Answer to Question #268464 in History for Faith

Question

1. Based on the documents, what was the “Enlightenment” all about?  
2. What existing ideas and institutions  did the Enlightenment thinkers challenge?
3. What new ideas did they promote?
4. What is the “social contract”?
5. How do Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau differ on their views of a Social Contract?
6. Is democracy the best form of government?  
7. Should the Majority rule?  What about the rights of minority groups and women

Document Analysis: Use the Documents to answer the question and for supplemental support use the textbook to help gather contextual information.  Module 18 in the online textbook.

Document 1: from Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (1660)

1. Who is the SOURCE?  What do you know about him?
2. CONTEXT: Where is the author from & what was going on there around the time?
3. CLOSE READING: What specific reasons does the author give for justifying rule by an absolute monarch? 

Answer 1

Who is the SOURCE? What do you know about him?

Thomas Hobbes is the author. Hobbes' interest in the physical doctrine of motion and physical momentum was his first field of study. He despised experimental work in physics, despite his curiosity in the phenomenon.

CONTEXT: Where is the author from & what was going on there around the time? Hobbes was born prematurely in England on April 5, 1588, when his mother heard of the Spanish Armada's impending attack. Hobbes championed monarchy as the best form of governance and the only one that can guarantee peace. In some of his early works, he simply states that society need some form of supreme sovereign authority, without specifying which type of sovereign power is ideal.

CLOSE READING: What specific reasons does the author give for justifying rule by an absolute monarch?

Hobbes promoted that monarchy is the best form of government and the only one that can guarantee peace. In some of his early works, he only says that there must be a supreme sovereign power of some kind in society, without stating definitively which sort of sovereign power is best.