Enlightenment

Gottfried Leibniz

• Theodicy and optimism 
• Optimism meant the optimal viewpoint
• He questioned whether or not God was all powerful. He said that because God is all powerful, all just, and all knowing the world as it is is the best world possible. Since God created the world, nothing in the world would go against His will. 

Enlightenment thinkers tried to make reason be used throughout the entire world without fail.

Encyclopedia

• Aristotle had thought of making an encyclopedia 
• Diderot wrote the Encyclopedie 
• Encyclopedias categorize information alphabetically, scientifically, and without bias.  

Montesquieu 

• Used reasoning and nuance to make decisions

Rousseau

• Wrote one of the fundamental documents for the Enlightenment and was used as the foundation for the Enlightenment's principles. 
• Within a democracy, everything is different. 
• To get along, no one looks up to a certain individual. 
• When there are laws set and everyone belongs to everyone else, society can function better. 
• The social contract is between people in a society and the people and the government. 

Jonathan Swift 

• Wrote "A Modest Proposal" which said that people should eat babies when they run out of food. 
• It was satirical, and met with discontent. 

Adam Smith

• Proposed the ethics of capitalism 
• Anyone in society, through the process of trading goods, could gain wealth

Immanuel Kant 

• Critique of Pure Reason
• Categorical imperative 
• If a rule is created for one person, it applies to everyone. 
• Forced legislators to be more thoughtful about which types of laws are allowed to be established

Jeremy Bentham 

• Argued against Kant
• Utilitarian choice- his ethical philosophy 
• The idea that what is best for the most people must be carried out