The Enlightenmen

tPolitics & Philosophy

Political Enlightenment

Three Themes in the Political Realm

1. Propertyo Central featureo Gives an individual a stake in society

2. Rightso Every individual is entitled to basic rights

simply because they exist

3. Lawo That which makes 1 & 2 worko Guarantees property & rights

Political Philosophes

John Locke1632-1704

Two Treatises of Civil Government (1690)

Locke’s Philosophy• Individual must become a “rational

creature”• Virtue can be learned & practiced• Human beings possess free will

o should be prepared for freedomo obedience should be out of

conviction, not fear

Locke’s Philosophy (cont.)

• Legislators owe power to a contract with the people

• Neither kings nor wealth are divinely ordained

• There are certain natural rights that are endowed by God to all human beingso Life, liberty, & property

• Favored a republic

Baron de Montesquieu

(1689-1755)Spirit of the Law (1748)

“Countries are well-cultivated, not as they are fertile, but as they are free.”

Montesquieu’s Philosophy

• England’s government = model: • The separation of powers

• Executive Power = King • Legislative Power = Parliament• Judicial Power = Courts

• Checks & balances

• Monarchs should be subject to constitutional limits on their power

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

1712-1778

The Social Contract (1762)

Rousseau’s Philosophy

• Tabula Rasa (blank slate)• Best traits of human character are

products of nature• Society corrupts people, therefore,

we must fix society

Rousseau (cont.)• The Social Contract:

o right kind of political order could make people truly moral & free

o Individual moral freedom achieved only by learning to subject one’s individual interests to the “General Will”

Rousseau - Social Contract (cont.)

o Individuals could do this by entering into a social contract - not w/ their rulers, but w/ each otheroThis social contract was derived from

human nature -NOT from history, tradition, or the Bible

o People = most free & moral under a republican form of government with a direct democracy

Philosophical Enlightenment

Marquis de Condorcet

1743-1794

Progress of the Human Mind (1794)

Condorcet’s Philosophy

• Expectation of universal happiness• Individuals guided by reason could

enjoy true independence• Advocated:

o Free & equal educationo Constitutionalismo Equal rights for women

Immanuel Kant1724-1804

Critique of Pure Reason (1781)

Kant’s Philosophy

• Investigated the structure & limitations of reason

• Created a compromise between empiricists & rationalists (experience + reason = Enlightenment)

Denis Diderot1713-1784

The Encyclopedia (1751)

(coauthor: Jean le Rond d’Alembert)

Diderot’s Encyclopédie

• Complete cycle of knowledge that changed the general way of thinking

• 28 volumes• Alphabetical, cross-

referenced, illustrated

Voltaire1694-1778

• François Marie Arouet

• Candide (1759)• Known for sharp

wit that was often critical of the church and state

Voltaire (cont.)• Wrote plays, novels,

poetry, essays, & letters

• Fierce defender of civil liberties, especially:o Religious freedomo Free tradeo Freedom of speech

• Spent time imprisoned in the Bastille

Voltaire’s Words of Wisdom

• “ Every man is guilty of all the good he didn’t do.”

• “God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.”

• “If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.”

• “It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong”

• “Love truth and pardon error.”

• “Judge a man by his questions, rather than by his answers.”

• “I may not agree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right

• “Men are equal; it is not birth, but virtue that makes the difference.”

Voltaire (cont.)

• Life (video)• Last words