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What Are The Four Main Ideas Of The Enlightenment

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The end of poverty by Jeffrey Sachs Economic and social progressed witnessed in the present world can be attributed to brilliant minds of the enlightenment era, who introduced new concepts of social progress. Four main ideas of the enlightenment inspire us today: political institutions are human constructs that should be fashioned consciously to meet the needs of society; economic system should be shaped to meet human needs; appropriate global system of governance to end the age-old scourge of war; science and technology, fuelled by human reason, can be a sustained force for social improvements and human betterment. Political institutions Thomas Jefferson and others in the American Revolution, inspired by philosophers like John Locke and David Hume, argued that political institutions are human constructs that should be fashioned consciously to meet the needs of society. Jefferson’s statements such as “Government are instituted among men” inspired the securing of rights of “life, liberty, and pursuit for happiness” (p.348). Since the enlightenment era political systems “could no longer be justified on the basis of the divine rights of monarchs or claims of religious prophesy” but rather they would have to “meet a performance test: whether or not they could improve the human condition” (Ibid). …show more content…

He is perhaps the father of laissez-faire economic systems. However, he does not favor complete exclusion of state from the market as he believed that states have “powerful responsibilities regarding defense, justice, infrastructure, and education.” In his opinion, these are areas where “collective action is required to complement, or substitute for, private-market forces”

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