the enlightenment (1600-1750)

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