Transcript Chapter 18, Section 1

Chapter 18, Section 1
Philosophy in the Age of
Reason
World History Connections to Today, Prentice Hall (2003)
Progress and Reason
The Scientific Revolution of the 1500s and
1600s transformed the way people in
Europe looked at the world.
In the 1700s Edward Jenner (1749-1823)
developed a vaccine against small pox.
If people used reason to find laws that governed
the physical world, why not use reason to
discover laws that govern human nature?
Progress and Reason
The Enlightenment
Through the use of reason, people
and governments could solve every
social, political, and economic
problem.
Heaven could be achieved here on
Earth.
The Social Contract
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)
Set out his ideas in a work titled:
“Leviathan”.
People are naturally cruel, greedy,
and selfish. If not strictly
controlled, they would fight, rob and
oppress one another.
Life in the “state of nature”- without
laws or other control- would be
“solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and
short.”
The Social Contract
Thomas Hobbes
To escape that “brutish” life, said Hobbes, people
entered into a social contract, an agreement by which
they gave up the state of nature for an organized
society.
Hobbes believed that only a powerful government
could ensure an orderly society. For him, such a
government was an absolute monarchy, which could
impose order and compel obedience.
The Social Contract
John Locke (1632-1704)
Set out his ideas in a work titled:
“Two Treatises of Government”.
People were basically reasonable
and moral, he said. Further, they
had certain natural rights, or
rights that belonged to all
humans from birth. These
included the right to life, liberty,
and property.
The Social Contract
John Locke
Locke argued that people formed governments to
protect their natural rights. The best kind of
government had limited power and was accepted by all
citizens.
A government, he said, has an obligation to the people
it governs. If a government fails its obligations or
violates people’s natural rights, the people have the
right to overthrow that government.
Separation of Powers
Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755)
In 1748, Montesquieu published the Spirit
of the Laws.
Montesquieu felt that the British had
protected themselves against tyranny by
dividing the various functions and powers
of government among three separate
branches: the legislative, executive, and the
judicial.
He also felt that each branch of government
should be able to serve as a check on the
other two.
The Philosophers and
Society
Francois-Marie Arouet
“Voltaire” (1694-1788)
Voltaire used biting wit as a
weapon to expose the abuses of
his day. He targeted corrupt
officials and idle aristocrats.
He detested the slave trade and
deplored religious prejudice.
He defended the principle of
freedom of speech.
The Philosophers and
Society
Denis Diderot (1713-1784)
Labored for some 25 years to
produce a 28-volume Encyclopedia.
Diderot’s Encyclopedia included
articles by leading thinkers of the
day, including Montesquieu and
Voltaire.
When translated into other languages,
it helped spread Enlightenment ideas
throughout Europe and across the
Atlantic to the Americas.
The Philosophers and
Society
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (17121778)
In 1762, Rousseau set forth his ideas
about government and society in The
Social Contract.
He believed that people in their
natural state were basically good.
This natural innocence, he felt, was
corrupted by the evils of society,
especially the unequal distribution of
property.
The Philosophers and Society
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)
He felt that society placed too many limitations
on people’s behavior. He believed that some
controls were necessary, but that they should be
minimal. Additionally, these controls should
be imposed only by governments that had been
freely elected.
The good of the community as a whole, he said,
should be placed above individual interests.
Women and the
Enlightenment
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797)
In 1792 She published A Vindication of
the Rights of Woman.
She argued that women were being
excluded from the social contract itself.
She felt that a woman should be able to
decide what is in her own interest and
should not be completely dependent on
her husband.
Women and the
Enlightenment
Mary Wollstonecraft (17591797)
She called for equal education
for girls and boys. Only
education, she argued, could
give women the tools they
needed to participate equally
with men in public life.
New Economic Thinking
Adam Smith (1723-1790)
The “Father of Economics”,
Adam Smith wrote the book The
Wealth of Nations. He argued
that the free market should be
allowed to regulate business
activity. Smith tried to show
how manufacturing, trade,
wages, profits, and economic
growth were all linked to the
market forces of supply and
demand.
New Economic Thinking
Adam Smith (1723-1790)
Smith was a strong supporter of laissez faire.
He believed that the marketplace was better off
without any government regulation. At the
same time, however, he argued that government
had a duty to protect society, administer justice,
and provide public works.
New Economic Thinking
Adam Smith (1723-1790)
Adam Smith’s ideas would gain increasing
influence as the Industrial Revolution spread
across Europe and beyond. His emphasis on
the free market and the law of supply and
demand would help to shape immensely
productive economies in the 1800s and 1900s.
Partner Question
Chapter 18, Section 1
Explain why the Enlightenment is
sometimes called the Age of Reason
and link it to the Scientific Revolution
of the 1500s and 1600s.
Rousseau put the common good over
the interest of the individual. Do you
and your partner agree with that
position? Explain.
Chapter 18, Section 1
Philosophy in the Age of
Reason
World History Connections to Today, Prentice Hall (2003)