Philosophy in the Age of Reason

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Philosophy in the Age of Reason

• Chapter 17, section 1

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Scientific Revolution Sparks the Enlightenment

• Science convinced educated Europeans of the power
  of human reason
• Natural Law (rules that can be discovered by
  reason) was seen as a way to understand social,
  economic and political problems
• This led to a new way of thinking called the
  Enlightenment

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PhilosophersThomas Hobbes and John Locke

• Hobbes

• Locke

• People are naturally cruel, greedy, selfish
• If not controlled, they would rob, fight, and
  oppress each other
• To escape this, people join a social contract
  giving up freedoms for an organized society
• Only a powerful government can keep society
  ordered
• Absolute monarchy is the best because it asks for
  total obedience

• People are basically reasonable and moral
• They have natural rights, such as life, liberty,
  and property
• The best kind of government has limited power and
  is accepted by all citizens
• Government has an obligation to its people, and
  if it does not protect natural rights, the people
  have the right to overthrow it (NEW IDEA!)

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Philosophes

• Came to be known as Philosophers
• Montesquieu criticized absolute monarchy, and
  felt that dividing government into 3 branches
  that check and balance each other would best
  protect liberty
• Voltaire pointed out corruption in French
  government and Catholic Church. Battled
  inequality, spoke out against slave trade and
  religious prejudice
• Diderot believed everyone should have access to
  information, and compiled the first Encyclopedia
• 4,000 printed, translated, and spread across
  Europe and Americas

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The Social Contract

• Jean-Jacques Rousseau thought we are naturally
  good, but can be corrupted by evils in society,
  especially the unequal distribution of wealth
• Put his faith in the best of people, believing
  all people could create good
• Influenced Thomas Paine, who wrote Common Sense
  (the literature of the American Revolution)

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Women Challenge Philosophes

• Free and equal did not apply to women, who were
  still expected to stay at home
• A small but growing number of women in the late
  1700s protested this
• Mary Wollstonecraft (Mary Shelleys mother)
  accepted that women should be good mothers, but
  should also make decisions on their own
• She wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Women,
  calling for equal education, believing it to be
  the only way women could equally participate in
  society

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New Economic Thinking

• Some philosophers focused on natural laws within
  the economy
• Laissez Faire policy became popular
• Allow businesses to operate with little to no
  interference
• Free trade, no tariffs
• Adam Smith, a Scottish economist, argued in The
  Wealth of Nations that the free market should
  regulate business activity
• Manufacturing, trade, wages, profits and economic
  growth all are linked to supply and demand
• When there is a demand for a good suppliers will
  meet it
• Supported Laissez Faire, but also thought
  government had a duty to protect society,
  administer justice and provide public works

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