The Age of Enlightenment

Enlightenment –

During the Scientific Revolution, people began to use the scientific method to determine the scientific truth.

This method said that people should use reason and should observe nature to find scientific truth instead of relying on superstition and/or tradition.

When thinkers began applying this method, not only to science, but to morals, beliefs, laws, etc. they developed the idea of a “natural law.”

Natural law says that moral laws can be understood by applying reason to morals just like you would apply reason to scientific laws.

Examples:– Scientific law = the earth revolves around the sun.– Natural law = people are happiest when they are

free.

– Scientific law = what goes up, must come down.

– Natural law = the best governments are those that

listen to the people.

People began questioning things and trying to prove things for themselves.

In the past, all beliefs started with the Church.

People began learning and discovering like never before.

• This time period became known as the Age of Reason or the Age of Enlightenment.

• Reached its height in the mid-1700s

Government

• Two views of government developed:

Thomas Hobbes – Social Contract

John Locke – Inalienable Rights

Thomas Hobbes• Believed people

always acted in their own self interest

• People needed to give up their rights to Government who would keep order

John Locke • Believed people were able to govern themselves

• Purpose of government was to protect their inalienable rights of life, liberty, and property.

Enlightened Philosophers (also called philosophes )

and Writers

Voltaire• Wrote about

tolerance, reason, and freedom of thought, expression, and religious belief

• Fought against prejudice and superstition

Montesquieu • Supported separation of powers and checks and balances to keep any individual or group from gaining complete control of the government

Rousseau • Committed to individual freedom

• Viewed government as an agreement among free individuals to create a society guided by the “general will”

Beccaria

• Believed laws existed to preserve social order

• Advocated a criminal justice system based on fairness and reason

Mary Wollstonecraft• Argued for

women’s right to become educated and to participate in politics

• Believed women, like men, need education to become virtuous and useful

Denis Diderot

• Spread enlightened thinking in all areas by publishing the Encyclopedia

The Arts during the Enlightenment

Franz Joseph Haydn

• “Father of the Symphony”

• He broke from traditional musical forms and developed the sonata and symphony

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

• Set a new standard for elegance and originality with his varied and numerous musical compositions

Ludwig van Beethoven• Moved from the

classical style of Mozart to begin new trend that carried music into the Age of Romanticism

Samuel Richardson

• Wrote Pamela, the first English novel

Enlightened leaders

Frederick the Great• Ruler of Prussia, he

granted many religious freedoms

• Reduced censorship

• Improved education and the justice system

• Abolished torture

• Thought rulers were to be “the first servant of the state”

Joseph II• Austrian King, he

abolished serfdom

• Initiated legal reforms

• Introduced freedom of the press

• Supported freedom of religion

Catherine the Great• Tried to

modernize and reform Russia according to the writings of the philosophes, accomplished limited reforms

How did Enlightenment writers and thinkers set the stage for revolutionary movements?

• Encouraged people– to judge for themselves what was

right or wrong in society–Rely on human reason to solve

social problems

• What individual rights do U.S. citizens give up in exchange for other guaranteed rights?

Who’s ideas are most like your own?

• Hobbes– People are

selfish, self-serving, and brutal.

– Without control, society would be chaotic

• Locke– People are

reasonable and able to make decisions.

– People should be able to rule themselves.