Founding Godfathers: The Philosophical Foundations of the Declaration of Independence from the Age of Enlightenment
This presentation, led by Michael Boudria PhD, will teach what were the philosophical underpinnings of the time that were influencing Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams in the construction of the Declaration of Independence. These underlying ideas directly influenced the language, argument, and perspective of the document not only in terms of what it was for but also in what it was against. Thus, the Declaration of Independence is the culmination of philosophical discussions from the Age of Enlightenment spanning the century and a half that preceded it. The presentation will discuss how the Age of Enlightenment came about, what separated it from thinking from previous eras, what were its main philosophical contributions, and what were its influences on fields of study that came afterward. We'll also discuss the two Age of Enlightenment philosophers most responsible for the wording chosen in the Declaration of Independence itself, Thomas Hobbes and John Locke. Finally, the presentation will end on the debate of the last 25 years in political philosophy: Do we actually live in a Lockean society? Or do we live in a Hobbesian one?
