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English Philosophers: The Effects Of The Enlightenment

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The Enlightenment was an important turning point in history, and there were a lot of different effects of the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment brought a lot of new ideas about the purpose of government, human rights, and how the government should be set up. Philosophers like Thomas Hobbs, John Locke, and Baron de Montesquieu shared their opinions.

Thomas Hobbs, an English philosopher born in 1588, wrote the book, Leviathan (1651), about the purpose of government. He believed that absolute authority of government was necessary. In addition, he believed that there was a relationship between government leaders and the citizens of that government. The idea that he spread was that the citizens agree to be ruled by a leader, while the leader agrees to protect their interests. …show more content…

John Locke believed that every human was born with "natural rights," which he stated are life, liberty, and property. He believed that everyone deserved to live well, act freely within the boundaries of the law, and to own their own goods. In addition to human rights, Locke believed in religious tolerance and separation of church and state. He did not want the church involved in government due to corruption.

Baron de Montesquieu was a philosopher who was instrumental in the set up of government we see today. He wrote The Spirit of the Laws (1750), which shows his view on how the government should run. Montesquieu wrote about how there should be three separate branches of government, executive, judicial, and legislative. As well as separating the powers of government, we wrote about a checks and balances system so that each branch had some power over the

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