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Natural Rights: The Enlightenment

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Natural Rights: The Enlightenment During the Scientific Revolution, people began to use the scientific method to determine the truth. This method said that people ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Natural Rights: The Enlightenment


1
Natural Rights The Enlightenment
  • During the Scientific Revolution, people began to
    use the scientific method to determine the truth.
    This method said that people should use reason
    and should observe nature to find the truth
    instead of just relying on superstition or
    tradition. When thinkers began to apply this
    method, not just to science, but to morals,
    beliefs, laws, and governments, they developed
    the idea of Natural Law

2
Natural Law
  • Natural law can be understood by applying reason
    to morals just like you would apply reason to
    understand scientific laws.
  • Examples
  • Scientific Law the earth revolves around the sun
  • Natural Law people are happiest when they are
    free
  • Scientific Law what goes up, must come down
  • Natural Law the best governments are those that
    listen to their people

3
Age of Enlightenment
  • Because so many people began questioning things
    and trying to prove things for themselves, people
    began learning and discovering like never before.
    (This is the difference between then and when
    peoples ideas were dominated by the church in
    the Middle Ages)
  • This time period became known as the Age of
    Enlightenment

4
Partner Assignment
  • What are Natural Rights?
  • You and your partner should brainstorm a list of
    natural rights. You will be called upon to share
    your example.
  • What document are you familiar with that outlines
    these rights?
  • - Bill of Rights

5
The Age of Enlightenment
6
  • Also known as The Age of Reason
  • Scientific Revolution paved the way as Natural
    Laws that applied to nature were now Natural
    Rights that applied to society.
  • Led to discovery of the world outside of Europe
    and the Columbian Exchange
  • Enlightened philosophers (aka philosophies in
    French) and writers

7
Enlightened Philosophers (aka philosophies in
French) and Writers
8
Thomas Hobbes
  • The Leviathan publish in 1651.
  • Without government, people would constantly be
    fighting amongst themselves.
  • Life without government would be "poor, nasty,
    brutish, and short."
  • The purpose of government is to ensure peace and
    security through whatever means necessary.
  • Government is a contract between citizens and
    their ruler. In this contract, citizens give up
    rights for the guarantee of peace and security.
  • The best government is one in which the ruler has
    absolute power.
  • People never have the right to rebel.

9
John Locke
  • Government is a contract between citizens and
    their rulers.
  • People have a natural right to life, liberty, and
    property.
  • The purpose of government is
  • to protect the rights of life, liberty, and
    property.
  • to create order in society.
  • Citizens have the right to rebel against a
    government that does not respect the rights of
    its citizens.
  • Rulers should stay in power only as long as they
    have the consent of the people they govern.
  • Lockes ideas influenced authors of US
    Declaration of Independence and French
    revolutionaries in the 1790s.

10
Locke
  • Essay Concerning Human Understanding
  • Every human is born a tabula mind, or blank
    slate.
  • Nothing is inherited, human knowledge is created
    by the environment as we experience the world.
  • Foundation for equality
  • We learn from reason
  • By controlling the environment we can create a
    better world

11
VoltaireFrançois-Marie Arouet
  • Considered the most important of the
    enlightenment philosophers
  • Prolific writer His satire Candide is his most
    famous work.
  • Fought for tolerance, reason, and freedom of
    thought, expression, and religious belief
  • Twice imprisoned in the Bastille

12
  • Fought against prejudice and superstition
  • Deism system of thought that denies the
    interference of the Creator with the laws of the
    universe.
  • Freedom of thought is most important "I do not
    agree with a word you say but I will defend to
    the death your right to say it."

13
Baron dMontesquieu
  • The Spirit of Laws 1748
  • Advocated separation of powers and checks and
    balances to keep any individual or group from
    gaining complete control of the government.
  • One of the greatest influences on the US
    Constitution.

14
Rousseau
  • Swiss philosopher
  • The Social Contract
  • Although born good, people are corrupted by
    society.
  • Government should be a contract between people,
    not between the people and a ruler.
  • People should give up some freedom in favor of
    the General Will of the people.
  • People are equal and have a right to individual
    freedom.

15
Beccaria
  • Believed laws existed to preserve social order
  • Advocated a criminal justice system based on
    fairness and reason

16
Adam Smith
  • A Physiocrat Natural laws govern the economy.
  • Wrote The Wealth of Nations
  • Called for the economic freedom of individuals,
    by keeping the government from interfering in the
    economy.
  • Believed an invisible hand (the law of supply
    and demand and competition) would guide the
    economy.

17
Mary Wollstonecraft
  • Vindication of the Rights of Women
  • Argued for womens right to become educated and
    to participate in politics
  • Believed women, like men, need education to
    become virtuous and useful.

18
Denis Diderot
  • Spread enlightened thinking in all areas by
    publishing the Encyclopedia, a 28 volumes of
    collected knowledge and the new ideas of the
    Scientific Revolution and the enlightenment
  • First to use an alphabetical format

19
How did Enlightenment writers and thinkers set
the stage for revolutionary movements?
  • Encouraged people to judge for themselves what
    was right or wrong in society
  • Rely on human reason to solve social problems

20
Questions for Discussion
  • Voltaire is credited with saying I disapprove
    of what you say, but I will defend your right to
    say it.
  • What does this statement indicate about
    Voltaires views on free speech?
  • How is it similar to beliefs about free speech in
    the U.S.?

21
Questions for Discussion
  • Man will only truly be free when the last king
    is strangled with the intestine of the last
    bishop. Percy Shelly
  • How is this quote reflective of the attitudes of
    the enlightenment philosopher?

22
Whos ideas are most like your own?
  • Hobbes
  • People are selfish, self-serving, and brutal.
  • Without control, society would be chaotic
  • Locke
  • People are reasonable and able to make decisions.
  • People should be able to rule themselves.

23
1776
  • In 1776, two famous works were published,
    Jeffersons Declaration of Independence and
    Smiths Wealth of Nations. Jeffersons work is
    about mans political independence and Smiths is
    about mans economic freedom and independence.
  • Which do you think has been the most important to
    the development of the USA? A citizens
    political or economic freedom? Why?
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