Natural Rights: The Enlightenment

1. Natural Rights: The Enlightenment • During the Scientific Revolution, people began to use the scientific method to determine the truth. This method said that people should use reason and should observe nature to find the truth instead of just relying on superstition or tradition. When thinkers began to apply this method, not just to science, but to morals, beliefs, laws, and governments, they developed the idea of “Natural Law”

2. Natural Law • Natural law can be understood by applying reason to morals just like you would apply reason to understand scientific laws. • Examples • Scientific Law: the earth revolves around the sun • Natural Law: people are happiest when they are free • Scientific Law: what goes up, must come down • Natural Law: the best governments are those that listen to their people

3. Age of Enlightenment • Because so many people began questioning things and trying to prove things for themselves, people began learning and discovering like never before. (This is the difference between then and when people’s ideas were dominated by the church in the Middle Ages) • This time period became known as the “Age of Enlightenment”

4. Partner Assignment • What are Natural Rights? • You and your partner should brainstorm a list of natural rights. You will be called upon to share your example. What document are you familiar with that outlines these rights? - Bill of Rights

5. The Age of Enlightenment

6. Also known as “The Age of Reason” • Scientific Revolution paved the way as Natural Laws that applied to nature were now Natural Rights that applied to society. • Led to discovery of the world outside of Europe and the Columbian Exchange • Enlightened philosophers (aka philosophies in French) and writers

7. Enlightened Philosophers (aka philosophies in French) and Writers

8. Thomas Hobbes • The Leviathan publish in 1651. • Without government, people would constantly be fighting amongst themselves. • Life without government would be "poor, nasty, brutish, and short." • The purpose of government is to ensure peace and security through whatever means necessary. • Government is a contract between citizens and their ruler. In this contract, citizens give up rights for the guarantee of peace and security. • The best government is one in which the ruler has absolute power. • People never have the right to rebel.

9. John Locke • Government is a contract between citizens and their rulers. • People have a natural right to life, liberty, and property. • The purpose of government is: • to protect the rights of life, liberty, and property. • to create order in society. • Citizens have the right to rebel against a government that does not respect the rights of its citizens. • Rulers should stay in power only as long as they have the consent of the people they govern. • Locke’s ideas influenced authors of US Declaration of Independence and French revolutionaries in the 1790s.

10. Locke • Essay Concerning Human Understanding • Every human is born a tabula mind, or blank slate. • Nothing is inherited, human knowledge is created by the environment as we experience the world. • Foundation for equality • We learn from reason • By controlling the environment we can create a better world

11. VoltaireFrançois-Marie Arouet • Considered the most important of the enlightenment philosophers • Prolific writer; His satire Candide is his most famous work. • Fought for tolerance, reason, and freedom of thought, expression, and religious belief • Twice imprisoned in the Bastille

12. Fought against prejudice and superstition • Deism: system of thought that denies the interference of the Creator with the laws of the universe. • Freedom of thought is most important: "I do not agree with a word you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

13. Baron d’Montesquieu • The Spirit of Laws 1748 • Advocated separation of powers and checks and balances to keep any individual or group from gaining complete control of the government. • One of the greatest influences on the US Constitution.

14. Rousseau • Swiss philosopher • The Social Contract • Although born good, people are corrupted by society. • Government should be a contract between people, not between the people and a ruler. • People should give up some freedom in favor of the General Will of the people. • People are equal and have a right to individual freedom.

15. Beccaria • Believed laws existed to preserve social order • Advocated a criminal justice system based on fairness and reason

16. Adam Smith • A Physiocrat: Natural laws govern the economy. • Wrote The Wealth of Nations • Called for the economic freedom of individuals, by keeping the government from interfering in the economy. • Believed an “invisible hand” (the law of supply and demand and competition) would guide the economy.

17. Mary Wollstonecraft • Vindication of the Rights of Women • Argued for women’s right to become educated and to participate in politics • Believed women, like men, need education to become virtuous and useful.

18. Denis Diderot • Spread enlightened thinking in all areas by publishing the Encyclopedia, a 28 volumes of collected knowledge and the new ideas of the Scientific Revolution and the enlightenment • First to use an alphabetical format

19. How did Enlightenment writers and thinkers set the stage for revolutionary movements? • Encouraged people to judge for themselves what was right or wrong in society • Rely on human reason to solve social problems

20. Questions for Discussion: • Voltaire is credited with saying: “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend your right to say it.” • What does this statement indicate about Voltaire’s views on free speech? • How is it similar to beliefs about free speech in the U.S.?

21. Questions for Discussion: • “Man will only truly be free when the last king is strangled with the intestine of the last bishop.” Percy Shelly • How is this quote reflective of the attitudes of the enlightenment philosopher?

22. Hobbes People are selfish, self-serving, and brutal. Without control, society would be chaotic Locke People are reasonable and able to make decisions. People should be able to rule themselves. Who’s ideas are most like your own?

23. 1776 • In 1776, two famous works were published, Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence and Smith’s Wealth of Nations. Jefferson’s work is about man’s political independence and Smith’s is about man’s economic freedom and independence. • Which do you think has been the most important to the development of the USA? A citizen’s political or economic freedom? Why?