Enlightenment Thinkers: 17th Century Philosopher, Sir Isaac Newton

The Enlightenment was a period in history from the late 16th century to the mid 18th century in which many famous philosophers, writers, and scientists advanced human society in a significant way with effects felt today. The three Enlightenment thinkers I selected were, John Locke, a 17th century philosopher, Sir Isaac Newton, a 17th century physicist, and Voltaire, an 18th century author and philosopher. These people impacted their time period greatly, however their lasting effects are more significant and are all felt in the modern world.

John Locke was born in on August 29, 1632 in Wrington, United Kingdom. His father fought with the Parliament in the English Civil War, this allowed him to form connections that would later benefit his

In 1666 he made a very important connection when he met Parliament member Anthony Ashley Cooper who later became the first Earl of Shaftesbury. Locke became close with him and even used his medical knowledge to perform a dangerous liver operation successfully. They became closer over the next two decades and even fled to Holland after Cooper attempted to start a revolution in 1682. Locke later returned to England where he wrote his most important works and demonstrated his immense understanding of philosophy. He had three major works around this time, the first one was “Essays Concerning Human Understanding”(1689), this discussed human knowledge, identity, and selfhood. Locke believed that knowledge was simply the accumulation of facts not necessarily understanding or wisdom. He then wrote “Two Treatises of Government” (1690), this stated political theories that he created with the Earl of Shaftesbury and later refined, his main idea being that he did not believe in the divine right of kings and that kings should be susceptible to being replaced. Later Thomas Jefferson would take ideas from this work in the Declaration of Independence. He also stated that property is the

His main contributions to the enlightenment were his advancements in physics and making science an acceptable practice even if it contradicted the Church. He famously developed theories on light, calculus, and celestial mechanics. He grew up without a father as he had died three months before his birth, he spend most of his childhood with his maternal grandmother after his mother remarried. He was in school until he attempted to become a farmer, after which he returned to school at King’s School in Grantham and then the University of Cambridge’s Trinity College in 1661. He studied a classical curriculum which involved reading and arithmetic with a heavy focus on Latin. He then became fascinated by the works of Rene Descartes and learned philosophy. After the great plague hit Cambridge in 1665 he went home and began to develop theories on calculus, light, and color. He made his famous apple falling from a tree gravitational discovery during this time at home, this became one of the most famous and influential theories in physics and the study of kinematics. Newton returned to Cambridge in 1667 and was made a minor fellow, in 1668 he constructed the first reflecting telescope and took over as Professor of Mathematics. His rise to fame continued when he was elected to the Royal Society in 1671, there he found that white light is a composite of all other colors on the spectrum, he also found that light was