Historical Essay Do you agree with Enlightenment thinkers such as Ben Franklin that humans are fundamentally good? The Scientific Revolution led people to search for laws governing human behavior. The ideas of the Scientific Revolution paved the way for a new period called the Enlightenment, also known as the Age of Reason. This period is located in the 18th century. This was the philosophical movement that emphasized the search for knowledge through reason and refused to accept ideas based solely on religion or tradition. Thinkers and philosophers of the time included Ben Franklin, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and many others. The belief that appealed to most political figures of the time was deism. Deism was the belief that God created the universe in such a way that no divine intervention was necessary for its continued operation. Most thinkers of the time believed that humans were fundamentally good. In today's life, it is obvious that this belief does not apply to everyone, or even to anyone. Although it is also not fair to say that all humans are sinners. Thomas Hobbes, an English philosopher in the 1600s, attempted to create a political science. After witnessing the horrors of the English Civil War, Hobbes decided that conflict was part of human nature. Without governments to maintain order, Hobbes said, there would be "a war of all against all." In this state of nature, life would be “nasty, brutal and short.” In his book Leviathan, Hobbes argued that to escape such a dark life, people surrendered their rights to a strong leader. In return, they got law and order. Hobbes called this agreement, by which people created a government, the social contract. Hobbes fundamentally viewed people as naturally selfish and violent. John Locke was another Enlightenment philosopher. He viewed human nature very differently from Hobbes. Locke said that a person is neither born good nor bad. Rather, he said that people's character is shaped by their experiences. Locke believed that people could learn from experience and improve, which led him to believe in self-government. According to Locke, all human beings are born free and equal, with three natural rights: life, liberty and property. He believed that the purpose of a government was to protect these rights and that if it failed, the people would have the power to overthrow them. This idea is still relevant today. The leading thinkers of the Enlightenment had very specific views on the ideal government..