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The Enlightenment. What is this, and what does it have to do with The Enlightenment? . The Scientific Revolution. The Age of Reason. Could reason be used to study human nature and society? . Key Enlightenment Ideas. The ability to reason is what makes humans unique
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What is this, and what does it have to do with The Enlightenment?
The Age of Reason • Could reason be used to study human nature and society?
Key Enlightenment Ideas • The ability to reason is what makes humans unique • Reason can be used to solve problems and improve people’s lives • Reason can free people from ignorance, superstition, and unfair government • The natural world is governed by laws that can be discovered through reason • Like the natural world, human behavior is governed by natural laws • Governments should reflect natural laws and encourage education and debate
What causes people to form governments? • The Force Theory: One person claimed control of an area and forced all within it to submit to the leader’s rule. • The Evolutionary Theory: People organized in families, then clans, then tribes, etc. • The Divine Right Theory: God created the state and rulers had divine rights to rule. • The Social Contract Theory: The state arose out of a voluntary act of free people.
The Social Contract Theory • Theory discussed by philosophers such Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau. • STATE OF NATURE: Belief that in earliest history, people lived in complete freedom with no government and no superior power. There was also no authority to protect one person from the aggressive actions of another. • People agreed to give up some personal power in order to create a state that promoted the safety and well-being of all. This is called a social contract. • These philosophers concluded that governments are a voluntary act of free people. Governments exist to serve the will of the people. • American ideals such as popular sovereignty, limited government, and individual rights are based on the social contract theory. • Thomas Jefferson called the Declaration of Independence “pure Locke!”
Social Contract and Natural State • READ “Second Treatise of Government” on page 11 of your book and answer the four questions. • Complete “Teenage World” hand-out in groups of 2 or 3. • HW: Read “In the Beginning—Englishmen in the World” and answer the questions on the study guide. • John Locke (1632-1704):
Warm-up: Pure Locke! (page 11) • “To understand political power right we must consider what state all men are naturally in and that is a state of perfect freedom to order their actions and dispose of their possessions and persons as they think fit, a state also of equality…The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it, which obliges every one: and reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind that all being equal and independent no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions…Though in the state of nature he hath such a right, yet the enjoyment of it is very uncertain, very unsafe, very unsecure. This makes him willing to join a society with others for the mutual preservation of their lives, liberty and estates. This is the great and chief end of men’s uniting into commonwealths and putting themselves under government.” John Locke • Discussion Questions: (Answer them on paper, please!) • According to Locke, what freedoms did people have before the founding of governments? • What are the potential dangers of a person living in what Locke calls “perfect freedom”? • According to Locke, how are governments formed? • What trade-off does Lock say occurs when people live under governments?
Charles-Louis Montesquieu • He was a French social commentator and political thinker who lived during the Enlightenment. • He wrote a book called The Spirit of Laws; his book was condemned by the Catholic Church and was included in The Index of Prohibited Books in 1751. • He believed that individual historical events were a result of a larger movement or trend. • His ideas about separation of powers in government was incorporated into many constitutions around the world.
Natural Rights Philosophy in the Declaration of Independence • We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Values, Rights and Protests • Work in groups of three to discuss the case study and complete the handout. You will present your findings to the class. • Homework: Read “The Widening Split—1763 to 65” and complete Study Guide Part II. • Please make sure you are keeping all papers for this class organized in your binder. You will need all classwork and homework for next week’s activity.
