Enlightenment Vocabulary

John Locke believed that governments should only exist to serve the will of the people. He believed that members of a society give up some of their power to the government and in return, the government protects the people.

• social contract

• legal contract

• democracy

• natural law

A period in European history that emphasized education and using logic to improve people's lives. Before this, superstition was used to explain the world.

• Enlightenment

• New Age

• Holocaust

• 20th Century

A philosophical movement in the 18th century

• Enlightenment

• Philosopher

• Revolution

• Deism

An eighteenth-century religious philosophy based on reason and natural law

• Deism

• Astrology

• Protestantism

• Dogma

A social gathering of intellectuals and artists

• salon

• station

• campus

• dormitory

A person who seeks wisdom or enlightenment; a scholar or a thinker

• Philosopher

• Rationalism

• Enlightenment

• Genius

A belief in the power of human reason and the scientific method during the Enlightenment period.

• Rationalism

• Empiricism

• Skepticism

• Mysticism

The Enlightenment thinker who advocated for the separation of powers in government.

• John Locke

• Voltaire

• Montesquieu

• Rousseau

The idea that all human beings are born with certain rights, such as life, liberty, and property.

• Natural Rights

• Divine Rights

• Civil Rights

• Human Rights

The Enlightenment philosopher known for his satirical writings and criticism of the Catholic Church.

• Voltaire

• Rousseau

• Kant

• Hume