- What role did the French philosophers play in bringing about the French Revolution?
Answers
The philosophers like Voltaire, Rousseau, Montesquieu, John Locke were the main cause for the French Revolution. They judged the entire power of the king in their state. They made the people understand the reality by creating many writings.
Answer:
(i) The philosophers played an important role in the French Revolution. They inspired the common mass of France with their revolutionary ideas and prepared them to fight against injustices.
(ii) They did not believe in the doctrine of the divine and absolute right of the monarch. In his Two Treatises of Government John Locke refuted this doctrine strongly.
(iii) Rousseau carried the idea forward proposing a form of government based on a social contract between people and their representatives.
(iv) In The Spirit of the Laws, Montesquieu proposed a division of power within the government between the legislative, the executive and the judiciary.
(v) The ideas of these philosophers were discussed intensively in salons and coffee-houses and spread among people through books and newspapers. These were frequently read aloud in groups for the benefit of those who were illiterate. Thus, the philosophers contributed a lot in bringing of the French Revolution.