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Thomas Hobbes’ “Leviathan” Published
Hobbes lived during the period of English civil war. In this work, he wrote that before civil society was formed, humans lived in a state of nature where life was “nasty, brutish and short.” People, he concluded, are selfish. They are moved chiefly by desire for power and by fear of others. Thus, individuals come together to form a government for the purpose of self-preservation. Individual pooled their power and granted it to the ruler. -
John Locke's "Essay Concerning Human Understanding" Published
Locke’s theories of how humans acquire knowledge gave education and environment a critical role in shaping human character. Locke believed that the human mind was a blank slate (tabula rasa in Latin); human beings were not born with innate ideas. Who we become depends completely on our experience, which is information received through the senses. Schools and society in general play important role in molding the individual. -
Baron de Montesquieu’s “Persian Letters” Published in Amsterdam
The novel was composed as letters from 2 fictional Persian visitors to France. The visitors detailed the odd religious superstitions they witnessed, compared manners at the French court with those in Turkish harems, and compared French absolutism to their own nation’s despotism. “The Persian Letters” was a bestseller, and inspired other authors to use the formula of a foreign observer to criticize contemporary French society -
John Locke's "Two Treatises on Government" Published
Locke argued that all people have the right to “life, liberty and property.” In order to safeguard these rights, individual agree to surrender some of their freedom to safeguard these rights. However, the powers of government need to be limited; no government can violate the individual’s natural rights. If it does, the people have the right to overthrow it. According to Locke, this is what the English did during the Glorious Revolution -
Voltaire's "Letters on the English Nation/Philosophical Letters" Published
Voltaire wrote this work to criticize French politics and Catholic intolerance. He praised British open-mindedness and respect for scientists. Unlike the French, the British respected commerce and those who engaged in it. The British tax system was rational, free of exemptions for the privileged. The House of Commons represented the middle classes and contrasted with French absolutism. Voltaire argued that citizens of different religions lived together harmoniously (not exactly the case). -
Frederick II of Prussia Invaded Silesia (held by Austria)
When Maria Theresa came into power in 1740, Frederick of Prussia invaded Austria and took over Silesia. This loss signaled need for reform for Austria. Empress Maria Theresa became more concerned with state building and she began by reorganizing the military and civil bureaucracy. Next she created a central directory to oversee the collection of taxes and disbursement of funds. -
Baron de Montesquieu's "Spirit of the Laws" is Published
Montesquieu argued that political institutions should conform to the climate, customs, beliefs and economy of a particular country. For example, limited monarchy worked best for moderate sized countries like France. Republican government worked best for small states like Venice or ancient Athens. Moreover, each government should have a separation of powers and system of checks and balances. The executive, legislative and judicial branch prevented absolute power of any single governing body. -
David Hume’s “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding” Published
Hume challenged Rene Descartes’s view that God implants clear and distinct ideas in our minds, from which we are able to deduce other truths. Instead, Hume insisted that nothing – not even the existence of God or our own existence – could be known for sure. Reality consisted only of human perceptions. According to Hume, religion was based on nothing but hope and fear. Reason demanded that people live with skeptical uncertainty rather than dogmatic faith. -
First Volume of the Encyclopedia Published
Editor Denis Diderot attempted to explore all of human knowledge. The encyclopedia demonstrated how scientific analysis could be applied to all subjects. Contributors included many philosophes who attacked religious superstition and advocated toleration as well as a program for social, legal, and political improvements. Church authorities and government officials censored it, stopped its publication and harassed its editors. Despite these obstacles, the project was finished in 1772 -
Jean Jacques Rousseau’s “Of the Social Contract” is Published
“Man was born free, and everywhere he is in chains.” For Rousseau, social inequality, which is associated with private property, corrupts the formation of government. Under conditions of inequality, governments and laws represent only the rich and privileged. Freedom doesn’t mean the absence of restraint, instead it was equal citizens obeying the law they made themselves. This work will have influence on the French Revolution. -
Jean Jacques Rousseau's "Emile" is Published
Critical of traditional education, Rousseau believed that teachers should appeal to children’s natural interests and goodness rather than impose discipline and punishment. In this novel, the character Emile learns about virtue and moral autonomy through nature rather than academics as his tutor guides him on nature walks. For Rousseau, children shouldn’t be forced to reason early in life. Nature and experience were the best guides to independent thinking and practical knowledge. -
Tsar Peter III dies and Catherine becomes the sole Ruler of Russia
Catherine’s husband was tyrannical and mentally defective grandson of Peter the Great and the heir to the Russian throne. She has her husband killed, and no one in Russia missed him. Catherine became the sole ruler. She was interested in Enlightenment ideas and was good friends with Denis Diderot and Voltaire. -
Cesare Beccaria "On Crimes and Punishments"
He argued that criminal laws and punishments, like all other aspects of life, should incorporate reason and natural law. Good laws promote the greatest happiness among the greatest number of people. Criminal law should deter crime and rehabilitate criminals rather than just punish wrongdoing. Beccaria was against torture and capital punishment and believed that only a new penal institutions that mirrored natural law could transform convicted criminals. -
Voltaire’s Philosophical Dictionary Published
Voltaire despised religious bigotry more than any other form of intolerance. He denounced religious frauds, faith in miracles and superstition. Voltaire did not oppose religion in general, because he was a proponent of morality, which he believed came from God. He was against rituals, dietary laws, formulaic prayers and the church bureaucracy -
Catherine the Great writes "Instruction"
Catherine established a commission to review Russian laws and the “Instruction” was meant to be their blueprint. She borrowed her theory of law from Montesquieu and theory of punishment from Beccaria. Catherine advocated the abolition of capital punishment, torture, serf auctions and the breakup of serf families by sale. Few of the reforms were ever put into practice. -
Pugachev's Rebellion in Russia
Declaring himself to be Tsar Peter III (Catherine’s murdered husband), Emelyan Pugachev led a rebellion by promising freedom and land to the peasants. He recruited Asian tribesmen and laborers from the eastern parts of Russia, who were forced to work in the mines. He started raiding local landlords and military outposts and soon had an army of 20,000 peasants and was able to take over the city of Kazan. After 2 years, he was finally brought down by the army and executed. -
Catherine the Great Restuctured the Government
Russia was divided into 50 provincial districts, each with a population of between 300,000 and 400,000 people. Each district was to be governed by both a central official and elected local noblemen. The reform was modeled upon the English system of justices of the peace. -
Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations Published
This philosophy professor was a proponent of laissez-faire (“hands off”) economics. By nature, Smith argued, individual who are allowed to pursue rationally their own economic self-interest would benefit society and themselves. He believed that free trade and a self-regulating economy would result in social progress. He criticized tariffs and other limits on individual freedom in trade. He wrote that government needed only to keep order, defend the nation, and provide basic services. -
Joseph II Places Catholic Church Under State Control
Monastic orders were placed under the control of local bishops, and those monasteries not operating educational institutions or providing nursing care were dissolved, a move that closed some 800 throughout the Empire. The education of priests was to be supervised by the state, and civil marriage was required and divorce made possible. Education was freed from church control. -
Joseph II of Austria Passed Edict of Toleration
The Roman Catholic Church was the dominant church of the Austrian empire, but Joseph extended rights to Jews, Orthodox Christians, and Protestants. -
Joseph II of Austria Freed the Serfs
Called "the peasant emperor" in 1781, Joseph II abolished serfdom, allowing the serfs personal liberty to travel, marry, and enter the professions of their choice. He also gave the peasants hereditary rights to their land. Joseph angered his nobles more by taxing their lands equally with those of the peasants. -
Catherine the Great Brings about Educational Reform
Borrowing from the Austrian system, she established provincial elementary schools to train the sons and daughters of the local nobility. To staff the schools, Cather created teachers’ colleges so that the state would have its own educators. Although the program proposed equal education for women, except in St. Petersburg and Moscow, few females went to elementary or high school. -
Catherine the Great Passed the Charter of the Nobility
This was the formal statement of the rights and privileges of the nobility, including their control over their serfs. -
Mary Wollstonecraft's "A Vindication of the Rights of Women" is published
Applying Enlightenment critique of monarchy and inequality to the family, Wollstonecraft wrote that the legal inequalities of marriage law, which deprived married women of property rights, gave husbands despotic power over their wives. She argued the women had the same innate capacity for reason and self-government as men, virtue should mean the same thing for men and women, and relations between the sexy should be based on equality.