Enlightenment Thinkers

APWH Unit 5

Thomas Hobbes

People are naturally cruel, greedy, & selfish

People need control & a social contract (agreement to give up state of nature for organized society)

John Locke

People are basically reasonable and moral

People have natural rights (life, liberty, property)

Baron de Montesquieu

Power needs to be balanced so individuals do not abuse power

People are naturally greedy

Voltaire

Wrote about abuses against humanity

Detested slave trade 

Believed in religious freedom

Cesare Bonesana Beccaria

People should be treated fairly

No capital punishment

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

People are basically good but are corrupted by evils of society (unequal distribution of property)

Commited to individual freedom

Mary Wollstonecraft

Woman’s first duty is to be a good mother

Woman decides what is in her best interest and to not be completely dependent on husband