The European intellectual movement known as the Enlightenment began in the early 17th century and flourished for nearly 150 years. Like Renaissance humanists, Enlightenment thinkers revered the philosophy, history, and poetry of the classical Greeks and Romans. Like those in the Scientific Revolution, Enlightenment thinkers were devoted to experimentation, observation, analysis, and reason. The Enlightenment was challenged by new schools of thought after the French Revolution in 1789. However, its influence remained strong.
Before the Enlightenment, most Europeans believed in divine monarchy, that a king's or queen's authority came from God. As a result of this belief, monarchs argued no one should limit their power. Enlightenment political philosophers challenged these ideas. They argued that people had natural rights that limited the power of rulers. Authority might ultimately come from God, but it was expressed through the people of a state. This formed the basis of modern democracy.
Thomas Hobbes The English political philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588- 1679) rejected the belief God gave authority to a government. Rather, he believed this authority came from the people. He also argued that people were naturally selfish and combative. Without a strong a government to keep order, their lives would be "nasty, brutish, and short." For self-protection, people created a government by making a deal that he called a social contract. They gave up some of their freedom in exchange for security. One freedom they sacrificed was the right to criticize or influence the ruler. Even religious leaders had to bow to the will of the monarch. Hobbes believed that only an absolute monarch with unquestioned power would have enough power to maintain peace.
John Locke Thomas Hobbes was soon overshadowed by another English political philosopher: John Locke (1632-1704). Like Hobbes, Locke based government authority on a social contract rather than divine will.
However, Hobbes and Locke the viewed human nature very differently. Hobbes agreed with the common belief that each individual's personality was set before birth-by nature. People could be controlled, but not changed. In contrast, Locke thought that humans were born with no particular way of thinking or acting. In his work An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689), Locke represented a newborn baby's mind as a tabula rasa, Latin for "blank slate." People were shaped by how they were treated by nurture. As a result, Locke thought education was very important in shaping how a child would act as an adult. In addition, political freedom was important in producing a moral, productive person.
Locke was heavily influenced by the scientists of his day, including his friend Isaac Newton. Just as scientists were searching for natural laws that governed the physical world, Locke searched for natural laws that governed the human world. He thought that one of these laws was that people naturally desired to pursue good and to avoid pain. What made this law distinctive was how Locke thought eople could recognize what was truly good for them. Rather than rely upon eelings or instincts that they had naturally, or by traditions they were taught by thers, they could use reason. Like the scientists of his day, Locke trusted reason wen when it led to conclusions that were not obvious or not widely accepted. Identify fundamental issues about which people disagree, such as he role of reason. Identify one example of an attitude or behavior that is not based on reason (short sentence) written like a 8th grader