Enlightenment Period

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Biography: was a philosopher, writer, and composer of the 18th century. His political philosophy influenced the Enlightenment in France and across Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolution and the overall development of modern political and educational thought.

Discovery: Original man, in his natural state, was entirely free and virtuous.

Legacy: Social contract theory

John Locke

Biography: John Locke FRS was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers and known as the "Father of Classical Liberalism"

Discovery: We acquire ideas through our experience of the world.

Legacy: Human Rights

Rene Descartes

Biography: René Descartes was a French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist. Dubbed the father of modern philosophy, much of subsequent Western philosophy is a response to his writings, which are studied closely to this day 

Discovery: Nature of existence and of knowledge 

Legacy: Logic 

Charles Montesquieu

Biography: Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu, generally referred to as simply Montesquieu, was a French lawyer, man of letters, and political philosopher who lived during the Age of Enlightenment.

Discovery: The government should be the one to protect the freedom of the people

Legacy: Non-despotic Government

Voltaire

Biography: French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit, his attacks on the established Catholic Church, and his advocacy of freedom of religion, freedom of expression, and separation of church and state.

Discovery: The state should be separated from the church

Legacy: "Candide"