• Gottfried Leibniz-
• German mathematician and philosopher
• Known for his treaty on optimism
• Optimism=to it's greatest extent
• Wrote Theodicee, and attempt to justify the imperfections in the world
• If God is all powerful and all knowing, why do bad things happen to good people?
• Anything that happens in the world is the best that it can be
• Results in Voltaire writing Candide (Satire)
• Diderot
• In the Enlightenment
• Enlightenment philosophers thought that fighting over religion was ridiculous
• They wanted to use reason as the way to control life
• The Founding Fathers were the same way
• Wrote an encyclopedia
• Montescue
• Personal essays
• Jonathon Swift
• Pretended to want to eat babies for satire
• Adam Smith
• Father of capitalism
• Capitalism- anyone in society could gain wealth
• Immanuel Kant
• Categorical Imperative
• If you make a rule, it applies to all situations
• Included royalty
• Forced legislatures to be more thoughtful when making laws
• Jeremy Bentham
• Disagreed with Kant
• The Utilitarian Choice- you have to do what is best for the most people