Warm Up:▪What are you able to do as a teenager that you were not able to do as a child?

▪What changes occurred that allowed this new found freedom?

Brainstorm:

▪What do you know about the Enlightenment?▪People?▪Places?▪Ideas?

The Enlightenment ThinkersSWBAT identify the main ideas of each of the major Enlightenment thinkers, compare their philosophies, and evaluate which thinker most influenced the era.

Thomas HobbesMajor Work:▪ LeviathanIdeas:▪ People are cruel, greedy and selfish. Therefore they need to be

strictly controlled by a strong central government. ▪ This is done so that people don't fight, oppress or rob one another

also known as a State of Nature. In other words, man is naturally cruel, greedy, etc..

▪ Hobbes called for a social contract. People give up freedoms for an organized society. (less freedoms for the greater good)

John LockeMajor Work:▪ Two Treatises of GovernmentIdeas:▪ People are basically reasonable and moral.▪ People are born with rights that can’t be taken away: Life, Liberty,

and Property (Natural Rights)▪ People form governments to protect their natural rights.▪ The best government has limited power and is accepted by all

citizens.▪ If government fails the people, the people can overthrow the

government.

Voltaire Major Work:▪ Several books which offended the French Government and

Catholic ChurchIdeas:▪ Used sharp wit to target corrupt officials and aristocrats. ▪ Wrote against social inequality, the slave trade, religious prejudice▪ Jailed, exiled, and banned from Paris all on the principle of

freedom of speech.

MontesquieuMajor Work:▪ Persian Letters▪ The Spirit of the LawsIdeas:▪ Spoke against social classes that seemed to be promoted by the

French government. ▪ The only way to protect liberty and avoid a corrupt government

was to separate powers into three separate branches. Legislative, Executive, Judicial.

▪ Each branch would be able to check the other two branches to ensure no abuse of power. This idea would be very influential when designing the United States constitution.

Denis DiderotMajor Work:▪ Editor of the Encyclopedia

Ideas:▪ His purpose was to “change the general way of thinking”▪ Targeted topics such as government, philosophy, and religion.▪ Featured articles by Montesquieu and Voltaire. ▪ Articles denounced slavery, praised freedom of expression, and

urged education for all. ▪ Once translated, The Encyclopedia helped spread Enlightenment

ideas through all of Europe and onto the Americas

RousseauMajor Work:▪ The Social ContractIdeas:▪ Unlike Hobbes, Rousseau believed that people in their natural

state were good, but had been corrupted by society. ▪ In the Social Contract, Rousseau expressed society placed too

many limitations on people's behaviors. Furthermore, only freely elected governments could attempt to impose social controls.

▪ Believed that the good of the whole should be placed above individual interest.

The Thinkers

The Thinkers 2

The Ideas

Enlightenment:

▪What do we Know now? ▪What did we learn?