Hobbes V. Locke! Conservatism V. Liberalism  First, ignore any understanding the terms liberal and conservative that you understand today. They have evolved significantly through the last few hundred years. In our class, when we say conservative we say KINGS GOOD! Strong Monarchy! Absolutism! Mercantilism! Monopolies! Centralized authority usually w a king! The Catholic Church. Artisans and Guilds!***********ok...when we say liberalism we think Constitutionalism! Parliaments! Religious freedom and diversity! A separation of church and state! FREE TRADE! No guilds, NO MONOPOLIES! Let's do business and LET"S make $$$! Let's advocate human reason and potential. Liberalism is one of key themes we'll see come out of the Age of Enlightenment. 

"The State of Nature" is a hypothetical place that philosophers use to describe the world before man organized into govt. Man is TOTALLY free. Man is not controlled. Different philosophers will describe the HORROR or charm of it. First!

Thomas Hobbes. AN english dude who saw the English Civil war and Louis XIV. HUGE fan of absolutism. HUGE. People are greedy, self interested, and will do whatever it takes to survive. Hence, this component of human nature makes the state of nature a HORRIFYING place. "life is nasty, brutish, and SHORT!" in the state of nature according to Hobbes. SO>......you need a strong, absolute leader. A father figure, a partiacrchial society where the king controls everything to keep man, who is a selfish selfish creature in check. You give up your freedom but in return you're safe, happy, and healthy! OBEY!  John Locke on the other hand says the state of nature is ok. Some conflict, people are rational beings so they'll figure things out. But....let's keep things safe and elect leaders and a govt. who's ONLY job is to do 3 things. Protect our natural rights; rights that ALL HUMANS as RATIONAL beings are born w. "life, liberty, and the PURSUIT of PROPERTY (land,$$, you're own business) Hobbes represent conservativism and locke represents liberalism. 

 

 The scientific rev will begin to further challenge claims of the church. Faith is not enough for many scientists. They must be able to see and observe things in order to believe. To many religious, the new ideas of science were a threat to religion. Many scientific discoveries disproved biblical and CHruch claims. Protestants called for PRIVATE interpretation of the Bible. "you interpret it anyway you want." on the other hand, the catholic church, who for centuries said that they alone interpreted the bible for the masses (hence, the reason for it to only be written in latin which most folks' could not read) The church did not believe that layman(non clergy members) could interpret the bible. So after the council of Trent the Catholic church actually began to take  literal view of the bible. Galilleo will challenge the church by supporting Copernicus' view of heliocentrism, which was in contrast to the Church's support of geocentrism. They censured those ideas. Gallileo kept at it and was summoned before the Inquisition. Rememer, the Catholic church is an INCREDIBLY Conservative institution. They will be anti-"liberalism"  Many books and ideas (see Spain) will be banned. 

 

****Let's make peace! According to Blaise Pascal (aka Pascal) both religion and science could work together. he thought catholic jesuits too strict. He also rejected the ideas of atheists and Deists. He said "a loving God exists and that deists and atheists had overestimated Reason as a way to explain the world." His contribution is this: Pascal's Wager. Believe in God....what do you have to lose? You die and God exists you go to heaven. You die and he doesn't, well....If you believe you gain EVERYTHING! He argues that belief in God improved morals and social values. 

 

**Women and the scientifiC Rev

As has become common in our studies, we see that women had been excluded from most opportunities. Women were denied opportunity in the intellectual world. Margaret Cavendish had been tutored as a girl and then married well. This opportunity allowed her to surround herself w great minds. She will contribute much to the dialogue. She was able to debate the new ideas and became so respected that she was able to visit the Royal Society of London(a science center)