6.3 Nieuwe ideeën, nieuwe tijden

• Geschiedenis
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 2

Chapter 6

6.3

Shining a light on the Enlightenment

Age of Wigs and Revolution: The symbol of the age of wigs and revolutions. A guillotine, a device popular during the French revolution, used to chop of people's heads, can be seen in front of a depiction of a scientific meeting.

Typical Aspects

• The aspiration of monarchs to gain absolute power (Regents & princes)
• The continued existence of the ancien régime and the attempts made to shape the political and social system towards Enlightened absolutism.
• 'Enlightened thinking' was applied to everything: religion, politics, economy and social relations
• The democratic revolutions in western countries that resulted in discussions about constitutions, fundamental rights and citizenship

At the end of this lesson...

• You will be able to explain the new (revolutionary) scientific thinking by means of examples.

• You will be able to explain who Montesquieu, Rousseau & Locke were. 

What do you remember
from last lesson?

6.3.1

Trusting reason

The Age of Enlightenment

from ±1700

• A period in which people (want to) increase their knowledge, by increasingly relying on reason (reason, ratio)

• As a result, people start to become more critical of the king, the Church and nobility.
  

Rationalism:

Philosophical movement that assumes that the use of reason (ratio) is the source of knowledge (and not faith, the Bible or traditions).

A king appointed by God to rule? Philosophers start to think about how a country should be governed.

6.3.3

Kritiek op de samenleving

John Locke

- Absolutism is unacceptable if you think logically: every human is born equal

- Een koning mag alleen regeren als hij rekening houdt met de belangen van het volk. In ruil daarvoor moet het volk de wetten van de koning gehoorzamen.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

He believed that the people should have all the power. This was only possible if a democracy was introduced.

Montesquieu

- Inventor of the Trias Politica (separation of powers).

Trias Politica

• Legislative power (wetegevende macht).
• Executive power (uitvoerende macht). 
• Independent judiciary power (rechterlijke macht). 

Trias Politica

(seperation of powers)

Why?

If the three powers are divided and check each other, the chance that people start to abuse their power is small.

Legislative Power

the power to make and change laws. 

Parliament has this power.

Independent judiciary power

The power to punish those who do not uphold the law. This lies in the hands of independent judges.

Executive power

the power to enforce laws.  

The government has this power.

What to do people from the Enlightenment think is the most important?

1. Emotion
2. The mind

Who invented the Seperation of Powers

1. Rousseau
2. Locke
3. Montesquieu

Homework

VWO: Maken 6.3 opdracht 1, 2, 3, 6 & 7