Age Of Reason Dbq Essay

Without using reason in our everyday lives, society will collapse and turn into nothing but chaos. During the Enlightenment, a time when reason was beginning to be applied to the people’s thoughts, there were many great thinkers, but there were three in particular that attempted to change society’s unreasonable thinking. Voltaire, John Locke, and Mary Wollstonecraft all believed in freedom of choice; however, they believed in different branches of freedom of choice such as religion, government, and women’s education.

In his Second Treatise on Government Locke focus’ on liberalism & capitalism, defending the claim that men are by nature free and equal against the idea that God had made all people subject to a king. He argued that people have ‘natural rights’, such as the right to life, liberty, and property, that hold the foundation for the major laws of a society. He says, “…we must consider, what state all men are naturally in, and that is, a state of perfect freedom to order their actions, and dispose of their possessions and persons as they think fit.” (2nd Treatise, Chapter 2, sec 4). John Locke used this claim, that all men were naturally free and equal, for understanding the idea of a government as a result of a social contract. This is where people in the state of nature transfer some of their rights to the government in order to better guarantee the steady and comfortable enjoyment of their lives, liberty, and property.

Called the Father of Modern Economics, Adam Smith was an enormous advocate for private markets. He supported an economic system based on the decision making by individuals instead of the government. Smith felt that no one person or a group is fit to make decisions for a whole population of people and that the population knows how to make decisions for its welfare. In Smith’s mind, people work to supplement their own lives, and when people seek individual economic gain then they unexpectedly promote society and stimulate the economy subconsciously. If people earn more money by working harder then almost all people will work harder. Smith insinuates that people are naturally self preserving and by default selfish; but to a point. Everyone has something that they want and in this world most things can be obtained if a person has enough money. Smith believes that every man should be free to

In the Wife of Martin Guerre, Bertrande falls in love with her husband’s imposter. She confesses her mortal sin to the priest, “’Can you not see, it is in this love that he has wronged me most, and damned my soul’”(Lewis 75)? Her adherence to a strict belief system prevents her from following her personal feelings. Joan of Arc, a French peasant, professed a vision of angels, who told her that Charles VII must be crowned king of France (McKay). Similar to Bertrande, Joan of Arc let her devotion to God triumph over her personal feelings. She followed God’s will and fought for France in the Hundred Years’ War, regardless of the consequences. Another example of this religious strength occurred during the “Black Death” when society relied on their faith as an explanation for and solace during this unfamiliar, colossal devastation. Some chose to live more virtuous lives as penance, while extremists became flagellants to complete penance for themselves and society (McKay). Both Bertrande and Joan of Arc demonstrated that faith in France was greater than one’s religion; it gave reason and security in times of distress and provided a guideline for social

John Locke known as an Enlightenment thinker believed in the equality between men. “A state also of equality, wherein all the power and jurisdiction is reciprocal, no one having more than another...by an evident and clear appointment, an undoubted right to dominion and sovereignty (Doc. 2).” John Locke stated this in 1690 with the meaning that everyone is equal no matter what their rank or power may be. They must all have the same advantages with the except that the person may want to work for someone else. “To renounce liberty is to renounce being a man, to surrender the

It was a respectable movement involving the most responsible and accomplished people of France"3. This new reformation showed that the French Protestants wanted freedom politically and religiously. In Salman's article "Who Were The Huguenots?" He explains that almost one third of the French nobility, including some of the most powerful in the land became a part of the new reformation4. Although a heavy number of Huguenots were a part of this new reformation the Huguenots were still a minority group considering that ninety five percent of France was still Roman Catholic. In Scoville Warren's journal article, "The Hugunots in the French Economy" he explains that there is ample evidence that the French Protestants constituted a "penalized minority"5. The Huguenots were conscious of the social and political discrimination directed towards

John Locke believed that natural rights were essential to an individual’s life. “... life, liberty and property existed in the state of nature and could never be taken away or even voluntarily given up,” he argued against Hobbes’ opinion, on the people laying down their natural rights of freedom to a single ruler. He deduced that these natural rights were impossible to surrender because they came with human nature. With the idea that individuals had both the right and the responsibility to preserve their own lives with the resources they had.

The 17th century French aristocrat Michel de Montaigne lived in a tumultuous world. With the spark of Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses, the fire spread rapidly to France. The nation divided against itself. The rebellious protestant Huguenots and the traditional staunch Catholics both viewed the other group as idolatrous heretics in time when that crime could justify execution. Consequently, Catholic monarchs throughout Europe felt the impending threat to their reigns, too, because if they supposedly ruled through divine right, what would change concerning the support of their subjects? After the peace-making Edict of Nantes, rehashing the religious conflicts of the century was forbidden, but seeing his country—and even his own family—torn apart, how could one refrain from comment? So in his writings, Montaigne has to write around his actual subjects. This isn’t to say, however, that he conveyed none of his ideas directly. Montaigne criticizes the cultural belief in a correct way of life, opposing the idea with a more relativistic viewpoint, though the way in which he presents it, as mere musings in personal correspondence, fails to effectively convince his readers.

John Locke was the man who began to express the idea of natural rights. The idea of natural rights is that all humans are born with three natural rights: life, liberty, and property. You are meant to respect these rights, which gives us limits as humans. For example, one can not just rob someone’s house without consequences. If someone does commit theft they are punished because they are

Eighteenth century France was ruled by the divine power of Louis le XIV, the regime of absolutisme followed, restricting the liberties and creating a corrupt society founded on providence and religious determinism. Les Philosophes des Lumières notably Voltaire instilled logic and reason to combat theological and metaphysical solutions surrounding French populations whilst pushing for a separation between the Catholic church and the state. Voltaire, also known as François-Marie Arouet (1964-1778) wrote Candide as an objection to many optimistic philosopher’s theories surrounding providence and human will. His main purpose in Candide was to ridicule a German optimistic philosopher known as

Life in France during the Seventeenth Century was volatile in that there were many changes to the central ideology of society. Focusing on the time immediately before and during King Louis XIV’s reign, intellectual curiosity peaked. People began to wonder about the world and even questioned religion. Right before King Louis XIV was officially crowned, Europe was just coming out of the Thirty Years war. This war occurred in the Holy Roman Empire between 1618 and 1648 and was a war between the Catholics and the Protestants (Wilson). Although the war didn’t occur directly in France it definitely had an impact on the way France would be ruled since it was a Catholic nation (Damerow 2009). As a direct result of the closer examination of religion,

Some people think that King Louis XIV did more harm to France than good. They cite his lack of moderation in managing his money. They also point out that Louis denied religious liberties to the Protestants of France and tightened control over his Roman Catholic subjects by revoking the Edict of Nantes. They also claim Louis’ war efforts were very costly and drained the treasury of France. Some say his arrogance, including his emblem of the “Sun King”, turned “his” people away from him. They think that Louis only cared about himself and what he wanted and didn’t think about future France.

King Louis XIV distrusted the Protestants and everything they stood for. Because of that, he revoked the Edict of Nantes and

The Age of Reason was a time of new ways of thinking. It produced documents such as The Federalist Papers, written by Alexander

French parishioners were coming out of church, they had found a large piece of paper from Switzerland posted on the church door condemning the mass. This led to the royal repression, where the French government went around arresting or killing as many French protestants as they could (Hunt, Martin, Rosenwein, Hsia & Smith, 2009).