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1)Why Did The Philosophes Place Freedom Of Expression At

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1) Why did the philosophes place freedom of expression at the center of their system of values?

The theories of the enlightenment were centered around five basic concepts: reason, science, progress, liberty, and toleration. These lead themselves into thinking of the world in Realist terms. We must look at the universe and understand it from what we can see. A common train of thought was that humanity had grown far too comfortable depending on history and facts as they were retold. One no longer thought for themselves. Progress had been constrained by social and political institutions that did not reflect humanities natural goodness and capacity for material and moral improvement. Humans were prone to relying on emotions rather than reason …show more content…

when the discussion of impoverishment shifted towards a politico-economic outcome rather than the manifestation of a natural order, poverty was regarded as necessary. It was terrible for those forced to live in it, but it kept the economy running by providing lots of cheap labor. Poverty also often meant uneducated. An uneducated public was easy to control and ignorant of the effects that the aristocracy were having. The uneducated are likely to work for low wages, even more so if they are already impoverished. This allows the wealthy to exploit large groups of people without much effort or money. There was an enforced idea that God had placed oneself into such a position and it was not their job to raise themselves up, but to accept and be content. Poverty was seen as a necessary evil, a kind of darkness that contrasted the wealth of the central civilization. For one very wealthy man, there are many, many, poor but it is their burden to bear to balance the order of things.

3) The French Revolution destroyed the French monarchy in order to strengthen the French state. Explain this paradox. The French polity, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and catholic clergy, underwent radical change to forms based on the enlightenment principles of republicanism, citizenship, and rights. The revolution was aimed at the destruction of aristocratic society, and the structure it supported in an effort to create a more autonomous

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