Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Jean-Jacques Rousseau (/ruːˈsoʊ/;[1] French: [ʒɑ̃ʒak ʁuso]; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of the 18th century. His political philosophy influenced the French Revolution as well as the overall development of modern political, sociological, and educational thought. Biography[edit] Youth[edit] Rousseau was born in Geneva, which was at the time a city-state and a Protestant associate of the Swiss Confederacy. Since 1536, Geneva had been a Huguenot republic and the seat of Calvinism. Five generations before Rousseau, his ancestor Didier, a bookseller who may have published Protestant tracts, had escaped persecution from French Catholics by fleeing to Geneva in 1549, where he became a wine merchant.[5] Rousseau was proud that his family, of the moyen order (or middle-class), had voting rights in the city. Geneva, in theory, was governed democratically by its male voting "citizens".
The house where Rousseau was born at number 40, Grand-Rue. Adam Smith. Adam Smith (16 June 1723 NS (5 June 1723 OS) – 17 July 1790) was a Scottish moral philosopher, pioneer of political economy, and key Scottish Enlightenment figure.[2] Smith is best known for two classic works: The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759), and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776). The latter, usually abbreviated as The Wealth of Nations, is considered his magnum opus and the first modern work of economics. Smith is cited as the "father of modern economics" and is still among the most influential thinkers in the field of economics today.[3] Smith studied social philosophy at the University of Glasgow and at Balliol College, Oxford, where he was one of the first students to benefit from scholarships set up by fellow Scot, John Snell.
Biography[edit] Early life[edit] Portrait of Smith's mother, Margaret Douglas Formal education[edit] A commemorative plaque for Smith is located in Smith's home town of Kirkcaldy. Teaching career[edit] Later years[edit] David Hume. George Berkeley. George Berkeley (/ˈbɑrkleɪ/;[1] 12 March 1685 – 14 January 1753), also known as Bishop Berkeley (Bishop of Cloyne), was an Anglo-Irish philosopher whose primary achievement was the advancement of a theory he called "immaterialism" (later referred to as "subjective idealism" by others).
This theory denies the existence of material substance and instead contends that familiar objects like tables and chairs are only ideas in the minds of perceivers, and as a result cannot exist without being perceived. Berkeley is also known for his critique of abstraction, an important premise in his argument for immaterialism. In 1709, Berkeley published his first major work, An Essay towards a New Theory of Vision, in which he discussed the limitations of human vision and advanced the theory that the proper objects of sight are not material objects, but light and colour. Life in Ireland[edit] For this theory, the Principles gives the exposition and the Dialogues the defence. England and Europe[edit] Bernard Mandeville. Montesquieu. Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (/ˈmɒntɨskjuː/; French: [mɔ̃tɛskjø]; 18 January 1689 – 10 February 1755), generally referred to as simply Montesquieu, was a French social commentator and political thinker who lived during the Age of Enlightenment.
He is famous for his articulation of the theory of separation of powers, which is implemented in many constitutions throughout the world. He did more than any other author to secure the place of the word despotism in the political lexicon,[1] and may have been partly responsible for the popularization of the terms feudalism and Byzantine Empire.
[citation needed] Biography Château de la Brède Montesquieu was born at the Château de la Brède in the southwest of France, 25 km south of Bordeaux.[2] His father, Jacques de Secondat, was a soldier with a long noble ancestry. Montesquieu's early life occurred at a time of significant governmental change. Philosophy of history It is not chance that rules the world. See also. Giambattista Vico. Giovan Battista (Giambattista) Vico (23 June 1668 – 23 January 1744) was an Italian political philosopher, rhetorician, historian, and jurist. He criticised the expansion and development of rationalism and was an apologist of classical antiquity. Vico is best known for his magnum opus, the Scienza Nuova of 1725, often published in English as New Science.
Vico is a precursor of systemic and complexity thinking, as opposed to Cartesian analysis and other kinds of reductionism. He is also well known for noting that verum esse ipsum factum ("true itself is fact" or "the true itself is made"), a proposition that has been read as an early instance of constructivist epistemology.[1][2] Biography[edit] Born to a bookseller and the daughter of a carriage maker in Naples, Italy, Vico attended a series of grammar schools, but ill-health and dissatisfaction with Jesuit scholasticism led to home schooling.
The Scienza Nuova[edit] Principj di Scienza Nuova - title page of 1744 edition. Influences[edit] John Locke. John Locke FRS (/ˈlɒk/; 29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704), was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers and known as the "Father of Classical Liberalism".[1][2][3] Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Sir Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social contract theory.
His work greatly affected the development of epistemology and political philosophy. His writings influenced Voltaire and Rousseau, many Scottish Enlightenment thinkers, as well as the American revolutionaries. His contributions to classical republicanism and liberal theory are reflected in the United States Declaration of Independence.[4] Life and work Locke's father, also called John, was a country lawyer and clerk to the Justices of the Peace in Chew Magna,[6] who had served as a captain of cavalry for the Parliamentarian forces during the early part of the English Civil War. His mother was Agnes Keene. Influence.