European historyLesson 1 of 2 in the course Revolutions in Europe and North America

Enlightenment Reasoning, Political Rights, and Social Contract Debates

5 flashcards · 5 quiz questions · 5 match pairs · 5 fill-in sentences · English

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Summary

The Enlightenment was an eighteenth-century movement that applied reason and critical inquiry to questions about nature, society, religion, and political power. This lesson traces its connection to the Scientific Revolution and the global exchange of knowledge that helped make it possible.

The Scientific Revolution of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries strengthened the idea that the universe was orderly and could be understood through investigation. This challenged explanations that relied exclusively on traditional authority or religious accounts of the cosmos. By the eighteenth century, scholars and other writers were applying critical inquiry to social institutions as well as nature. Their wide-ranging exchange of ideas became known as the Enlightenment.

All flashcards

Natural rights
Rights believed to belong to all human beings independently of any particular ruler or law.
Inalienable rights
Rights that cannot legitimately be revoked or taken away by human laws.
Popular sovereignty
The principle that political authority ultimately rests on the people.
The general will
Rousseau's idea of the people's will as a whole, oriented toward the common good.
Social contract
An implicit agreement linking people's obligations to government with government's responsibilities.

Quiz questions

  1. Which rights did John Locke identify as natural rights?Answer: Life, liberty, and property.
  2. What arrangement did Montesquieu propose to help prevent political power from becoming concentrated?Answer: Dividing authority among legislative, executive, and judicial powers.
  3. How did Jeremy Bentham explain the origin of rights?Answer: Rights are created through the state and its laws.
  4. Why did Thomas Hobbes favor a powerful sovereign?Answer: To secure order and protect people from disorder.
  5. What characterized an enlightened despot?Answer: A monarch who retained absolute authority while claiming to govern for subjects' welfare.

Based on World History Volume 2, from 1400 by Ann Kordas, Ryan J. Lynch, Brooke Nelson, Julie Tatlock (OpenStax), licensed CC BY 4.0. Adapted into a summary, flashcards and quizzes.

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