Question

Provide the information each Age of Reason thinker contributed to his time. John Locke Jean-Jacques Rousseau Isaac Newton Baron de Montesquieu Cotton Mather

Answer 1

A good answer should contain the following:

John Locke: People have the right to challenge their government if it doesn’t protect the “natural rights” of life, liberty, and property

Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Society should be ruled by the “general will” of the people.

Isaac Newton: Discovered laws of gravity and motion that showed the natural world wasn’t controlled by spirits

Baron de Montesquieu: Power should not be concentrated in the hands of one individual

Cotton Mather: Advocated the use of science to immunize citizens against smallpox

Answer 2

The main contributions of those Enlightment thinkers were the following:

• John Locke was among the first ones who developed the social contract theory. He also claimed for natural rights: "life, liberty, and property.
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau introduced the concept of social contract. it established that citizens were the ones who held power legitimately, and these should grant it to representatives elected through suffrage, that would conform the goverments. This viewpoint sharply contrasted with the absolute monarchies that ruled in most European countries.
• Isaac Newton is a very representative figure of the scientific revolution during the age of Reason. He developed the laws of motion and universal gravitation, and afterwards the theory of relativity.
• Baron the Montesquieu: introduced the concept of the separation of powers in three branches: legislative, executive and judicial. It constituted a mechanism to preserve democracy in the sense that it prevented the emergence of any form of authoritarism, as each of the powers should supervise the other two.
• Cotton Mather: was a puritan leader from New England. He promoted the use of vaccines for illness prevention.