VI. The Enlightened Age of Reason (Chapter 16)

Enlightenment Assumptions

Enlightenment Assumptions

The belief that humans are naturally good and possess natural reason, that progress is inevitable, and that education is necessary for enlightenment.

Hobbes's Leviathan

Hobbes's book that presents anti-enlightened assumptions, such as the idea that humans are dominated by passion and selfish needs, and proposes a social contract with an absolute ruler as a solution.

Locke's Tabula Rasa

The concept that humans are born with a blank slate and are shaped by their environment, and that reason leads to moral character and the formation of a civil society and government.

Skepticism

The questioning of absolute truths and organized religion, with themes of rational and progressive science over reactionary priests, leading to social turmoil.

Early Philosophes

Key philosophers such as John Toland, George Berkeley, Immanuel Kant, Voltaire, Diderot, and Montesquieu, who advocated for reason, tolerance, rationality, and the pursuit of knowledge through science and philosophy.

Rousseau's Regression

Rousseau's rejection of the idea of progress and belief that man is happiest in a primitive state of nature, emphasizing the importance of the heart over reason and advocating for self-discovery and the will of the people in government.