How Did John Locke's Influence On The Enlightenment

The Enlightenment was a period in Europe in which intellect and individualism were valued and focused on more than the traditional ideals and beliefs. At the tail end of the scientific revolution there was an emphasis on reason, tolerance, and progress. Now, there was a new emphasis on these ideas and even the churches’ authority was questioned. One thinker during this time was the English philosopher John Locke, who offered new ways to construct a constitutional government. He believed that a contract between rulers and ruled was created by the work and creativity of man rather than being gifted from divine beings. One of his famous works was the, Essay Concerning Human Understanding, which described the human mind and how it came to obtain all of its knowledge. In politics, he is best known as a proponent of limited government and uses a theory of natural rights to argue that governments have an obligation to their citizens and can ultimately be overthrow by them.
He was a government satirists and best known for his work, Candide. He also looked up to the famous philosopher John Locke. Voltaire admired the free and liberal society in England and despised the religious tolerance that existed in France. This is exemplified in his Treatise on Toleration in which he sarcastically states, “Listen to me, for the God of all these worlds has enlightened me; there are nine hundred million ants like us on earth, but only my ant hill is beloved of God.” He was the first to describe a natural religion in France and proposed a nationalist way of looking at things. He even questioned his own views and often contradicted himself, which proved that he was open-minded and wasn’t afraid of failure or being