Thinkers Enlightenment

Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan

• Humans in state of nature—cruel and greedy; require a strong authority to keep order

• People must willingly give power to the king because he represents the will of the people

John Locke, Second Treatise of Government

• Humans are by nature good, mind is a blank slate ("tabula rasa") at birth; people are corrupted by society.

• According to natural laws, all people have the right to life, liberty and property, and governments exist to protect these rights.

• If a government does not protect the natural rights or deprives citizens of natural rights, people should overthrow the government & replace it

Baron de Montesquieu, Spirit of Laws

• People who have power in government will take as much power as they can.

• Each branch should be given powers to check the powers of the others (for example, veto power)

• Government should therefore be separated into three branches: legislative, executive and judicial.

Voltaire (Francois-Marie Arouet)

• Eliminate superstition, intolerance, ignorance and corruption in French society, government and religion

Denis Diderot

• The best way to improve society is to spread the ideas of the Enlightenment by publishing the Encyclopédie, in which contributing philosophes argue for religious tolerance, humane treatment of prisoners, and freedom of expression, etc.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

• Feelings and emotions are more important than reason.

• In a "state of nature," people are good and live pure, simple lives; they are corrupted by society.

• People created governments to protect private property, so governments just preserve existing inequality of wealth.

• People should make a "social contract" in which every member surrenders his/her will to the "general will".

• Everyone must obey the general will established by the majority.

Immanuel Kant

• Compromise between rationalism (understanding the world through reason) and empiricism (understanding the world through experiences and scientific investigations).

• Knowledge is based on impressions from the senses, but the mind organizes the information, using preexisting ideas such as quantity, quality, morality, free will, & God.

Cesare Beccaria

• Reason should be applied to the criminal justice system.

• A criminal makes rational decisions, so if the punishment outweighs the crime, he won't commit crime—no need for excessively harsh punishments.

• End the use of torture and capital punishment.

• People accused of a crime have the right to a fair and speedy trial by jury.

• Remove corrupt judges; same punishment for same crime.

• To prevent crime, have clear known laws, and an improved educational system.

Mary Wollstonecraft

• Women can reason and should have equal rights as men.

•Girls should receive the same education as boys