enlightenment thinkers

Question 1

Voltaire

Answer 1

famous for his criticism of the French clergy, promoting freedom of speech and freedom of religion.

Voltaire’s France was extremely Catholic, with the Church having the ability to directly and indirectly affect the affairs of the state.

Thus, Voltaire condemned the Catholic Church’s ideological monopoly on France and advocated for a separation of the Church and the state.

Question 2

Montesquieu

Answer 2

advocated for a structural reform of the political system in France

He divided France into three separate classes; the monarchy, the aristocracy and the commons.

All of these ‘arms’ (administrative and sovereign) should be separate so as not to influence each other.

This was radical at the time as it forced a movement away from the status quo with the King as an absolute monarch.

Question 3

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Answer 3

saw a change in the political status quo as necessary.

argued that the power to make laws did not lie in the hands of the King and the powerful, but in the hands of the people.

questioned the ability of the masses to make informed decisions about politics.

Question 4

Denis Diderot

Answer 4

He was the co-curator of the Encyclopedia and advocated for the notion of liberty in France, where the people had the right to shape political policy

critical of the power of the Catholic Church.

directly opposing the doctrines of the Church at the time.

Question 5

Key points of the Enlightenment

Answer 5

promoted political debate amongst the Third Estate

promoted a move away from blind acceptance of dogmatic religious authority

considered new models of governance, with a focus on separating not only the Church and the State, but all arms of political institutions so as to avoid corruption.

A rethink of the absolutism of the monarchy.