World History › Section R · Enlightenment and revolution › Topic R.1
The Enlightenment
In the eighteenth century, writers across Europe and its colonies turned the critical methods of the new science on religion, government and law. Their arguments about rights, consent and toleration still frame political debate, and so do the people they left out.
In this topic
- Reason turned on society
- Roots in a wider world
- Two routes to knowledge
- Natural rights and John Locke
- The social contract
- Voltaire, Montesquieu and Beccaria
- Worked example: Locke and Bentham on rights
- Enlightened despots
- Worked example: judging Catherine the Great
- Who counted?
- Common mistakes to avoid
- Key takeaways
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