Who Were The 6 Enlightenment Thinkers?

by | Last updated on January 24, 2024

, , , ,
  • Thomas Hobbes. 1588-1679.
  • Hobbes’ Preferred Government. Absolute Monarchy.
  • Hobbes’ Social Contract. People would give up their freedom in return for safety and order.
  • Hobbes’ Beliefs. …
  • Hobbes’ Contribution. …
  • John Locke. …
  • Who did Locke influence? …
  • Locke’s Preferred Government.

Who were famous Enlightenment thinkers?

  • Adam Smith.
  • Baron de Montesquieu.
  • Benjamin Franklin.
  • Jean Jacques Rousseau.
  • John Locke.
  • Mary Wollstonecraft.
  • Olympe de Gouge.
  • Thomas Hobbes.

Who were the 4 Enlightenment thinkers?

These thinkers valued reason, science, religious tolerance, and what they called “natural rights”—life, liberty, and property. Enlightenment philosophers

John Locke, Charles Montesquieu, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau

all developed theories of government in which some or even all the people would govern.

Who were the four Enlightenment thinkers that influenced the United States?

Four American Enlightenment Thinkers. What follows are brief accounts of how four significant thinkers contributed to the eighteenth-century American Enlightenment:

Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and John Adams

.

Who was the most famous Enlightenment thinker?

  • Locke, John 1632 – 1704. …
  • Montesquieu, Charles-Louis Secondat 1689 – 1755. …
  • Newton, Isaac 1642 – 1727. …
  • Quesnay, François 1694 – 1774. …
  • Raynal, Guillaume-Thomas 1713 – 1796. …
  • Rousseau, Jean-Jacques 1712 – 1778. …
  • Turgot, Anne-Robert-Jacques 1727 – 1781. …
  • Voltaire, François-Marie Arouet 1694 – 1778.

What were the 3 major ideas of the Enlightenment?

The Enlightenment was a late 17th- and 18th-century intellectual movement emphasizing reason,

individualism, skepticism, and science

.

What changes did the Enlightenment bring?

The Enlightenment helped

combat the excesses of the church

, establish science as a source of knowledge, and defend human rights against tyranny. It also gave us modern schooling, medicine, republics, representative democracy, and much more.

What did the Enlightenment thinkers believe?

Enlightenment thinkers wanted to

improve human conditions on earth

rather than concern themselves with religion and the afterlife. These thinkers valued reason, science, religious tolerance, and what they called “natural rights”—life, liberty, and property.

How did the Enlightenment affect slavery?

Enlightenment thinkers argued that liberty was a natural human right and that reason and scientific knowledge—not the state or the church—were responsible for human progress. But Enlightenment reason also provided a

rationale for slavery

, based on a hierarchy of races.

What caused the Enlightenment?

On the surface, the most apparent cause of the Enlightenment was

the Thirty Years’ War

. This horribly destructive war, which lasted from 1618 to 1648, compelled German writers to pen harsh criticisms regarding the ideas of nationalism and warfare.

What was the Enlightenment period in America?

The Enlightenment, that great age of intellectual inquiry and discovery that

stretched from roughly 1680 to 1820

, drew fundamentally from the European colonization of the Americas. The discovery of the New World prompted a flurry of new questions about society, government, art, religion, and nature.

What is an example of Enlightenment?

An example of enlightenment is

when you become educated about a particular course of study or a particular religion

. … An example of enlightenment was The Age of Enlightenment, a time in Europe during the 17th and 18th century considered an intellectual movement driven by reason.

How did John Locke influence the American Revolution?

In his enormously renowned political theory, Locke

presented the idea of governmental checks and balances

, which became a foundation for the U.S. Constitution. He also argued that revolution in some circumstances is not only a right but an obligation, which also clearly influenced the Founding Fathers.

Who was the most important thinkers during the Enlightenment Why?


John Locke

, an English philosopher and physician, is regarded as one of the most influential Enlightenment thinkers, whose work greatly contributed to the development of the notions of social contract and natural rights.

Who opposed the Enlightenment?

One particular concern to early Romantic writers was the allegedly anti-religious nature of the Enlightenment since the philosophes and Aufklarer were generally

deists

, opposed to revealed religion.

Which impact of the Enlightenment is most important?


Democracy and equality

were of great importance to the thinkers of the Enlightenment, who were dissatisfied with the mooching and prestige of the aristocratic social tier. The effect of all this would having a lasting impact on the face of the world as we know it.

Amira Khan
Author
Amira Khan
Amira Khan is a philosopher and scholar of religion with a Ph.D. in philosophy and theology. Amira's expertise includes the history of philosophy and religion, ethics, and the philosophy of science. She is passionate about helping readers navigate complex philosophical and religious concepts in a clear and accessible way.