The last shared belief is that by using reason and observing, people can gain freedom and liberty. People began to question and learn through observation rather than to follow blindly.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a French political writer who was passionate about education and believed that the government should be ruled by the people.
Rousseau deeply believed that humans are innately good and innocent and that life experiences and society cause their corruption, thus the Social Contract was formed in April 1762. This contract states that in order stop society’s corruption, one must be good and have good intentions towards others. In other words, he believed that if society were to vanish, people would be pure and happy once again ( ). He affected the government by setting boundaries between the government and citizens and became a foundation for sovereignty. He wanted liberty and equality. Another idea from Rousseau was to get as close as possible to nature. Nature would bring people happiness. This could be interpreted in many ways. Rousseau was just interested in people being more natural and true. His views about society coincide with the beliefs of Voltaire.
Francois Arouet, known as Voltaire, was a writer during the Age of Reason who was influenced by Britain, Newton, and Locke. Like Montesquieu, he, too, disliked democracy. He believed that common people were too emotional to be able to govern themselves. Voltaire argued that the world would improve as ignorance and superstition were replaced by more knowledge (). He fought for tolerance, freedom of religious belief, and reason. His ideas were implemented in the Unites States Bill of Rights and in the
French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. Voltaire spread the idea of progress and made society better.
Baron Charles Montesquieu was another French philosopher who wrote about the separation of powers. He introduced the idea of dividing power among the separate branches of government. He believed that people should be able to think for themselves. This belief led to many arguments between the Church and Montesquieu. A belief he had about government was that he did not favor democracy because he felt that the citizens were led more by emotion rather than reason. Montesquieu was influenced by John Locke. He wanted a government where people thought more independently and used reason rather than to be fully devoted to religion. Many bishops opposed of Montesquieu and attempted to ban his books, yet they did not succeed due to the high number of people supporting Montesquieu’s beliefs. There was a lot of people criticizing the Catholic Church during this time. Montesquieu saw the importance and the benefits of creating a separation between religion and politics. Many people supported him because the church was becoming an overly powerful factor in government.
In conclusion, three great philosophers introduced and shared similar ideas concerning reason, society, and the government. During the Age of Reason, people started to put more interest in natural rights and empirical thinking. They also started to criticize religion and begin to learn by themselves through observation and reason. Jean-Jacques Rousseau fought for human freedom and believed everyone was equal. Voltaire fought for freedom of thought and expression and Montesquieu wrote about the separation of powers and the division of branches within the government. They helped make the world less religious and more worldly wise by strongly emphasizing the importance of individualism.