10 Questions
What was the defining characteristic of the Enlightenment movement?
The insistence on the power and authority of human reason and the rejection of superstition
What was the primary focus of Enlightenment theories?
The rational powers of each individual
Which of the following was a consequence of Enlightenment theories?
The emergence of the idea of popular consent and the social contract
Which country was the largest center of the Enlightenment movement?
France
Which Enlightenment thinker was known for his scathing criticisms of religion?
Voltaire
What was John Locke's view on human nature?
Humans are born as a tabula rasa, a blank slate.
What was the main difference between rationalists and empiricists?
Rationalists believed in the importance of math and formal logic, while empiricists believed in the role of experience and observation.
What was the Enlightenment thinkers' view on the source of political authority?
It comes from a social contract.
What was the Enlightenment's influence on the study of knowledge?
It led to a focus on methodological debates on how to gain knowledge.
What was the outcome of the Enlightenment's influence on government?
The Enlightenment led to revolutions that sought to replace monarchies with more democratic governments.
Study Notes
The Enlightenment
- Lasted from the late 17th century to the early 19th century
- Characterized by the power and authority of human reason and the rejection of superstition
- Encouraged people to use their own reason to discover truth and question traditional authority, especially the church
Key Thinkers
- Voltaire: criticized religion, especially the Christian church and its priests
- John Locke: believed in the tabula rasa, that people are born without innate ideas and that experience provides the raw materials for knowledge
- Adam Smith and David Hume: Scottish Enlightenment thinkers
- Immanuel Kant: German Enlightenment thinker
- Montesquieu and Diderot: French Enlightenment thinkers
- James Madison and Thomas Jefferson: American Enlightenment thinkers and Founding Fathers
Impact on Government
- Undermined the traditional authority of European monarchies
- Led to the idea of a social contract, where political authority is derived from the people
- Inspired democracy and the concept of popular consent
- Rejected the idea of divine right of kings
Enlightenment Philosophers' Beliefs
- Believe in the power of individual reason and the authority of every individual to attain knowledge and make decisions
- Rationalists believed reason could discover the laws of the universe with little observation
- Empiricists believed all knowledge comes from the senses and reason serves observation and desire
Influence of the Enlightenment
- Led to revolutions in America and France, establishing democratic governments
- Changed the way people think about authority, making absolute monarchy untenable
- Influenced epistemology, focusing methodological debates on how to gain knowledge
- Contributed to the development of natural sciences, calculus, and Newtonian physics
Test your knowledge on the intellectual movement that emphasized the power of human reason and individualism in the 17th-19th centuries. Focus on the characteristics, theories, and thinkers of the Enlightenment.
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