Age of Enlightenment

Toward the middle of the eighteenth century a shift in thinking occurred. This shift is known
as the Enlightenment.
Enlightenment thinkers:
Rousseau, for example, began to question the idea of the divine right of Kings. In The
Social Contract, he wrote that the King does not, in fact, receive his power from God, but rather
from the general will of the people. This, of course, implies that "the people" can also take away
that power! The Enlightenment thinkers also discussed other ideas that are the founding principles
of any democracythe idea of the importance of the individual who can reason for himself, the
idea of equality under the law, and the idea of natural rights. The Enlightenment was a period of
profound optimism, a sense that with science and reason, human beings and human society would
improve.
Montesquieu, strongly criticized absolute monarchy in The Spirit of the Laws. The best way
to protect freedom was to divide the political power into three branches: legislative, judicial and
executive. Each brand of government should check (limit) the power of the other two branches,
thus, power would be balanced and no one branch would be too powerful.
Voltaire, advocated freedom of religion, expression and separation of church and State. He
criticised

intolerance,

injustice,

inequality,

ignorance

and

superstition.

He wrote more than 20,000 letters and more than 2,000 books and pamphlets. He often had to
express his views indirectly through fictional characters because he lived in an absolute monarchy
in France. He was imprisoned in the Bastille in Paris and exiled because of his attacks on the french
government (monarchy) and the catholic church. Voltaire's books were outlawed and even burnt by
the authorities.
Enlightenment was anti-clerical; it was, for the most part, opposed to traditional
Catholicism. Instead, the Enlightenment thinkers developed a way of understanding the universe
called Deismthe idea, more or less, is that there is a God, but that this God is not the figure of the
Old and New Testaments, actively involved in human affairs. He is more like a watchmaker.
The

Enlightenment,

the

Monarchy

and

the

Revolution

The Enlightenment encouraged criticism of the corruption of the monarchy (at this point
King Louis XVI), and the aristocracy. Thinkers condemned Rococo art for being immoral and
indecent, and called for a new kind of art that would be moral instead of immoral, and teach people
right and wrong.
These new ways of thinking, combined with a financial crisis (the country was literally

bankrupt) and poor harvests left many ordinary French people both angry and hungry. In 1789, the
French Revolution began. In its first stage, all the revolutionaries ask for is a constitution that would
limit the power of the king.

ACTIVITIES.
1.

Write down the meaning of the underlined words and add those words you don't understand.

ENGLISH

2.

What

SPANISH

are

the

main

ENGLISH

features

of

SPANISH

the

Enlightenment

period?.

________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
3.

What

is

Deism?.

________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
4. True or False:
1. The Enlightenment thinkers criticised strongly the absolute power of the monarchs.
2. The Enlightenment thinkers opposed Rococo Art for being indecent and inmoral.
3. Montesquieu divided the power in four branches: executive, legislative, judicial and
president of the Republic.
4. Voltaire's books were very popular among the nobles and the Kings.
5. Rousseau wrote that the power of the King comes from God.