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Thomas Hobbes And John Locke The Enlightenment

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The new ways of thinking developed during the Scientific Revolution began to extend into other areas of life beyond that of just science. Scholars and philosophers began to re-think the old ideas about religion, economics, and education. In France, these social critics were known as “Philosophes”. For the most part, they were not professional philosophers, but rather selfappointed critics who believed that it was their duty to think critically. These thinkers focused largely on questioning the role of government, which during that period consisted mostly of absolute monarchies. State of Nature The "natural condition of mankind" that would exist if there were no government, no civilization, no laws, and no common power to restrain human nature. …show more content…

Both men experienced hardships in England early in that century (in the English Civil War) but as a result, they developed very different ideas about government and human nature. Thomas Hobbes expressed his views in a book called Leviathan. The horrors of the English Civil war convinced him that all humans were selfish and wicked. John Locke wrote his views in a book called The Two Treatises on Government. Locke took on a more positive view of human nature. He believed that all people are born with three natural rightslife, liberty, and property. Hobbes and Locke: Views on Government Hobbes The only way to create a government is to give the power and strength to one man… men will give up their right of governing oneself to this man. This is more than just giving up their individuality; it is the real unity of them all. This done, so united in one person, is called a commonwealth. Locke The reason men enter into society is the preservation of their property; and the reason they make a government is so laws can be made, and rules set, to limit the power of every member of society. Whenever the government tries to take away the property of the people, or to reduce them to slavery, they put themselves into a state of war with the people who are then freed from any further obedience. Explain the differing views of Hobbes and Locke in your own words Hobbes Locke Who would agree with the following quotes: Locke or Hobbes? “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed...” Thomas Jefferson (1787) Who would agree with the above quote: Locke or

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