Enlightenment Thinkers and Ideas

Cesare Beccaria

• Italian criminologist and economist
• Published Crime and Punishment (1764)
• Argued that punishment certainty was more important than severity
• Focused on principles governing criminal punishment

Immanuel Kant

• 18th-century philosopher
• Believed the Enlightenment’s motto was: "Sapere aude! Have courage to use your own intelligence!"

Scientific Revolution

• Influenced the Enlightenment
• Emphasized new methods and scientific discoveries
• Advocated for observation and experimentation

Francis Bacon

• Prominent figure in the Scientific Revolution
• Emphasized the scientific method
• Advocated for observation, experimentation, and testable hypotheses

Isaac Newton

• Utilized the scientific method for a wide range of discoveries
• Inspired Enlightenment thinkers through his achievements

Enlightenment Principles

• Challenged traditional authority, religion, and superstition
• Emphasized individual thought and reason
• Promoted scientific and academic knowledge based on observation, logic, and reason
• Advocated for secular thought

René Descartes

• French philosopher and mathematician
• Examined the basis of knowledge by questioning his own existence
• Famous quote: "Cogito ergo sum" (I think, therefore I am)

French Salons and Philosophes

• Salons were gatherings for aristocrats to discuss ideas and theories
• Philosophes were French Enlightenment thinkers who attended these gatherings
• Madame de Pompadour was a prominent figure in French salons

Voltaire

• Famous philosophe
• Wrote plays, essays, poetry, philosophy, and books
• Criticized the medieval social order
• Argued for social, political, and religious tolerance

Encyclopédie

• Major project undertaken by the philosophes
• Published between 1745 and 1765
• Contained 72,000 articles
• Banned by the Catholic Church
• Edited by Denis Diderot and Jean Le Rond d’Alembert

Deism

• Believed in God, but rejected organized religion
• Argued morality could be achieved through reason, not church teachings
• Thomas Paine was a prominent deist

Thomas Hobbes

• Applied rational analysis to government
• Rejected the concept of divine right
• Argued for a strong monarchy
• Believed humans were driven by passions and required a powerful ruler for control

John Locke

• Focused on the natural state and government
• Argued for "tabula rasa" (blank slate) as the basis of human knowledge
• Believed in natural rights and authored the "Treatises of Government"

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

• Examined society and government
• Emphasized the concept of the "Social Contract"

Baron de Montesquieu

• French political philosopher
• Argued for the separation of powers in government
• Believed in checks and balances
• Focused on different types of governments