Enlightenment Handout

Philosophes and their Ideas
Thomas Hobbes
In 1651, he wrote Leviathan, a title he chose after the sea monster from the Book of Job.
Hobbes believed that humans in their original state of nature were unhappy. In the state of
nature, Hobbes asserted that man was quarrelsome, turbulent, and forever locked in a war
against all. He supported an absolute monarch because he thought that man needed
protection from destroying himself, and an all-powerful ruler was the best source of such
protection. Thus, man enters into a social contract to surrender his freedom to an absolute
ruler in order to maintain law and order. The subjects could never rebel, and the monarchs
had the right to put down any rebellion by any means possible.
John Locke
His book, Two Treatises of Government (1690), was written as a philosophical justification
for the Glorious Revolution, which refers to the bloodless overthrow of James II in 1689 and
the end of absolutism in England. Locke argued that in the state of nature, there is no
government, but man still has certain natural rights to life, liberty, and property because
these rights are inalienable. To protect these natural rights, people enter into a social
contract to create a government with limited powers. Locke believed that if a government did
not protect these rights or exceeded its authority, the people had a right to revolt, if
necessary. Although Locke spoke out for freedom of thought, speech, and religion, he
believed property to be the most important natural right. He declared that owners may do
whatever they want with their property as long as they do not invade the rights of others.
Overall, Locke favored a representative government such as the English Parliament.
Jean-Jacque Rousseau
Rousseau’s book, The Social Contract, published in 1762, begins with the famous line, “All
men are born free, but everywhere they are in chains.” According to Rousseau, man was
basically born good. In the state of nature as free, equal, peaceful, and happy. When people
began to claim ownership of property, Rousseau argued, inequality, murder, and war
resulted. He believed that as social inequalities develop, people must gather in a community
based on consent and form a social contract between themselves, with the ultimate objective
of that society being the common good. Rousseau believed that the only good government
was one that was freely formed by the people and guided by the “general will” of society.
This kind of government is direct democracy. If the government fails, people have the right to
replace it.
Baron de Montesquieu
Montesquieu believed that Britain was the best-governed and most politically balanced
country of his day. The British king and his ministers held executive power. They carried out
the laws of the state. The members of Parliament held legislative power. They made the
laws. The judges of the English courts held judicial power. They interpreted the laws to see
how each applied to a specific case. Montesquieu called this division of power among
different branches separation of powers. This idea became a part of his most famous book,
On the Spirit of Laws (1748). In his book, Montesquieu proposed that separation of powers
would keep any individual or group from gaining total control of the government. “Power,” he
wrote, “should be a check to power.”
Denis Diderot
Diderot published his writings and the ideas of many Enlightened philosophers in his
Encyclopedia (1751). This 25-volume collection of political and social critiques, which
included writers such as Voltaire and Montesquieu, attacked abuses of the French
government, including religious intolerance and unjust taxation. The Encyclopedia was an
example of the eighteenth-century belief that all knowledge could be organized in a
systematic and scientific fashion. Diderot hoped that this information would help people to
think and act rationally and critically.
Adam Smith
In his Wealth of Nations, published in 1776, Smith argued against strict government control
of mercantilism. Smith believed in a laissez-faire approach to business. He argued that
individuals should be left to pursue their own economic gain. The role of the state is to act as
a policeman who intervenes only when necessary. Smith thought that the invisible hand of
supply, demand, and competition would ensure that people would act in the best interest of
everyone.
Voltaire
Probably the most brilliant and influential of the philosophes was François Marie Arouet.
Using the pen name Voltaire, he published more than 70 books of political essays,
philosophy, and drama. Voltaire often used satire against his opponents. He made frequent
targets of the clergy, the aristocracy, and the government. Some of his famous works include
Candide and Treatise on Toleration. His sharp tongue made him enemies at the French
court, and twice he was sent to prison. After his second jail term, Voltaire was exiled to
England for more than two years. Although he made powerful enemies, Voltaire never
stopped fighting for tolerance, reason, freedom of religious belief, and freedom of speech.
He used his quill pen as if it were a deadly weapon in a thinker’s war against humanity’s
worst enemies—intolerance, prejudice, and superstition. He summed up his staunch
defense of liberty in one of his most famous quotes: “I do not agree with a word you say but
will defend to the death your right to say it.
Mary Wollstonecraft
Mary Wollstonecraft published an essay called A Vindication of the Rights of Woman in
1792. In the essay, she disagreed with Rousseau that women’s education should be
secondary to men’s. Rather, she argued that women, like men, need education to become
virtuous and useful. Wollstonecraft also urged women to enter the male-dominated fields of
medicine and politics.
Sanggunian:
Beck, R. B., Black, L. L., Krieger, L. S., Naylor, P. C., & Shabaka, D. I. (2012). Holt Mcdougal
world history : patterns of interaction : teacher’s edition. http://ci.nii.ac.jp/ncid/BB18995869

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Philosophes and their Ideas

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