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The Enlightenment Philosophers John Locke And Rousseau

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The Enlightenment was a time of new ideas and prosperity during the period of 1685-1815 in Europe. The people wanted to contribute new ideas in society. It led to the revolutions that happened in Europe and America. Many of the major philosophers came from the Enlightenment or in some way influenced it such as, John Locke, Hobbes, Rousseau, and Montesquieu. Some of the most important philosophers established ideals still around today such as, Baron de Montesquieu’s system of separation of powers, Rousseau’s social contract, and of course, the focus of this essay, John Locke’s human rights. The natural rights of man are implemented today as shown by the Declaration of Rights of Man, the Constitution, and the English Bill of Rights. The natural
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The Enlightenment period gave way to many great thinkers, known in this era as philosophes, who fought to improve society through reason and their influential statuses. The main idea of Enlightenment thinkers, such as John Locke, Voltaire, and Mary Wollstonecraft, was to change perspectives on topics of interest, that were previously discredited, in society. John Locke, who wrote the Second Treatise on Civil Government of 1690, founded the ethical idea that all men were entitled to their natural rights. Natural rights, from John Locke’s point of view, could be defined as fundamental principles possessed by each man that is set forth by nature itself. The idea of all men being equal in “what state all men are naturally in, and that is, a state of perfect freedom to order their actions, and dispose [manage] of their possessions and persons, as they think fit, within the bounds of nature…

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"Natural rights are those which appertain to man in right of his existence. Of this kind are all the intellectual rights, or rights of the mind, and also all those rights of acting as an individual for his own comfort and happiness, which are not injurious to the natural rights of others." --Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1791. The Bill of Rights were derived from the English Bill of Rights.

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Rights is the power or privilege granted to people either by an argument among themselves or by law. Major events that occurred throughout history enabled Americans to obtain wanted rights and freedoms and set up a baseline for the formation of the United States. These gained freedoms and rights promoted life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for Americans. Events such as the American Revolution, the creation of the Bill of Rights, the Age of Expansionism, and the Civil War enabled a positive change in rights and freedoms for Americans. Rights were positively changed during the American Revolution the spread of ideas and the solidification of rights and freedom from Britain by the Declaration of Independence.

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John Locke once said, "The end of law is, not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom."1 Throughout history, the fight for human rights has been an on going battle that has been reviewed and adjusted as time progresses. Before the Enlightenment, people believed the government was not protecting humans and their rights. In Europe during the 17th and 18th century, Enlightenment thinkers stepped out of boundaries and challenged the established order. The American Revolution and French Revolution were inspired by ideals of John Locke and other Enlightenment thinkers.

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It mainly focused on the ideas that leaders used such as freedom of speech, equality, freedom of press, and religion tolerance. Thomas jefferson stated that the Americans natural rights are “liberty, life, and the pursuit of happiness.” These ideas came from the Enlightenment, the ideas then led to the American revolution. Montesquieu

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Natural rights play a crucial role in the declaration of independence and our society today. Natural rights are the most basic rights a person is born with that no one can take away, but were taken away by the king during that time. “I believe in the

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During the Enlightenment period, many thinkers shared their ideas about society, Thinkers like John Locke, Baron de Montesquieu, Thomas Hobbes, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote books to spread their ideas against the Old Order. First, John Locke believed everyone had natural rights. These natural rights were life,liberty,and property. The main purpose of the government would be to protect these rights. Locke influenced important people such as Thomas Jefferson when he wrote the Declaration of Independence.

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Through the era of the Enlightenment, there lived many great philosophers who influenced new ways of thinking. These new ways of thinking made philosophers question government, natural rights, and human society. However, only one philosopher stood above the rest for his enlightened ideas. John Locke’s contributions to philosophical thought were the most critical during the Enlightenment because of the way he defined natural rights and influenced other philosophers to come. John Locke’s philosophical ideas mostly revolved around people’s natural rights.

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Locke’s ideas from the Two Treatises of Government and An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, were based upon the natural rights where power comes from the people. Both of his pieces contributed to revolutions, most importantly the American Revolution as power from monarchies was removed and democracies were created. Allowed for limited government power and all obligations were to the citizens. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding basis was on how the knowledge existence of God, certain moral truths, and laws of logic or mathematics pertained to the natural rights of

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Locke's idea of natural rights and of the Two Treatises of Government, Voltaire’s idea of religious freedom that infringed on the people's rights and freedoms and set the basis for modern democracy. Along with Smith’s idea of freedom of economics and Wollstonecraft’s ideas on gender equality. John Locke was an Enlightenment philosopher and he

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John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau were both interesting and beneficial philosophers and theorists. Both of these theorists believed in the same ideas pertaining to society, the ways of the government, and politics; however, the two came to disagreements when it came to civilization beliefs and the ways in which a civilization should be. While they had many differences in their beliefs and ways of thinking, John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau had similarities also. These two theorists had a high number of differences. John Locke was a British philosopher and physician while Jean Rousseau was a French philosopher and music composer.

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In this declaration all men were considered free and equal. Both freedom of religion and press were given as well as equality of taxation and equality before the law. Most importantly, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, established a policy known as national sovereignty. National sovereignty is the idea that the citizens have the power to directly elect their representatives which allows them to create and sustain the authority of the government. This declaration directly aligned with enlightenment ideas specifically those of Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

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The Enlightenment was a period during the 1600 and 1700s where authority, power, government and law was questioned by philosophers. The causes of the Enlightenment was the Thirty Years’ War, centuries of mistreatment at the hands of monarchies and the church, greater exploration of the world, and European thinkers’ interest in the world (scientific study). A large part of the Enlightenment was natural law, which was the belief that people should live their lives and organize their society on the basis of rules and precepts laid down by nature or God; the principles of the Enlightenment in the 1600s through the 1700s influenced the development of the USA by advocating religious and social freedom, freeing the people from oppression, and providing

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Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau have become known as three of the most prominent political theorists in the world today. Their philosophies and innovative thinking is known worldwide and it has influenced the creation of numerous new governments. All three thinkers agree on the idea of a social contract but their opinions differ on how the social contract is established and implemented within each society. These philosophers state, that in order for the social contract to be successful people need to give up certain freedoms in order to secure fundamental protections from the state, henceforth the state then has certain responsibilities to their citizens. Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau all believe that before men were governed we all lived in a state of nature.

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Both John Locke (1632-1734) and Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) were early modern social theorists who promote reason and freedom as an important component in political community. They shared a lot of thoughts on early childhood education. Both of them believe that children love freedom and power, and that is the most important way to raise children. However, they took different directions on their views. What are the similarities and differences between their thoughts or views on early childhood education (0-8 years of age)?

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