enlightenment thinkers

Margaret Cavindish

Women capable of reason and should be included in science and education, government should fix root causes of crimes

Adam Smith

Free market economics, "invisible hand," equality

John Locke

Social contract, people have natural rights to life, liberty, and pursuit of property, governments exist to protect those rights

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Political authority comes from the people, government should work for the general will for the common good, equality

David Hume

Knowledge comes from experience, questioned religion and the certainty of human reason.

Thomas Jefferson

Declaration of Independence, applied Enlightenment ideas to American government, emphasized natural rights

Montesquieu

Spirit of the Laws, checks and balances, separation of powers

Voltaire

Defended freedom of speech and religion, criticized intolerance and abuses of power, separation of church and state

Cesare Beccaria

Fair laws, opposed torture and the death penalty, believed punishment should prevent crime

Mary Wollstonecraft

Women deserve equal rights and education because they are rational beings.

René Descartes

Reason and logic are the foundations of knowledge

Olympe de Gouges

demanded equal rights for women during the French Revolution, wrote the Declaration of the Rights of Woman

Thomas Paine

Common Sense, promoted democracy and independence from Britain

Immanuel Kant

Moral actions must follow universal rules, Enlightenment means thinking independently

Thomas Hobbes

People are naturally selfish and need a strong government (monarch) to maintain order through a social contract

Baruch Spinoza

Argued that God and nature are one, supported reason, tolerance, and freedom of thought.

Isaac Newton

Developed the laws of motion and gravity, showing that the universe follows natural laws.

Denis Diderot

Edited the Encyclopedia to spread Enlightenment ideas about reason, science, and education.