Enlightenment Dbq Essay

Locke believed that every person has rights including the rights to life, liberty, and property. Locke also believed that governments should be for the good of people, as quoted in source A “The purpose of government is the good of mankind” (John Locke). These ideas were expressed in the French Revolution,

Jason Iloulian Professor Farley Second Paper Nov 10th – 2015 Do Socrates and Voltaire have the same view of the relation between reason and religion? For the most part, one can sufficiently argue that both Socrates and Voltaire have the same view of the relation between reason and religion. Such a view is best summarized as the notion that religion is within the bounds of reason.

In advocacy for justice, there were times when the issues at hand were inevitably interwoven with his fight against religious oppression. A great example was in the tremendous help he provided in bringing justice to the name of Jean Calas. In the Calas affair, a father was sentenced to death after being accused of killing his son over his conversion to Catholicism from Protestantism. The punishment of the father was swift and yet through investigation, Voltaire proved his innocence. Restitution was later made in restoring the father’s good name as well as donations provided to the family by society, but at what cost?

Locke is a founder of the Common Sense pamphlet. He believed in government ruled by people. “He expressed the radical view that government is morally obliged to serve people, namely by protecting life, liberty, and property. He explained the principle of checks and balances to limit government power. He favored representative government and a rule of law.

The ideas of the Enlightenment influenced the American Revolution and the formation of the American Government. Firstly, The Enlightenment was a philosophical evolution that emphasized the aged ideas of the Greeks and Romans. In addition, the major philosophers of this time period were Voltaire, John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Rousseau, Adam Smith and Isaac Newton. Their ideals include having an absolute monarch as a government (T.H), the separation of powers (Mont.), the government should not interfere with a free market economy (A.S), the freedom of speech (Volt.), the government could be overruled (J.L), and the government should rule according to the will of the people. Nevertheless, these ideals are important because they shaped the government that we have today.

Valladares 1 Monica Valladares. Ms. Melvina Touche Global history 9c Nov./4/15 Voltaire (1694,1778) “Man is free at the moment he wishes to be" (Voltaire) Voltaire was a philosopher,historian and writer who express his thoughts by his writing. He was imprisoned and exile because the way he express from the Catholic Church and the French government.

Voltaire’s affect on the popularity of science and philosophy turned into beyond measure. Voltaire had a ardour for clarity and reason but he often contradicted himself. He endorsed reform but had a horror for the violence of revolution. Voltaire believed in natural faith and changed into in opposition to intolerance in church and state relations as well as the philosophy of the church in general. Voltaire got his thoughts approximately philosophy from Newton and Clarke, his ideas approximately toleration from Locke and the main thoughts about ethics from Shaftesbury.

A Discussion on The Social Contract The Social Contract was written to balance freedom of people and versus the needs of collectivity. Rousseau was for the preservation of liberty on the foundation of the creation of a new society by the means of the social contract. Other englighters already had this idea, all sponded from John Locke. Unlike other enlighteners, Rousseau was very original. Locke regarded the Social Contract to preserve liberty, however, Rousseau regarded the contract to preserve equality.

Francois Voltaire, a French philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment, a time where there was a monarchy in France. His outspoken nature to social, economic and liberal changes made him one of the greatest philosophers in France during the course French Revolution. Voltaire and other philosophers’ works were archetypes of our modern uncensored journalism. It also supported the right of freedom of speech which is in the constitution of many democratic countries in the world. The article gives information on Voltaire’s background, what he stood for and in his philosophical works and his inspiration behind it.

This was his idea of the social contract. The right to life, liberty and property was a major advancement found in law and is still used today within our own Charter as Section 7. Although Locke did not want an all powerful government, he believed in the necessity of government interference when it came to protecting the citizens since he believed that when the state of nature was broken, humans would fall into a state of war until the problem that started the state of war was rectified and to that end humans must have some form of

Enlightenment thinkers valued the idea of Natural Rights; the wide-spread influence of this ideal can be seen in the U.S. Constitution, Declaration of the Rights of Man, and Haitian Constitution of 1801.

The Enlightenment has definitely embraced a rich diversity of religious thought. “The views of Voltaire, Rousseau, and the various materialists diverged in important ways.” Voltaire has embraced the conception of natural religion and has embraced the polemics against the intoleration of the Church as well as the philosophy of the the Church. Voltaire believed that natural morality and religion are not entirely innate ideas, but rather simple and universally prevalent conditions standing in need of development.

The idea that men could kill each other over the interpretation of a religious doctrine, of which they mildly comprehend, was, to him, indeed repulsive. Yet he reserved his most intense hatred for the catholic clergy, who exploited the faithful masses to further their political agenda and provide extensive monetary luxuries. Voltaire argues that, “it is our souls which are under the clergy's care, solely for spiritual things,” and in the same respect, “Our soul acts internally; internal acts are thought, volition, inclinations, acquiescence in certain truths. All these acts are above all coercion, and are within the ecclesiastical minister's sphere”. Here, Voltaire argues that the church, being in the business of religious and internal beliefs, should only be able to meddle in affairs within one’s beliefs; thus, the church in his mind should disassociate itself from political and judiciary interests entirely.

Rousseau social contract supports the idea of having an agreement that will give every person the right to obtain a civil society. Upon enter this civil society we are obligated to give certain freedom that limited some of our physical activities. In return will be able to think freely and hopefully make wise decision on what we perceive as morally right. Rousseau hope is that we, as individual will come to the point where will become righteous citizen. Rousseau does make note that with a social contract there may be concern on what level of freedom we, as a society will have to give up in order to achieve civil society.

France was controlled by a monarchy who was supposedly ordained by God, so if anyone didn’t agree with the monarchy they were going against God. Voltaire didn’t just write about the injustices of the church and monarchy, but he persuaded the people of France to disagree with the church’s most important doctrines. Voltaire explained that some of the Catholic Church’s doctrines were actually keeping people further away from God. In his writing he made many arguments that most people today would agree with. For example, He said that there is no reason there needed to be a priest present to worship God.