Abstract
This paper explains that Rousseau, a proponent of equality and freedom, in his "The Social Contract" passionately argued that common consensus should derive each law; whereby the French Revolution saw the end of absolutism in France and the creation of National Assembly, a representative body from among the masses. The author points out that Enlightenment ideas, which were put forth by Hume, furiously attacked religion, especially the Catholic Church, for yielding too much power and spreading falsehoods; whereby, the denouncement of religion is reflected in the French Revolution in the legislation of the "Civil Constitution of the Clergy". The paper relates that, on the other hand, the French Revolution had its critics, such as Edmund Burke, who saw the bloody revolution as corrupt and a threat to traditional establishments.

From the Paper
"Edmund Burke also views the National Assembly as a corrupt, impractical body. He believes that the masses are utterly ignorant and for leaders to follow them could be disastrous. Here Burke dismisses Rousseau's idea of the general will as he does not believe the masses are capable of policy making. Burke writes, "In this political traffic, the leaders will be obliged to bow to the ignorance of their followers, and the followers to become subservient to the worst designs of their leaders." Unlike Rousseau, Burke believes that the right to vote should only lie in the educated, property owning class."

Tags:hume, rousseau, burke, assembly, critic

Abstract
This paper analyzes the philosophers Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau and discusses their opinions on the French Revolution. The paper looks at each stage of the revolution and provides an outline of various topics concerning enlightenment. The connection between the age of enlightenment and the French Revolution is also explored in this paper.

From the Paper
"The Age of Enlightenment was a period in time culminating during the 18th century when the trends of thought changed in Europe. The French Revolution was a series of events at the turn of the 19th century in France that changed all aspects of French life. The sequential alignment of these eras in history is hardly coincidence; in fact, there is much of a cause-effect relationship. In this paper we will explore this connection. Vitally involved in this progression of thought and action are the philosophies, intellectual men that drove the advent of scientific inquiry Three major philosophies were Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean Jacques Rousseau. Among many others, their ideas were molded and manifested into political, social, and economic institutions across Europe, climaxing in historical landmarks like the French Revolution. This paper will explore the connections between these Enlightenment leaders and the French Revolution."

Tags:european, france, history, politics, individual, community, society, economics

Abstract
This paper reviews the contents of Immanuel Kant's "An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment?" and Gotthold Lessing's "Ernst and Falk, Dialogues for Freemasons". The paper explores the similarities and differences between the two essays and points out that, although the two essays share a fundamental similarity, in that both authors believe in advocating for a better society, they differ in their views about the extent and method of this betterment.

From the Paper
"Further, both the authors recognize the importance of a few enlightened members of society spreading their thoughts to others. In adding to their numbers, the Freemasons do not hold loud membership rallies, but consider new members through conversation - as Falk is doing with Ernst. In this way they are able to feel out if a potential has the right character to be a true Freemason, rather than merely a rote repeater of the accepted dogma. Kant's enlightened men publish their works correctly in their public life and gather to them other like-minded thinkers."

Tags:enrichment dissenting, intellectual autonomy, prejudice government

Abstract
This paper explains that, while the Age of Reason is generally considered a separate movement in 17th and early 18th century Europe that evolves into the Age of Enlightenment, both eras are considered to have overlapping boundaries and to be one extended period of intellectual, scientific and philosophical advancement. The author points out that, while Voltaire's most memorable and influential work is "Candide" and Kant is famous for his philosophy of "Universal Law", Rousseau's most meaningful works are his "Second Discourse" and his "Social Contract". The paper concludes that the philosophical writings and intellectual discoveries of the philosophers of the Ages of Reason and of Enlightenment helped to start the American and French Revolutions.

Table of Contents:
Introduction
Voltaire
Jean Jacques Rousseau
Immanuel Kant
Conclusion: The "Enlightenment" led to the American and French Revolutions

From the Paper
"Rousseau's logic was that disobedience, then, would be "legitimate" as soon as "sufficient power was acquired." Part of what Rousseau was accomplishing in this writing was a rebuttal to Hobbes, who had asserted in chapters 5 and 6 of "De Cive" and ..., that right and force should always go hand-in-hand. Hobbes' reasoning was that mere words (laws), without the "sword" to back them up, were not sufficient to stay the course. You can't just issue degrees without having the use of force lurking in the background to make sure those degrees have some "teeth" so to speak. But Rousseau rejected that idea."

Tags:disobedience, revolution, hume, universal, citizens

Abstract
This paper examines the role that self-interest plays in moral philosophy. The paper critiques the argument made by a number of philosophers that our ultimate self-interest is to attain happiness, and that the pursuit of happiness will itself cause us to make moral choices.

From the Paper
"What possible reasons might Abraham Lincoln have had for wanting to put himself to some inconvenience to rescue piglets from a slough. The simplest reason might be to spare himself from the annoying unpleasant sounds of the squealing..."

Tags:ethics, self-interest, plato, aristotle, hobbes, mill

Abstract
The paper discusses the writings of Enlightenment philosophers; de Gouges, Pope, Descartes, and Wollstonecraft in terms of man, self, and woman.

From the Paper
"During the Enlightenment, any number of thinkers addressed the question of what it meant to be a person, to possess a self and to know that one exists by recognizing one's relationship to other objects within the universe. Philosophers, poets and activists alike sought to determine the best way of being human and living within the world. At issue in this essay is an analysis of the nexus between self and gender, an issue that relatively few Enlightenment thinkers chose to..."

Tags:Enlightenment, self, man, women

Abstract
This paper explains that, unlike the gradual, cultural shift of ideas and attitudes, which characterized the Enlightenment, the Protestant Reformation had concrete institutional causes and was a profound institutional change in the governmental and religious structure of Europe. The author points out that the Enlightenment, which ultimately spawned the American and French Revolutions of the late 18th century, was not spurred into being by an increasingly strong set of nation-states like the Reformation but rather by the increasingly weak, corrupt and ossified monarchies of Europe, such as Louis of France and George of Great Britain. The paper relates that the intent of the Enlightenment philosophers was not to reject tradition in their quest for knowledge or to eradicate entirely the institutions, which had stimulated their own intellectual development.

From the Paper
"During the pre-Reformation, the age of the Renaissance, secular kingdoms with increasingly powerful chief executives and the decline of feudalism weakened the Pope's role in the political power plays of Europe. Before, popes had great power as they were the strongest land-owners in Europe, but now princes began to command armies of lords--secular power was less diffuse. And by far, the most famous allegations of Martin Luther against the Catholic Church were its sale of indulgences, which seemed to embody the church's craven and worldly institutional nature."

Tags:luther, locke, papacy, institution, quest

Abstract
This paper explains that the Age of Enlightenment refers to the period in European history when writing and thought were characterized by an emphasis on experience and reason, showing a mistrust of religion and traditional authority that resulted in the gradual emergence of the ideals of liberal, secular, democratic societies. The author points out that John Locke and Thomas Hobbes, who represent the beginning of a real political science in the seventeenth-century, described how government develops. The paper relates that Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a powerful influence in the development of educational theory and was one of the primary sources for the political theory that would lead to the American and French Revolutions; Immanuel Kant challenging both scientific knowledge and moral thought, stressing a priori knowledge and morality rather than experience or sentiment.

From the Paper
"In the second book of "Emile", Rousseau offers some of his more revolutionary conceptions of education. This is the so-called "negative education" phase as Rousseau says that what should be done is the exact opposite of what is usually done. The first important precept is that education is made for the child and not the other way round. the child is not a miniature adult and has his or her own ways of seeing, feeling, and thinking. Nature has already inculcated certain knowledge, and the individual needs to be protected from anything that will impede his or her natural growth of body and mind."

Tags:experience, democracy, revolution, education, morality

Abstract
This paper explains that Baruch Spinoza, the first Jewish pantheist, rejected the monopoly held by the clergy over the political power in the Jewish community, was a champion of intellectual freedom and had followers including members of the Islamic community. The author points out that Spinoza was one of the first philosophers to marry Jewish thought with the emerging ideas of the Enlightenment and was more receptive to contemporary Western thought than any Jewish philosopher since Maimonides. The paper relates that Spinoza went to Constantinople, where Jews were emancipated; the community in Constantinople contributed to Spinoza's ideas of intellectual freedom and, in 1664, Spinoza published the "Treatise on God, Man and his Well-Being" marrying Jewish scripture to contemporary philosophy.

From the Paper
"However controversial, Spinoza's viewpoint on God was not unprecedented. Spinoza's version of God was firmly planted in Mediaeval Jewish mysticism, which was closely allied to the Neo-Platonic philosophical tradition of Late Antiquity, as it had been developed during the 9th Century intellectual development of Islam. "The fundamental thing to keep in mind when thinking about Spinoza is one simple, striking, and paradoxical proposition: God is the only thing that exists." The idea is not that God is everything, but that nothing can exist independently from God. While reductionists may want to claim Spinoza as their own, Spinoza envisioned a thinking God. In addition, "although Spinoza was condemned by his community for the heresy of saying that God has a body," he actually believed that God was much more than a body."

Tags:zevi, pantheist, banishment, enlightenment, intellectual-freedom

Abstract
The paper examines how the age of Enlightenment is a remarkable period in human history. The writer proposes that never before, not even in the era of Arabic and Greco-Roman philosophers, has there been such strong influences predisposing an intellectual revolution. The paper describes how the Renaissance had ushered in a new way of looking at the world, but those working within the Enlightenment period worked to define new modes of thought or clarify new directions for accepted areas of discourse. This paper briefly outlines why these topics are critical to modern thinking.

From the Paper
"Alan Charles Kors' expansive Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment is difficult to describe in brief; the text contains more than three hundred individual articles on the enlightenment and the wide range of influences that both contributed to and were affected by the Enlightenment period. The scope of these many articles reflects upon not just the Enlightenment period but also help define and describe how change affects all human beings, regardless of their social and cultural circumstances. The Age of Enlightenment is a remarkable period in human history. Never before, not even in the era of Arabic and Greco-Roman philosophers, had there been such strong influences predisposing an intellectual revolution."

Tags:enlightenment, thought, kant