The Age of Reason In Europe, during the Age of Enlightenment or the Age of Reason, many philosophers gathered together to discuss their different but similar ideas to help shape the world we live in today. In the late 17th and 18th century, four enlightenment philosophers named John Locke, Voltaire, Adam Smith, and Mary Wollstonecraft focused on the same main idea. They believed in individual rights and presented their arguments through religion, government, economics, and equality for women. A philosopher named John Locke believed that people should be free to do what they want, but if their choices are poor, then they should be ready to face the consequences. In his justification, he asserts that “We must consider what state men are naturally in... a state of perfect freedom to order their actions and dispose …show more content…
He supported an economic system based on individual decision-making because he believed that if every person becomes wealthy, then the whole nation will be stronger and wealthier. Smith, also believed that the government shouldn 't be involved in trade and economic decisions-making. He wanted each person to be responsible for themselves. During the French Revolution, Mary Wollstonecraft, a British author, firmly recommended that women should be considered equal to men. In her document she claims that, “Women must be allowed to found their virtue on knowledge, which is scarcely possible unless they be educated by the same pursuits as men”(Wollstonecraft, On National Education). Wollstonecraft dynamically argued that if women had the right to study, they’d be able to prove they aren’t inferior by ignorance and low desires. Despite the fact that these four philosophers had contrasting ideas on how to enhance daily life, they all concentrated the same central idea. They each contributed something unique to their society, which has influenced our daily
Before Adam Smith’s push for this, it was common for governments to make most the decisions about what to trade and how much everything was. He wrote The Wealth of Nations to help this cause change. He also wrote that if individuals pursue their own self-interest, they would help the society (Doc C). Individual freedom is the key to a better economy as well.
The main argument was woman can everything man can do. The purpose it was written was the failure of the French Constitution to give woman rights. Wollstonecraft saying that woman need to educate their children and be the best wife to their husband as can be. Wollstonecraft wrote, “But few parents are willing to receive the respectful affection of their offspring on such terms. They demand blind obedience, because they do not merit a reasonable service: and to render these demands of weakness and ignorance more binding, a mysterious sanctity is spread round the most arbitrary principle;”(CH 11) (Pg 2) Wollstonecraft is advocating that if woman do not have an education they will feel like they don’t have anything quality to teach her children, so then her children will not respect her.
John Locke was a philosopher and political scientist. He had many interests and produced a number of writings that influenced future leaders. One of these leaders was Thomas Jefferson, who was involved with the aid of America and the act gaining independence from Britain. The Declaration of Independence and Locke’s views on government contain many similar aspects. These ideas includes the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (natural rights); the protection that is provided by the government for these rights; and the altering or abolishment of government if it fails to provide and protect the rights of the people.
(pg 368) Wollstonecraft believed that boys and girls should receive their education together, which many in that day believed to be crazy. In a similar way Wollstonecraft looked at marriage like de Gouges did. They both believed it should be a mutual beneficial relationship between a man and a woman, much like a social contract. John Stuart Mill gives his argument for women in his work On the Subjection of Women.
The Age of Enlightenment was a period of intellectual, social, and economic movements that sought-after a more reformed way of society. Predominantly in Europe many advances were starting to take place, however women still were faced with nonexistent rights. Mary Wollstonecraft, was born during the midst of the Enlightenment era. During her childhood where education for women was not important nor prominent, she saw how detrimental the social class was set for women and knew from a young age she wanted to pursue a higher education level. Wollstonecraft settle to dedicate her life to writing and with this hopefully challenge the norms of educating and liberating women.
The economic views of Adam Smith and Karl Marx Microeconomics Eduardo De Oliveira Superti Table of Contents: Abstract 3 Introduction 4 The economic views of Adam Smith 5 The economic views of Karl Marx 6 Adam Smith vs. Karl Marx 7 Examples in the world of today 9 Conclusion 10 Recommendations 11 Bibliography 12 Introduction Adam Smith and Karl Marx were completely contrasting economists throughout their time and had an enormous effect on the world and the way we view economics. They represent the ideas of capitalism and socialism.
Mary Wollstonecraft was an advocate for women's rights and a writer. She was also the founder of movements and the rights of women. Mary conveyed and spoke out in her published books about injustice and the right to be equal in economics, education, and politics. She like many others during the 17th century spoke up for a greater future in France. Similar to John Locke who was also a philosopher that wanted the idea of a government that protected a person's natural rights including life, liberty, and property.
Adam Smith believes that free trade will help increase the production of wealth more that what mercantilism trade and free markets would. He said that the greed of capitalists produces results. Smith believed that industrial methods were changing the old age labor relations and the process of manufacturing. He
John Locke Essay Joseph Gabriel Introduction To Political Theory Dr. Bagchi 20NOV2015 John Locke's most influential political writings can be found within the work entitled Two Treatises on Government. Within the Two Treatises on Government, Locke talks about the state of nature, the law of nature, rights to pursuit life, liberty, and property. John Locke believes that the good life is obtainable by forming a social contract to escape the state of nature. Through this social contract, man would pursuing the good life by establishing a civil society or government in which life, liberty, and property rights are its founding principles.
Adam Smith, an advocate of capitalism, in his book, The Wealth of Nations wrote that all individuals are selfish and by performing to the best of their capabilities towards their own selfish interests they contribute towards the nation’s collective growth. Karl Marx, on the other hand criticized capitalism and believed that socialism and communism are society’s best chance of maximizing individual happiness, about which he wrote in his book Das Kapital. In this paper, we will compare and contrast the economics theories of Adam Smith and Karl Marx on the lines of labor theory of value, division of labor, alienation of workers from labor and human happiness and surplus profit and its social implications. This paper will also discuss how… Adam Smith believes that there are two types of ‘values’ of a commodity – ‘utility value’ and ‘exchange value’. The utility value of a commodity is based on how useful a commodity is and the exchange value of a commodity refers to how much we can get in exchange for a commodity if we were to sell it.
Wollstonecraft wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman in response to a report to the French National Assembly, which stated that women should only receive a domestic education (Johnson Lewis). She believed that women needed to be educated in order to find their way to equality with men. Wollstonecraft writes in the introduction: “The education of women has, of late, been more attended to than formerly; yet they are still reckoned a frivolous sex, and ridiculed or pitied by the writers who endeavor by satire or instruction to improve
In the beautiful city of 1700 France, philosophers gather and discuss their new ideas about the Enlightenment that will change the government, people, and society forever. The Enlightenment is a movement that applied reason to traditional ideas about governments and society. The time period that the Enlightenment (The Age of Reason) took place was 1715 until 1800. Two specific philosophers have opposing opinions on the new ideas of the enlightenment. The philosophers Thomas Hobbes and John Locke had very different ideas about state of nature, social contract, type of government, and the role of the government during the Enlightenment time period.
Smith was an outstanding developer of capitalist economy theory, while Marx was the principal philosopher of social economics. When individuals are subjects of their state government, it
Although they were different in political theory, they shared some similarities; though much of their philosophy has been debated and replaced by the Austrian School of Economics, there are points of value to both Adam Smith’s and Karl Marx’s theories. While Adam Smith competed that the most ideal economic system is capitalism, Karl Marx thought else. Marx strongly obeyed to the idea that capitalism leads to greediness and inequality. Smith did not put the attention on the properties or the riches of the aristocracy like Marx. Smith explained on how an individual could gain economic benefits equal to his effort and thus adds to an economy’s aggregate wealth.
Mary wollstonecraft wrote a book with strictures on political and moral subjects called vindication in the 18th-century. She wrote vindication to imply that men and women are allowed to have equal rights. One of her quote is “I do not wish them [women] to have power over men; but over themselves”. Which means she wants women