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Enlightenment Thinkers - Example Papers

Enlightenment Thinkers

Do you agree with the such as Ben Franklin that humans are basically good?
The Scientific Revolution had led people looking for laws governing human behavior. The ideas of the Scientific Revolution paved the way for a new period called the Enlightenment, also known as the Age of Reason. This period took place in the eighteenth- century. This was the philosophical movement that emphasized the pursuit of knowledge through reason and refused to accept ideas on the strength of religion or tradition alone. Thinkers and philosophers of the time included, Ben Franklin, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and many more. The belief that appealed to most political figures of the time, was deism. Deism was ...

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that conflict was part of human nature. Without governments to keep order, Hobbes said, there would be “war of everyone against everyone”. In this state of nature life would be “nasty, brutish, and short.” In his book Leviathan, Hobbes argued that to escape such a bleak life, people gave up their rights to a strong ruler. In exchange, they gained law and order. Hobbes called this agreement, by which people created a government, the social contract. Hobbes basically saw people as naturally selfish and violent.
John Locke was another philosopher of the Enlightenment. He viewed human nature very differently from Hobbes. Locke said a person is not born good or evil. Rather he said, people’s characters are shaped by their experiences. Locke felt people could learn from experience and improve themselves, which led him to believe in self-governing. According to Locke, all people are born free and equal, with three natural rights- life, liberty and property. He believed that the ...

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 10/29/2008 10:19:10 AM
Category: World History
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 496
Pages: 2

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