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 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

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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

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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

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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

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The Age of Enlightenment
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• 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

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Enlightened Philosophers (aka philosophies in
French) and Writers
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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.

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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.

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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

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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

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• 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."

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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.

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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.

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Beccaria

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

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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.

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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.

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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

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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

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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.?

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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?

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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.

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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?