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The Enlightenment
Enlightenment
an 18th Century movement that emphasized using logic and reason as guides to solve the world's problems.
rationalism
belief in reason and logic as the primary source of knowledge
empiricism
the belief that accurate knowledge can be acquired through observation
Thomas Hobbes
believed that people are born selfish and need a strong ruler to control them, first to propose the idea of a Social Contract.
John Locke
English philosopher who advocated the idea of a "social contract" in which government powers are derived from the consent of the governed and in which the government serves the people; also said people have natural rights to life, liberty and property.
natural rights
the idea that all humans are born with rights, which include the right to life, liberty, and property
social contract
An agreement between the people and their government signifying their consent to be governed
philosophes
a term for Enlightenment thinkers.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
A French man who believed that Human beings are naturally good & free & can rely on their instincts. Government should exist to protect common good, and be a democracy. Wrote The Social Contract
Mary Wollstonecraft
British feminist of the eighteenth century who argued for women's equality with men, even in voting, in her 1792 "Vindication of the Rights of Women."
Voltaire
French philosopher and writer whose works epitomize the Age of Enlightenment, often attacking injustice and intolerance. Big on free speech.
Denis Diderot
Philosopher who edited set of books called the Encyclopedie, an attempt to collect "all known knowledge" into one set of books.
Encyclopedie
edited by Diderot, it was a compilation of all the available knowledge - historical, scientific, technical, religious and moral
Baron de Montesquieu
French political philosopher who advocated the separation of executive and legislative and judicial powers. Wrote The Spirit of Laws
Cesare Beccaria
believed that punishment should fit the crime, in speedy and public trials, and that capital punishment should be done away with completely. Wrote On Crime and Punishments
coffeehouses
places that helped promote the spread of Enlightenment ideas by hosting discussions on the issues of the day.
salon
a social gathering of intellectuals and artists, like those held in the homes of wealthy women in Paris and other European cities during the Enlightenment
deism
Belief that God is a watchmaker; God existed and had created the world, but that afterwards He left it to run by its own natural laws.
atheism
Belief that God does not exist
baron d'Holbach
said humans are only machines and have no free will. He was a devout atheist who believed religion was driven by fear, and controlled people and their reason. People put too much trust in the Church, and relied on it instead of knowledge and reason.
David Hume
Scottish philosopher whose sceptical philosophy restricted human knowledge to that which can be perceived by the senses
skepticism
A philosophy which suggests that nothing can ever be known for certain.
John Wesley
English clergyman and founder of Methodism
Methodism
A religion founded by John Wesley. Emphasized an intense personal salvation and a life of thrift, abstinence, and hard work.
Pietism
movement in the 1700s that stressed an individual's need to be devoutly religious and have an emotional union with God
mercantilism
An economic policy under which nations sought to increase their wealth and power by obtaining large amounts of gold and silver and by selling more goods than they bought
physiocrats
This was the group of economists who believed that the wealth of a nation was derived solely from the value of its land
laissez-faire
Policy that government should interfere as little as possible in the nation's economy.
Francois Quesnay
A Physiocrat that said natural economic laws governed society. Wealth could increase by agriculture alone because all other activities were unproductive. The state revenue should come from a single tax as well as natural supply and demand.
Adam Smith
Scottish economist who wrote the book Wealth of Nations. He is the main proponent of what would become known as Capitalism.
invisible hand
a term coined by Adam Smith to describe the self-regulating nature of the marketplace (people doing what is best for themselves will cause the best situation for everyone).
capitalism
an economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state.
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