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Thomas Hobbes
- Thomas Hobbes believed that people are not naturally good. People must exchange some freedoms for the order, peace, and safety that come from having a government. He developed the term social contract.
- He wrote and published The Leviathan
- He coined the term social contract which spread and became widely used by other philosophers.
- Thomas Hobbes believed that people are not naturally good. People must exchange some freedoms for the order, peace, and safety that come from having a government. He developed the term social contract.
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Period: to
The Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment -
Salons
A fashionable assemblage of notables held by custom at the home of a prominent person. (Dictionary.com) -
The Enlightenment
The period in the history of western thought and culture, stretching roughly from the mid-decades of the seventeenth century through the eighteenth century, characterized by dramatic revolutions in science, philosophy, society and politics; these revolutions swept away the medieval world-view and ushered in our modern western world. (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) -
John Locke
- John Locke believed people are naturally good, reasonable, and born equal, that the role of government is to protect citizens’ rights, government and the church should be separate, and that people have a right to rebel against their government if corrupt.
- He wrote Theory of Mind, Letters Concerning Toleration, The Bloody Tenent of Persecution for Cause of Conscience, Two Treatises of Government
- His ideas lead to the freedom of religion in the Bill of Rights first amendment.
- John Locke believed people are naturally good, reasonable, and born equal, that the role of government is to protect citizens’ rights, government and the church should be separate, and that people have a right to rebel against their government if corrupt.
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The Leviathan
Although the exacact date that "The Leviathan" was published i not know it was for sure published by 1651. Thomas Hobbes' wrote the Leviathan with the ideas that people are inheritally evil and that they needed to by governed by a strong leader. He also coined the term social contract that claimed that the people must give up some liberties and freedoms in exchange for security from their leader. -
Enlightened despots
Also called benevolent despotism, a form of government in the 18th century in which absolute monarchs pursued legal, social, and educational reforms inspired by the Enlightenment. Among the most prominent enlightened despots were Frederick II (the Great), Peter I (the Great), Catherine II (the Great), Maria Theresa, Joseph II, and Leopold II. They typically instituted administrative reform, religious toleration, and economic development but did not propose reforms that would undermine their sove -
Baron de Montesquieu
- He believed separation of powers so no one branch of the government could become too powerful
- He wroteThe Spirit of the Laws, Persian Letters, The Histories of Herodotus -His Ideas lead to three development of the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of the American Government
- He believed separation of powers so no one branch of the government could become too powerful
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Philosophes
One of the deistic or materialistic writers and thinkers of the 18th century French Enlightenment. (Dictionary.com) -
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau believed that society is necessary but it also causes corruption. Government needed to protect the liberty, rights, and the equality of all its people, or it has violated the social contract
- He wrote Émile: On, or Education, Julie, The New Heloise, Confessions, Reveries of a Solitary Walker, Discourse on the Origin of Inequality, Social Contract
- He developed the idea that rulers are meant to serve their people like the American President
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau believed that society is necessary but it also causes corruption. Government needed to protect the liberty, rights, and the equality of all its people, or it has violated the social contract
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The Spirit of the Laws
Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu at first published his work anonymously because his writing was subject to censorship. The Spirit of the Laws lead to the development of the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of the American Government. -
Of The Social Contract, Or Principles of Political Right
Jean-Jacques Rousseau believed that people are by nature good and fair much different than Thomas Hobbes who came before. Jean-Jacques Rousseau fought for the freedom of slave, he understood that society is imperitive but it also corrupts people, he felt that any people who were being controlled by a corrupt government should revolt against said government. -
Common Sense
Thomas Paine wrote the Influential work "Common Sense" that spurred many Americans to join the Revolution and fight the british. It was greatly influenced by Descartes. -
Declaration of independence
The Declaration of Independence is the epitome of the Enlightenment era thinking because it was extremely different than other document that existed at the time. It called for a government that contained ideas from most of the "enlightened" philosophers. -
US Constitution
The US Constitution is created containing many views and ideals of many influential philosiphers of the Enlightenment including Thomas Hobbes, Edward Coke, and William Blackstone.
