French Rationalism
Locke influenced the philosophes of the
French Enlightenment.
Deism - sought to formulate a rational religion based on Descartes’
concept of a mathematical universe, Newton’s laws of physics; Copernican theory
of the planets and Locke’s view of experience as the only valid foundation of
knowledge.
Voltaire, Francois
Marie Arouet (1694-1778) - believed
in a finite God with powers so limited that they could not eliminate evil,
opposed religious institutions, fought for political liberty and individual
freedom.
Dennis Diderot (1713-1784) - editor of the French Encyclopaedia.
Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) -
advocated equal rights for all citizens under a democratic scheme of social
contract, insisted upon the neutral goodness of human nature, appealed not to
any intellectual basis for conduct, but to each persons feelings and
sentiments.
Man is “born free, and everywhere he is found in
chains,” civilisation is responsible.
- we must return to the simplicities of
nature to determine the most natural mode of State.
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