HWH 21.2 - Ideas of the Philosophes

Wrote the Spirit of Laws on the study of government. Proposed new ideas like Separation of Powers which divided the responsibilities of government amongst branches (legislative to make the laws, executive to carry out the laws, and judicial to interpret the laws). Also proposed the idea for Checks and Balances in which the branches had methods to limit and balance the other branches to keep any one branch/person from becoming too powerful.

• Montesquieu

• Voltaire

• Diderot

• Rousseau

Proposed the idea for religious toleration; not persecuting or attacking individuals for their religious beliefs. Would pave the way for Freedom of Religion. Also supported the idea of Deism, that God created the world according to natural laws and let them run without interference.

• Montesquieu

• Voltaire

• Locke

• Wollstonecraft

Wrote the first Encyclopedia to collect and share the new ideas of the scientists from the first stage of the Enlightenment (Scientific Revolution) and the political thinkers from the second stage of the Enlightenment (Ideas of the Philosophes).

• Voltaire

• Diderot

• Smith

• Hobbes

Wrote the Wealth of Nations. Proposed the early idea of free market economics. Paved the way for Capitalism. Believed in the concept of Laisse-faire (without government interference); the idea that government should not intervene in the economy and instead let economic forces like supply and demand dictate the economy.

• Montesquieu

• Rousseau

• Locke

• Smith

Wrote Discourse on the Origins of the Inequality of Mankind. Edited and proposed a new idea of the Social Contract; that the people or society give government the powers to govern on the basis that government will then do what is best for the people. If government does not, the people have a right to replace it with one that will (becomes the basis for the American Declaration of Independence).

• Montesquieu

• Hobbes

• Rousseau

• Locke

Wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Women. Proposed the idea of equality and rights for women. Argued that if the Enlightenment was about men being oppressed by absolute rulers, how could men still use the same oppression against women.

• Voltaire

• Wollstonecraft

• Locke

• Smith

Existed before the Enlightenment (after the English Civil War). Wrote Two Treatises on Government. Proposed the idea of Natural Rights in which all people should be born with. Included the right to life, liberty (choice/self interest), and property.

• Locke

• Hobbes

• Montesquieu

• Rousseau

Existed before the Enlightenment (during the English Civil War). Proposed the original idea of the Social Contract based on the death, destruction, and despair he witnessed from the English Civil War. Thought that humans were guided only by self-interest, needed an absolute monarch to keep order. Believed under the Social Contract that people should give government the power to govern to keep that order.

• Rousseau

• Voltaire

• Locke

• Hobbes