Enlightenment Thinkers And Discuss Their Most Important Contributions

Enlightenment thinkers
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Institutional Affiliation
The Enlightenment was an era during the seventeenth and early eighteenth century, when various philosophers, scientists, and thinkers promoted new ideas based on reason, which laid a foundation for the revolutions in American and in France. The Enlightenment thinkers include the following.
John Locke was an English physician and philosopher. His work contributed to the advancement of the notion of social construct and natural rights. He developed Two Treatise of Government in 1689, whereby the First Treatise refuted claims that the rights of kings justified a government by asserting that it was through the consent of the governed. His Second Treatise developed the civil society theory, whereby he argued that creation of all men was equivalent by the nature of God. His natural right argument asserted that all people developed the right to own property from the labor they produced.
Voltaire, Francois was a French philosopher and critic, considered as the most dominant figure of the Enlightenment. Widely known for his writings that attacked every aspect of the French, from religious establishments to the government, he held the political and philosophical view that criticized the abuse of people in the hands of the royalty and the clergy. Voltaire called for tolerance and religious freedom for all people to practice religions of their choice. As a historian, he developed a new manner of narrating diplomatic and military events by enumerating stories about customs and achievements in the arts and sciences.
Sir Isaac Newton’s scientific and mathematical achievements put him at the top among other thinkers. His formulation of the law of motion and gravity through mathematics laid the foundation of understanding the movement of objects and the force that propelled them. His knowledge promot...