Enlightenment

Inspired by the Scientific Revolution, the Enlightenment thinkers believed that

• dictators learn from their experience.

• natural laws influence human society.

• society matters more than individuals.

• nature is beyond human understanding.

What were the salons of French Enlightenment thinkers?

• secular university classes

• lectures open to the public

• gatherings in private homes

• stores where books were sold

The Enlightenment overall promoted an attitude of

• piety.

• anger.

• cynicism.

• optimism.

John Locke believed that people had a social contract with ___________________.

• the government

• their religious leaders

• only their immediate family members

• the Earth itself

Argued that people were naturally selfish and needed a strong central government to control their behaviors.

• Thomas Hobbes

• John Locke

• Baron de Montesquieu

• Jean Jacques Rousseau

Writers of the Enlightenment were primarily interested in

• Changing the relationship between people and their government

• Support the Divine Right theory

• Debating the role of the church in history

• Promoting increased power for European monarchs

an intellectual movement that applied scientific methods to the study of society/government

• Scientific Revolution

• Enlightenment

• Reformation

• Renaissance

believed in free speech and religious freedom

• Thomas Hobbes

• Montesquieu

• John Locke

• Voltaire

How did the Enlightenment transform Europe?

• new ways of thinking; Promoted optimism

• gave rise to liberty and natural rights

• encouraged secular and scientific attitudes, revolutions

• All of the above

Social Contract

• an agreement in which people give power to a government in return for its protections

• the idea that a country’s leader should be chosen by the citizens in a general election

• the division of powers among branches of government

• rights that belong to people “by nature,” simply because they are human beings; right to life, liberty, property, and happiness