Discussion  In your opinion, to what degree are philosophers able to change the world? Explain your reasoning. Philosophers can have a major impact on the world, because new ideas can spread and change the way people act. Other students may say the impact is small, because most people act according to their own basic needs rather than according to another person's ideas.

Enlightenment Thought Science and the Enlightenment Influence of Locke and Newton

Discussion  What did Enlightenment thinkers hope to achieve by using Newton's scientific methods? They hoped to use those methods to discover laws governing human society and to reshape institutions to follow those laws.

Discussion What was the goal of the philosophers? To change the world for the better and make it a happier place

Discussion How did Adam Smith describe the proper role of government? Government has only three basic roles: to protect society from invasion, to defend citizens from injustice, and to keep up public works that private individuals alone could not afford.

Background  The Physiocrats were an eighteenth-century group of French economists founded by François Quesnay. They imagined a society controlled by natural economic and moral laws. They believed that agriculture was the source of all wealth and that agricultural products should therefore be highly priced. Physiocrats stressed the necessity of free trade and coined the term laissez-faire.

Discussion What did Rousseau mean by "general will"? The general will is what the majority of the people want to happen.

Discussion  What two important ideas did Enlightenment thinkers derive from the thought of Locke and Newton? The idea that if people were exposed to the right influences, a better society could be created, and the idea that if institutions followed the natural laws governing human society, an ideal society would result