1. The Enlightenment Unit 3: Revolution

2. Central Questions How did the Enlightenment change:
European economics?
European politics?
European society?
What were the major contributions of various Enlightenment figures?

3. Ideas of the Philosophes
The Enlightenment: 18th century movement in which philosophers began questioning their place in society, government, and the Church
Philosophes: Intellectuals philosophers that were the driving force behind the Enlightenment
Enlightenment stressed reason, thought, and the power of individuals to solve problems and produce ideal society

4. Economics

5. One of the founders of social sciences (economics, political science)
Posited the idea of laissez-faire economics
Laissez-faire: Economic system that is totally free from government regulation
Smith believes the economy functions best when entrepreneurs are given freedom to run their businesses unfettered

6. Pre-Enlightenment mercantilism was dictated by government
Laissez-faire:
What to produce: Determined by consumers’ demand
How to produce: Determined by producers seeking profits
For whom to produce: Determined by purchasing power

7. Politics

8. Published Leviathan to explain his ideas of how governments should work
Believed people were motivated by self-preservation, not morals or logic
Discussed the idea of a social contract between people and gov’t—people give up rights and power to a king in exchange for protection and order
Once this contract is forged, the people lose their right overthrow or question the gov’t

9. Argued governments should not be ruled absolutely by one person
Believed humans had natural rights (rights with which they are born)
Life, liberty, and property
Tabula rasa (blank slate)

10. Believed in a social contract between people and their government
Gov’t protects natural rights and judges violators; people behave reasonable
If the gov’t breaks the contract, the people have the right to overthrow the gov’t

11. Montesquieu Idea of separation of powers:
A form of government in which the executive, legislative, and judicial branches limit and control each other through a system of checks and balances
Checks and balances: Each branch of government has power over the other to prevent any one branch from becoming too powerful

12. Governments should express the will of the people, and the people should submit to the will of the whole

13. Society

14. Voltaire often considered greatest Enlightenment figure
Helped popularize other figures
Well known for criticizing the Church and religion in general
Strong belief in freedom of religion and speech
Championed deism: religion in which the Abrahamic God created the universe but then let it evolve on its own

15. DIDEROT Created the Encyclopedia
Attempted to catalogue the entirety of human knowledge
The Encyclopedia was a powerful weapon against the power of the Church and governments
Goal was to “change the general way of thinking” to a more rational society
DIDEROT

16. WOLLSTONECRAFT Founder of modern women’s rights movements
Criticized the hypocrisy of male-dominated Enlightenment:
Men complained that kings held arbitrary power over their subjects…even though these same men held arbitrary power over women
WOLLSTONECRAFT

17. Child-Rearing Parent-child relationship shifts to a more positive one
“Love childhood. Look with friendly eyes on its games, its pleasures, its amiable dispositions.” - Rousseau
Rousseau encourages parents to let children form own experiences and enjoy childhood
More modern concept of what it means to be a child

18. Race Concept of race did not exist before Enlightenment
People began categorizing plants and animals as scientific thought spread
This obsession with scientific categorization eventually extended to human beings
Europeans placed themselves at the top, Africans at bottom