The_Enlightenment

The Enlightenment The Enlightenment The basic questions of the Enlightenment were: Who are we and why are we here', and What is the perfect organization of nature and society' While there are no definite answers to these questions, many “enlightened” people took great pride in believing that they had found the answer. Many, however, simply settled for debating the best government, which is mainly what this essay is concerned with. Some are more optimistic than others and some are more realistic, however they all seem to make some valid points. Voltaire, in his work, Candide held the opinion that the nobility are irrational, over indulgent, and stupid. The tutor’s philosophy of cause and effect is a central theme throughout the story. Much of Voltaire’s philosophy is fairly pessimistic, but was popular among all classes because it appealed to all of the classes by being so well written that no matter what class you were you could come away with an entirely different meaning than everyone else and you might have been right. Rousseau, seems to be the eternal optimist, but writings rather pessimistic at times. Rousseau, was also a contract theorist. He believed that there is a contract between people, government, women, nobility, ruler, pitfalls, person, montesquieu, monarchy, despotic, whim, society, rules, ruled, rousseau, questions, power, philosophy, pessimistic, one, monarch, luxury, law, however, held, equality, enlightenment, different, contract, classes, written, writings, work, words, while