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Question about Absolutism

Subject History

History

Source Originais Teachy

Originais Teachy

Topic Absolutism

Absolutism

Difficulty Medium

Medium

(Originais Teachy 2024) - Question Medium of History

During the Absolutism period, European monarchs consolidated centralized powers, promoting a more efficient administration and interfering in the social, economic, and cultural spheres. The Enlightenment philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, in his work 'The Social Contract,' developed the idea of popular sovereignty and criticized the concentration of powers in a single individual. He states: 'When several men are united in considering themselves as a single body, this is the work of an abstraction; without such a convention, sovereignty is nothing but an empty and meaningless word.' Based on the excerpt and your knowledge of Absolutism, analyze to what extent the practices and ideals of Absolutism contradict the principles of Enlightenment thought regarding the exercise of power and social organization. Also, consider the historical implications and the relationship between Rousseau's thinking and the transition from the Modern Age to the Contemporary Era.

Absolutism promoted the plurality of powers through administrative decentralization, reflecting Enlightenment ideals of the separation of powers and a system of checks and balances.

The principles of Enlightenment thought, such as contractualism and popular sovereignty, were fully accepted and implemented by absolutist monarchs, resulting in the effective democratization of European society at the time.

Absolutism contradicts the principles of Enlightenment thought by establishing a political system with centralized power in the hands of the monarch, opposed to the idea of popular sovereignty and active citizen participation advocated by Enlightenment thinkers like Rousseau.

The Absolutism and Enlightenment thought were balanced in their approaches, both advocating for the centralization of power in the hands of the monarch to ensure social order and stability.

Enlightenment thought, unlike Absolutism, advocated for the maintenance of feudal structures, considering that the centralization of monarchical power was essential for the continuity of the system.

Answer sheet:

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