Who Were Two Famous Thinkers Of The Enlightenment?

by | Last updated on January 24, 2024

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Centered on the dialogues and publications of the French “philosophes”

(Voltaire, Rousseau, Montesquieu, Buffon and Denis Diderot)

, the High Enlightenment might best be summed up by one historian’s summary of Voltaire’s “Philosophical Dictionary”: “a chaos of clear ideas.” Foremost among these was the notion that …

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Who were the 2 Enlightenment thinkers?

Enlightenment Thinkers:

Voltaire and Hume

The Enlightenment perhaps found its greatest manifestation in two mid-17th century philosophers, the Scotsman David Hume and the Frenchman Voltaire.

Who are the most famous Enlightenment thinkers?

  • 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.

Who were the major people in the Enlightenment?

  • Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) …
  • Francis Bacon (1561–1626) …
  • Cesare Beccaria (1738–1794) …
  • John Comenius (1592–1670) …
  • René Descartes (1596–1650) …
  • Denis Diderot (1713–1784) …
  • Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) …
  • Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832)

What were Thomas Hobbes main ideas?

Throughout his life, Hobbes believed that

the only true and correct form of government was the absolute monarchy

. He argued this most forcefully in his landmark work, Leviathan. This belief stemmed from the central tenet of Hobbes’ natural philosophy that human beings are, at their core, selfish creatures.

What did John Locke believe in?

In political theory, or political philosophy, John Locke refuted the theory of the divine right of kings and argued that all

persons are endowed with natural rights to life, liberty, and property

and that rulers who fail to protect those rights may be removed by the people, by force if necessary.

Was Thomas Paine an Enlightenment thinker?

Thomas Paine was a

revolutionary thinker

who used Enlightenment ideology as a platform to persuade towards the founding of an independant America, and towards the founding of the Declaration of Independence.

Was Thomas Hobbes an Enlightenment thinker?

Hobbes. The first major figure in the English Enlightenment was the

political philosopher

Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679), who began his career as a tutor but branched out to philosophy around the age of thirty. … In Leviathan, Hobbes elaborates on the nature of man and justifies absolutist rule.

What was John Locke known for?

John Locke was among the most famous

philosophers and political theorists

of the 17

th

century. He is often regarded as the founder of a school of thought known as British Empiricism, and he made foundational contributions to modern theories of limited, liberal government.

What were the first two revolutions inspired by the Enlightenment thinkers?


The American and French Revolutions

were directly inspired by Enlightenment ideals and respectively marked the peak of its influence and the beginning of its decline.

Who was America’s most prominent representative of Enlightenment thinking?

America had its own figures of the Enlightenment to be sure, most prominently among them being

Benjamin Franklin

, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, to name a few. Many American historians, however, have found the origins of the American Enlightenment in the thinking of Roger Williams.

What was Voltaire’s ideas?

Voltaire believed

above all in the efficacy of reason

. He believed social progress could be achieved through reason and that no authority—religious or political or otherwise—should be immune to challenge by reason. He emphasized in his work the importance of tolerance, especially religious tolerance.

Who was the main leader of the Enlightenment?

Some of the most important writers of the Enlightenment were the Philosophes of France, especially

Voltaire

and the political philosopher Montesquieu. Other important Philosophes were the compilers of the Encyclopédie, including Denis Diderot, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Condorcet.

What did John Locke do for the Enlightenment?

The English philosopher and political theorist John Locke (1632-1704) laid much of the groundwork for the Enlightenment and made

central contributions to the development of liberalism

. Trained in medicine, he was a key advocate of the empirical approaches of the Scientific Revolution.

How are John Locke and Thomas Hobbes different?

Locke believed that we have

the right to life

as well as the right to just and impartial protection of our property. Any violation of the social contract would one in a state of war with his fellow countrymen. Conversely, Hobbes believed that if you simply do what you are told, you are safe.

Where is Thomas Hobbes from?

Thomas Hobbes, (born April 5, 1588,

Westport, Wiltshire, England

—died December 4, 1679, Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire), English philosopher, scientist, and historian, best known for his political philosophy, especially as articulated in his masterpiece Leviathan (1651).

What did Jean-Jacques Rousseau believe?

Rousseau argued that the general will of the people could not be decided by elected representatives. He believed in

a direct democracy in which everyone voted to express the general will and to make the laws of the land

. Rousseau had in mind a democracy on a small scale, a city-state like his native Geneva.

What is Thomas Paine most famous for?

Thomas Paine was an England-born political philosopher and writer who supported revolutionary causes in America and Europe. Published in 1776 to international acclaim, “

Common Sense

” was the first pamphlet to advocate American independence.

What did the philosophers of the Enlightenment seek to understand?

_____supported the Enlightenment idea that people are naturally selfish. … What did the philosophers of the Enlightenment seek to understand?

the natural rights governing human behavior and society

. According to the quote,____is lost if one person has too much power.

What was Benjamin Franklin’s role in the Enlightenment?

His most famous work,

on electricity

, exemplified Enlightenment principles. Franklin observed that lightning strikes tended to hit metal objects and reasoned that he could therefore direct lightning through the placement of metal objects during an electrical storm.

Who were Thomas Paine’s friends?

Paine’s original title for the pamphlet was Plain Truth, but Paine’s friend, pro-independence

advocate Benjamin Rush

, suggested Common Sense instead.

Who were the Enlightenment thinkers quizlet?

  • Thomas Hobbes. -everyone born selfish and wiked. …
  • John Locke. -life, liberty, property. …
  • Voltaire. -wrote over 70 books. …
  • Montesquieu. -seperation of powers (executive, legislative, judicial) …
  • Jean Jacques Rousseau. -all people born free and equal. …
  • Beccaria. …
  • Mary Wollstonecraft. …
  • Frederick the Great.

Did Voltaire favor Republicanism?

This stance distanced Voltaire from the republican politics of Toland and other materialists, and Voltaire echoed these ideas in his political musings, where he remained throughout his life a

liberal

, reform-minded monarchist and a skeptic with respect to republican and democratic ideas.

Who was the king of England during the Enlightenment?

In the 18th century, Great Britain was ruled by

Kings George I (1714-1727)

, George II (1727-1760), and George III (1760-1820). Under George III, Britain experienced a serious economic crisis due to the huge expenditures involved in financing wars with France and America.

Who is the father of ideological change means enlightenment?

John Locke FRS Born John Locke29 August 1632 Wrington, Somerset, England Died 28 October 1704 (aged 72) High Laver, Essex, England Nationality English Education Oxford University (B.A., 1656; M.A., 1658; M.B., 1675)

Why is John Locke the best philosopher?

He is one of the most outstanding of enlightenment thinkers, who explained many of the ideas that affect human life in today’s society. He is widely known as the

father of classical liberalism

, because of his emphases on liberty of persons by, restricting the authority of the government Jenkins and John (18).

What were the 3 major ideas of the Enlightenment?

The Enlightenment, sometimes called the ‘Age of Enlightenment’, was a late 17th- and 18th-century intellectual movement emphasizing

reason, individualism, and skepticism

.

What is John Locke’s theory of government?

To Locke, a Government existed, among other things, to

promote public good

, and to protect the life, liberty, and property of its people. For this reason, those who govern must be elected by the society, and the society must hold the power to instate a new Government when necessary.

Who are the key figures in the American Enlightenment?

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

.

What is Jean-Jacques Rousseau known for?

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, (born June 28, 1712, Geneva, Switzerland—died July 2, 1778, Ermenonville, France), Swiss-born philosopher, writer, and political theorist whose

treatises and novels inspired the leaders of the French Revolution and the Romantic generation

.

Who were the Enlightenment thinkers in the French Revolution?

The ideals of liberty and equality, that were needed to overthrow Louis XVI, emerged first from the writings of important and influential thinkers of the Age of Enlightenment. Specifically, the writings of

John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Baron de Montesquieu

greatly influenced the revolutionaries in France.

Which Enlightenment thinkers influenced the United States government?

The American Revolution and the subsequent framework of American government were heavily influenced by

John Locke, Baron de Montesquieu, and Jean Jacques Rousseau

– three Enlightenment philosophers who “developed theories of government in which some or even all the people would govern” (Constitutional Rights Foundation …

How was Benjamin Franklin similar to Enlightenment thinkers?

Franklin was also a true man of

the Enlightenment

, embracing science, reason, natural human rights, free thinking and morality. He personally did not agree with many of the rules and doctrines of religion as taught in church, favoring basic moral virtues that served “practical” purposes in the lives of men.

Which two Enlightenment ideas are reflected in the US Constitution?


Divine ruling right and separation of powers

are the two enlightenment which are indicated in constitution of United States.

What were two American documents were influenced by Enlightenment thinkers?

The American Revolution was very heavily influenced by ideas associated with the Enlightenment. Documents like

the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights

reflected many Enlightenment ideas.

What is Voltaire’s famous statement?



Cherish those who seek the truth but beware of those who find it

.” “It is better to risk saving a guilty person than to condemn an innocent one.” “Think for yourself and let others enjoy the privilege of doing so too.” “Faith consists in believing what reason cannot.”

What Voltaire thought about natural rights?

In his Treatise on Toleration he argued that

religious intolerance was against the law of nature

and was worse than the “right of the tiger”: Human law must in every case be based on natural law. All over the earth the great principle of both is: Do not unto others what you would that they do not unto you.

Was Voltaire a vegetarian?

Voltaire was a

vegetarian writer and philosopher

That came later, with the revolution.

What is Hobbes theory of human nature?

Hobbes believed that

in man’s natural state, moral ideas do not exist

. Thus, in speaking of human nature, he defines good simply as that which people desire and evil as that which they avoid, at least in the state of nature. Hobbes uses these definitions as bases for explaining a variety of emotions and behaviors.

What is Thomas Hobbes social contract theory?

Hobbes is famous for his early and elaborate development of what has come to be known as “social contract theory”,

the method of justifying political principles or arrangements by appeal to the agreement that would be made among suitably situated rational, free, and equal persons

.

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.