Similarities Between John Locke And Adam Smith

Through the Enlightenment, a new way of thinking was discovered. Prior to this era, people looked to the church and to their religion for reasoning. Therefore, the people relied heavily on the Bible and the church’s interpretation of it. However, the Enlightenment brought forward a variety of contemporary ideas that helped people have a better understanding of how a variety of objects worked. These new ideas of reasoning and logic led the Enlightenment to be a time period of prosperity. Several people during this time, such as John Locke, Immanuel Kant, and Adam Smith helped advocate the benefits of the Enlightenment and the knowledge being brought forth by it.
John Locke, a 17th century Englishman, discussed how essential knowledge and experience are for people to have. In his work, “Essay Concerning Human Understanding,” Locke argued that all knowledge came from experience, sensation, and reflection. He believed that through “perception, thinking, doubting, believing, reasoning, knowing, willing, and all the different actings of our own minds” people are able to have a better and accurate understanding of anything they put their minds to. This means, just listening to what people, such as the Church, were saying, was not enough to draw a practical conclusion. As a result, people were encouraged to try new experiments for

Kant was encouraging, daring, the people to enhance their learning. In Kant’s work, “What is Enlightenment?” written in 1784, he indicates progress could be made by stating “The public use of a man’s reason must be free at all times, and this alone can bring enlightenment along men.” Meaning, man must be free to draw his own conclusions in order to have a better society for all men. Overall, Kant believed that people should desire to know