Question

What did the french philosophers said on the french society?

Answer 1

1) French society in the 18^th century was divided into 3 Estates and only the member of Third Estate paid taxes. About 60% of the land was owned by nobles, the Church, and other richer members of the Third Estate

2) The members of the first two estates, clergy and nobility, enjoyed certain privileges by birth. They were exempted from paying taxes to the State.

3) The nobles further enjoyed feudal privileges. But, the worst affected are the peasants who were obliged to render services to the Lord – have to work in his house and fields and moreover, feudal dues were extracted from them

4) In addition to merchants and manufacturers, the Third Estate included professions such as lawyers or administrative officials.

5) All of them believed that no group in society should be privileged by birth. These ideas that stressed a society based on freedom and equal laws and opportunities for all was put forward by French philosophers such as John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau

6) In his Two Treatises of government Locke sought to refute the doctrine of divine and absolute monarchy. Rousseau proposed a form of government based on social contract between people and representatives.

7) In the Spirit of Law Montesquieu proposed a division of power within the government between the legislative, the executive and the judiciary