enlightenment thinkers

Thomas Hobbes

government should preserve peace/stability, those who rule should rule heavy handed

John Locke

social contract, all men are equal, government should defend rights of the people and if they don’t the people have the right to overthrow

Rousseau

all men are equal, society organized by will of the people, government has obligation to carry out that will

Voltaire

religious toleration

Montesquieu

branches of government

David Hume

lack of empirical evidence casts doubt on religion

Adam Smith

laissez-faire, invisible hand, capitalism

Mary Wallstonecraft

rights for women, able to vote and hold office

Immanuel Kant

knowledge exists beyond observation and reason

Thomas Paine

God does not interfere, laws are understood through scientific inquiry not the Bible