II.  Enlightenment (1700s)  
  	A.  Central concepts = reason & progress
   			 --> social science was born
  	B.  Causes
   		1.  scientific revolution (new method)   
   		2.  religious wars (absolute truth?)
   		3.  travel literature (moral relativism)
   		4.  new theory (tabula rasa)  
    				Essay Concerning Human Understanding by John Locke (1690)
  	C.  Philosophes
   		1.  What did they believe?
    			a) clarity of thought
    			b) solve practical problems
    			c) dialogue & debate
    			d) deists (“watchmaker” God)
    			e) expansion of knowledge
   		2.  Famous philosophers
    			a)  Montesquieu (1689-1755) 
     				-- Persian Letters (1721)
     				-- The Spirit of Laws  (1748)
      			-- separation of powers 
    			b)  Voltaire (1694-1778)
     				-- freedom of religion & press
     				-- enlightened despotism
   			c)  Rousseau  (1712-78)
     				-- “father” of Romanticism 
     				-- attacked rationalism & civilization
     				-- Social Contract (1762)
      			-- general will
      			-- “forced to be free”
    			d)  Diderot (1713-84)
    				 -- Encyclopedia:  The Rational Dictionary of the Sciences, the Arts, and the Crafts  (1772)      
						-- examine whole of human knowledge
      				-- change the general way of thinking
      				-- 17 text + 11 illustrations = 28 volumes
      				-- took 21 years to complete
    
 
Think/Write Question
How do you think modern American society has been shaped by Enlightenment ideas?