Similarities Between Enlightenment And John Stuart Mill

Explain what the enlightenment is with reference to John Locke and John Stuart Mill: their views on society and human nature, their ideas of political ethics and moral behaviors, and how modern democratic society is shaped by their ideas. During the 16th century, Protestants and Catholics used religious conflicts as an excuse to start a war, yet in reality they were fighting for power and land. This long war lasted for thirty years. Enlightenment is followed by the concept of Renaissance, a ‘rebirth’ period of Europe in 14th to 17th century, reacting to the dark age of the Thirty Years’ War (Van Doren, 1991). The word ‘Enlightenment’ means lighting up the dark time of ignorance and superstition. It took place in among 18th century and was mobilized by an influential group of artists, scholars, scientist and writers, this group of people had been given a name as enlightenment thinkers. They proposed rational

Locke used to challenge the divine right of king. Most of the theories are derived from bible. He believes that people are created by god according to the natural law. Therefore, mankind’s moral behavior should follow the natural law – legislation and the gospel. People should be guaranteed and protected by basis right from the gospel (Walsh, n.d.). Base on idea of natural law, Locke later developed a theory of natural rights. It promoted that people have their own right to survive as the same as other animals even before the government emerges. The natural rights consist of the right to life, to liberty and to property. Everyone has the equal right to live and nobody’s right is rated as more important than the others. Unless you infringed other’s right, your right should be protected but not being taken from state. He pointed out that the government should protect and promote these rights of individuals from being deprived for other citizen (Uzgalis,