Compare And Contrast The Enlightenment Ideas Of Montesquieu And Rousseau

He liked to study various types of government. He thought that the government of a monarchy was better than democracy because he had no doubt that they were naturally wicked and were not to be trusted to govern.

Consequently, a limited government was created in response to these new thoughts. Furthermore, this new type of government was extremely revolutionary because it changed the way that the citizens had thought or viewed about the government. Two Enlightenment philosophers that influenced the creation of the government were John Locke and Montesquieu. John Locke had the belief that everyone had natural rights (life, liberty, property) and that if the government failed to protect these rights, they could be overthrown and replaced. Also, Montesquieu’s idea of the separation of powers helped shape the government. It was put into place to keep one branch from becoming overpowered. Without these key concepts, our government would supposedly become or stay as an absolute monarch.

The Enlightenment was a period of time that stressed the importance of reason and individual ideas. Many philosophers published works criticizing a country’s monarch or divulging the flaws they saw in a system within the government, such as the justice system. The Enlightenment also stressed the importance of education, and as a result of this, literacy rates experienced a major upward trend. Now able to read the philosopher’s works, a larger sum of people now were educated on the corruptions within their government. This caused a questioning of traditional practices, and people began to believe they could revise their government. These new ideas played as a catalyst to acts of resistance, or in a broader retrospect, the French Revolution.

“God, who has given the world to men in common, has also given them reason to make use of it to the best advantage of life and convenience” (Locke, 35). The Scientific Revolution concentrated on understanding the physical world through astronomical and mathematical calculations, or testable knowledge. The Enlightenment focused more on “Spreading of faith in reason and in universal rights and laws” (Worlds Together, Worlds Apart, 535). While the Scientific Revolution preceded the Enlightenment, both time periods sought to limit and challenge the power of the Church, through the spread of science, reason and intellect, and political philosophies.

John Locke and Baron de Montesquieu were political philosophers that debated the question of who was best fit to control the government. Locke and Montesquieu shared similar political beliefs such as natural rights and the separation of government powers. However, both philosophers did, in fact, have their personal views that helped them accomplish important achievements. John Locke published “Two Treatises of Government” and “ An Essay Concerning Human Understanding,” which present a detail philosophy of the mind and thought. Locke’s “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding,” lays out his philosophical project. Locke’s philosophical project consisted of discovering where our ideas come from, what an idea is, and to examine issues of faith

Enlightenment was a concept that inspired a new way of thinking of the people. In the newly formed United States of America, enlightenment shaped the way the new government was run. Scientific reasoning was applied to politics, religion, and science. Enlightenment saved music, art, and literature programs in colleges. Enlightenment in Europe led to drastically altered views on philosophy, politics, and communications. While enlightenment was the same revolution in thinking around the world, the ideas it brought were not always the same. For example, French enlightenment had different approaches to thinking than American enlightenment. Because of this, the two countries new governments were run on different ideologies.

The Enlightenment began with the English philosopher John Locke. It was an era of spreading faith in reason, in reason, and in universal rights and laws (The Enlightenment in Europe). The ideas that were embodied by Enlightenment were life, liberty, and property. It also led to the idea of natural right. The Enlightenment influenced the way people finally realized that divine right wasn’t right and start to doubt it. Throughout time Enlightenment has influenced many important events in history.

“The most perfect education, in my opinion,is…to enable the individual to attain such habits of virtue as well render [her] independent” (Doc D). The Enlightenment was a time period from the early 17th century to the late 18th century. There were many philosophers who contributed to making The Enlightenment. John Locke was a man who wanted freedom of government during 1690 (17th century) in England. He wanted this because he believed everyone was born with natural rights and the government should respect them and whoever didn’t, the people would have the right to impeach them. Voltaire was a man who wanted freedom of religion during 1726 (18th century) in Paris, France. He wanted this because he believed that freedom of religion would bring the world peace. Adam Smith was another man who believed of freedom, but he mostly believed in the freedom of economy.He did this during 1776 (18th century) in Europe.He thought this because he believed everyone should have the right to do what they want with their earnings that they made. Mary Wollstonecraft was a women who believed in

The age from 1450 – 1750 are categorized as the age of exploration where several

The Enlightenment was an intellectual movement created by many philosophers of the 18th century aimed to change their governments. These philosophers wished for more rights for the people and more representation in a constitutional government instead of the monarchy. Philosophers like Voltaire called for tolerance, reason as the primary source of authority, freedom of religious belief, and freedom of speech and expression. In addition he promoted the separation of religious and state, in order to mark a distance between any organized religion and the nation state. The political philosopher Montesquieu introduced the idea of a separation of powers in a government. He advocated that separation of powers would keep any individual or group from

The Age of Enlightenment lasted from the 1620s to the 1780s, and was a period of time where many great thinkers emphasized individual freedoms and logical reasoning. Enlightenment challenged many prominent organizations, such as the Roman Catholic Church and some governmental organizations. One Enlightenment thinker, Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Voltaire), thought that “government should be responsible for the people and supply to them freedom and happiness. The people thus agree to be governed on such terms1”. Voltaire believed that the government should cater to the people’s needs, and not control its citizens and take away their freedoms. In addition, he also thought that people should have a right to choose how their government governed them.

The Glorious Revolution of 1688 and the Enlightenment both desired to improve European society, however the level of religious tolerance during the Glorious Revolution differed from the Enlightenment. The Glorious Revolution of 1688 and the Enlightenment both desired to improve European society’s disposition to inherit natural rights. The level of religious tolerance during the Glorious Revolution, which favored Protestant beliefs over Catholicism, differed from the Enlightenment.

Voltaire, a French author during the 1700s, described how religious freedom would be greatly beneficial and important to society, because the lack of diverse religious results in either an arbitrary government or people of different religions cutting one another's throats. This new proposal was important to the enlightenment because of the new outlook on other cultures and religions spread quickly through Europe, slowly changing the cultural normalities in those places. Evidently, the new social and religious thoughts of the 17th and 18th century drove

The Continent of Europe has go through many times of change and revelations with one of these biggest changes taking place within the years 1650-1800 with this changing being the rise of Absolutism and Enlightenment. The rise of these two ideals allowed for the rise of many major figureheads within these ideals to come to light. One of these that was possible the most important Enlightened thinkers in the political sphere was born right in the middle of this time under the name of Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu.

Ideals of liberty and equality help to fuel major revolutions in the Western world. In this Age of Reason, or Enlightenment, great thinkers questioned the ideas of authority and government leading to a radical transformation in both colonial America and France. The American Revolution and the French Revolution are directly linked to Enlightenment ideals and inspired these great revolutions, and great dictators such as Napoleon Bonaparte, whom was a product of the Enlightenment. This time of guiding intellectual movement is emphasized by reason and individualism rather than tradition. With the help of the Scientific revolution that explains the natural world, intellectuals challenged the way people saw the world around them.