Dbq Rousseau And Thomas Hobbes

From 1650 to 1800, European philosophers started to think differently about old ideas of government, economics, and religion; this led to a period known as the Enlightenment. The intellectuals of this era were called philosophes, and they believed that everyone is born with natural rights. However, many philosophes had different ideas on what to do with these freedoms and how to distribute power. Locke, Hobbes, Rousseau, and Voltaire were all philosophes with different main ideas. John Locked believed that power comes from the people. In document 1, Locke states, “political power is that power, which every man having in the state of nature, has given up into the hands of society…” Basically, he is saying that every person is born with power, …show more content…
Hobbes states that “in order to live a more contented life… men must give up their freedom to the State” (Document 2). He believed that people were naturally cruel and needed protection from themselves. Hobbes wanted rule by absolute monarchs. He thought it was the only way to keep people in check. His beliefs closely supported how many people thought back then. In addition, Jean-Jaques Rousseau thought that everyone should give their freedom to society. In document 3, Rousseau says that every person “gives their freedom to the general will, but they also become part of the general will and have the same power as everyone else”. He wanted equality and argued for a direct democracy, which is very similar to how we do things today. He believed people are born good, but are corrupted by power, so power should be distributed evenly so chaos does not occur. Furthermore, Voltaire’s main idea was that “we should regard all men as our brothers” (Document 4). He argued for many of the rights we have today, such as freedom of speech and freedom of religion. He also hated intolerance and oppression. Voltaire was jailed twice in France for his ideas, but the letters he sent to European monarchs led to changes and new