The 5 most prominent representatives of illustrated DESPOTISM

In this lesson from a TEACHER we are going to talk about the main representatives of enlightened despotism. A system of government that some European monarchies adopted throughout the second half of the 18th century and that was characterized by the convergence of the principles of the absolute monarchy and of the illustration.

Drawing on the ideas and works of great philosophers of the time such as Locke, Hobbes, Voltaire, Montesquieu or Rousseau. If you want to know more about the main representatives of enlightened despotism, keep reading this lesson. Start the class!

Throughout the 18th century, the absolutist European monarchies began to introduce into their governments some of the theses disclosed by the prevailing intellectual current of the moment, illustration. Thus being born what is known as enlightened despotism or enlightened absolutism.

In this way, enlightened despotism was born at the behest of the great works published by philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Rousseau. Authors who defended precepts such as:

• The necessity of the existence of a social contract between rulers and ruled.
• Real power is not of divine origin.
• The secularization of society, religious freedom and the spread of deism.
• A higher education of the population as the key to social progress.
• The rationalism or the blind trust in the unlimited reason of the human being.
• The universalism and natural law, by which all human beings are free and equal.
• The philosopher king as the ideal of a ruler: The one who best knows the needs and interests of his subjects. In this line, Catherine I in Russia, Carlos III in Spain, José I in Portugal and Federico II in Prussia stood out.

Within this current, the following stand out as main representatives:

1. Thomas Hobbes, 1588-1679

This English philosopher is considered one of the founders of the modern political philosophy: he was one of the great theorists of absolutism and one of the fathers of the contractual theory.

In this way, in his work Leviathan (1651), Hobbes establishes that the origin of the State and of society is the result of a developed contract by individuals themselves to limit their freedoms through the creation of a legislative body. Thus, according to Hobbes, the law It is the greatest symbol of civilization, since its objective is to obtain a good coexistence and control the most primal instincts of the human being.

2. John Locke, 1632-1704

This English doctor is one of the most influential thinkers in the world. English empiricism, highlighting his thesis on politics and religion.

1. Political theory: The State has the obligation to provide all citizens with three fundamental or natural rights (freedom, life and property), respect the diversity of opinions and the rights of the individual. Likewise, he defends a separation of legislative-executive power and establishes that the government should not be based on an absolutist system, but on popular sovereignty. Much of his political theory served as inspiration for other authors such as Montesquie, Voltaire, and Rousseu.
2. Religious theory: Locke defends the idea of ​​religious tolerance and condemns the idea of ​​theocratic state, since it mixes religion and politics. In addition, he is going to stay against the idea of ​​atheism (it can lead to chaos) and the concept of religious intolerance.

All these ideas are exposed in some of his best known works: Essay on Civil Government Policy (1660-1662), Essay on the law of nature (1664) and Letter on tolerance (1689).

3. Charles Louis de Secondant / Baron de Montesquie, 1689-1755

Montesquie, exposes the most important ideas of him in Persian letters (1721) and the spirit of the laws (1748). In them, the following ideas stand out:

• The separation of powers Legislative-executive in the State: Both powers should not be united in the same person because it could lead to the lack of freedom and the creation of tyrannical laws.
• Nor should the judiciary intermingle with the executive and legislative.
• The legislative power must be held by a aristocratic court parliament, whose function is to act as a mediating body between the people and the king.

4. Francois Marie Arouet / Voltaire, 1694-1778

In his works Philosophical Letters (1734), Essay on the Mores and Spirit of Nations (1756) and Philosophical Dictionary (1764), exposes his main ideas:

• Religious tolerance: condemns religious fanaticism (cruel religious insanity), rejects divine revelation as the monarch's source of power, and defends tolerance / respect for all religions.
• Deism: Voltaire advocates moving away from the great dogmatic religions and bets on approaching deism: the belief in a supreme deity developed through reason and experience, creator of the laws of nature.
• Enlightened despotism as an ideal model of government.

5. Jean- Jacques Rousseau, 1712-1778

The ideas of this Swiss philosopher are perhaps the ones that are the furthest from the illustration, although he defines himself as illustrated. Thus, in its work The social contract (1762) exposes his most important thesis, the idea of social contract. According to which, the power and right to rule is not of divine origin, but the result of a contract made between all citizens and, therefore, the monarch has the obligation to favor everyone equally and from tolerance (respect for all ideas, suppression of torture or the death penalty).

Likewise, it is established that all citizens have sovereignty, are equal and must enjoy the same rights. In this way, with this thesis, Rousseau paved the way for what would become democracy and served as the basis for the French Revolution.