Ideas of the Enlightenment

Denis Diderot

-French philosopher and writer who served as co-founder and chief editor of the Encyclopedia. -This book include articles by more than 100 experts on science,technology,and history. -The French King and the pope both banned the Encyclopedia.

New Ideas

-French philosophers popularized many Enlightenment ideas. -Voltaire mocked government and religion in his writings.Instead of trusting God to improve humans could improve their own existence.

The Enlightenment's Root

-Greek and Roman philosophers developed the concept of natural law. -Natural law-the idea that a law governed how the world operated. -Enlightenment thinkers began applying these beliefs not just to the natural world but also to the human world of society and government. -Enlightenment thinkers disagreed with the church's claims to authority and its intolerance toward non-Christian beliefs. -Tomas Aquinas taught that faith paired with reason could explain the world, however, the Enlightenment was mostly secular. -Secular-non-religious -Scholar from the Renaissance and Reformation period believed that people could improve their world by studying it and changing it. -These ideas contributed to the Enlightenment idea of progress-the idea that humans were capable of improving their world. -Scientist like Newton and Galileo discovered that the world did not work exactly the way the church explained it. -They discovered laws that governed the natural world. -Enlightenment thinkers believed that natural laws also governed human society and government.

New Ideas

-In spite of censorship,Enlightenment ideas spread. One important place for the exchange of ideas was salon. -Salon-a social gathering held to discuss ideas. -Most Enlightenment thinkers did not view woman as equal to men.However, in hosting salons women could influence opinions -British writers began to publish their ideas in books,pamphlets,and newspaper articles. -Mary Wollstonecraft argued that women should have same right as men. -Adam Smith believed economics was governed by natural laws.He argued that governments should not try to control the economy and that economic growth came when individuals were free to make own choices.

Key People of the Enlightenment

-John Locke -Isaac Newton -Denis Diderot -Voltaire -Rousseau -Montesquieu -Mary Wollstonecraft -Adam Smith

The Age of Reason

-Originate between about 1650-1700. The Enlightenment lasted until the late 18th century. -Thinkers during the Enlightenment believed human reason could be used to achieve three great goals- Knowledge,freedom,and happiness- and that achieving these goals would improve society. -The use of reason in guiding people's thought about the time period known as the Enlightenment. -How did the Enlighten,ent thinkers explain the world? -They used reason and logical thought.

Summary

-Scholars during the Enlightenment drew on ideas from previous eras. -They propose ideas about the importance of reason and progress

Voltaire

-Spoke our against censorship-removal of information considered harmful. -"I may disapprove of what you say ,but I will defend to death your right to say it." -His ideas emphasized the Enlightenment goal of freedom of thought

The Encyclopedia

-The Encyclopedia threatened the governing social classes of France(aristocracy) because it took for granted the justice of religious tolerance, freedom of thought, and the value of science and industry. It asserted the doctrine that the main concern of the nation's government ought to be nation's common people.

Mary Wollstonecraft

-Wollstonecraft is best known for A Vindication for the Right of Woman(1792),in which she argues that women are not naturally inferior to men,but appear to be only because they lack education.She suggests that both men and women should be treated as rational beings and imagines a social order founded on reason

Adam Smith

-WroteThe Wealth of Nations,which is considered the first modern work of economics, It earned him an enormous reputation and would become one of the most influential works on economics ever published. -Smith is widely cited as the father of modern economics and capitalism.