingwood High School

Kingwood, Texas

• Author of Leviathan

• Influenced by English Civil War

• Man naturally selfish and wicked

• State of nature – life was solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short

• Promoted idea of “social contract” between the people and their government

• Promoted the idea of an all powerful government to curb man’s brutish nature

• Author of Two Treatises on Government

• Influenced by Glorious Revolution

• All men are born free with certain inalienable rights

• Duty of government to protect these rights

• Promoted social contract between the people and the government

• Failure of government to protect rights justified a rebellion about unjust rule

• Believed that all people are born “tabula rasa”

It is an orderly world!

1. Reason: applying logical thought to discern a truth; ridding your mind of intolerance, bigotry, prejudice

2. Nature: all ideas derived from nature are good & reasonable; referred frequently to nature

3. Happiness: believed if one lived by the laws of nature, happiness would follow

4. Progress: first time the idea of progress is introduced in Europe; believed that if people used logic & reason to overcome societal problems, man could be perfected

5. Liberty: believed that by applying reason to all aspects of society, man could be set free

• An unorganized group that included literary people, professors, journalists, statesmen, economists, political scientists, and above all social reformers

• Believed that reason could be applied to all aspects of human life

• Formulated and popularized new ideas

• Belief in Progress: supported abolition; social equality, improvements in education to create a better society

• Secular Outlook: world became more secular; idea of separation of church and state; religious toleration

• Importance of Individual: people began to look to themselves to judge what is right or wrong; role of individual in society grew in stature; suggested role of government was to protect the rights of the individual

Ideas that shaped Western Civilization