Hi there, I'm Mr. Roberts, and thanks for joining me for today's history lesson, where my job will be to guide you through our history resources.

I'll be making sure that by the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to securely meet our lesson objective.

In today's lesson, which is part of our unit on the Enlightenment, we're familiarising ourselves with the key features of the Enlightenment movement.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to describe Enlightenment ideas concerning science and politics.

There are five keywords which will help us navigate our way through today's lesson.

Those keywords are Enlightenment, social contract, monopoly, paradox and colonialism.

The Enlightenment was a movement in the 1600s and 1700s that promoted the use of reason and questioned authority.

A social contract is an agreement that rulers should govern in a way that benefits the people in exchange for having power over them.

When one group has total control over an area of business or trade, this is known as a monopoly.

A paradox is when a statement or idea appears to contradict itself.

And colonialism involves taking control of another country and taking advantage of its resources and people.

Today's lesson will be split into three parts, and we'll begin by thinking about the Enlightenment's impact on scientific thought.

The Scientific Revolution of the 1500s and early 1600s led to inventions and discoveries that challenged the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church and inspired developments in healthcare, mathematics and astronomy.

These developments increased later in the 1600s and 1700s, during the Enlightenment, as people began to turn to science to answer questions about the nature of the universe.

In 1662, the Royal Society was formed by King Charles II of England that gathered Enlightenment thinkers, known as philosophers, together.

These thinkers believed they were more enlightened than people in the past, as they used reason and logic to work out right from wrong instead of relying on the rules set out by the church, the Bible or the monarch.

Gathering these people together accelerated scientific progress, as shown by Isaac Newton's explanation of the laws of gravity a few years later.

The Enlightenment pushed people to question everything, causing further developments.

For example, astronomer Edmund Halley's 1705 mathematical prediction of the date of a comet's reappearance was proven true on Christmas day of 1758.

Additionally, in 1717, Mary Wortley Montagu brought the process of smallpox inoculation to England from Turkey for the first time.

This led to King George I having his grandchildren inoculated, and also to Edward Jenner developing the smallpox vaccine 75 years later.

Furthermore, in 1769, James Watt would change the world forever by inventing the steam engine, sparking the Industrial Revolution of the following century.

Yet despite these great scientific advances, some Enlightenment philosophers, such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, criticised the sheer amount of Enlightenment's scientific experimentation being done, as in his view, it was not always leading to greater levels of happiness amongst the human race.

Rousseau's type of philosophy was all to do with how he believed that people were losing touch with nature through this constant pursuit of new scientific knowledge.

On the whole, though, scientific advancements were welcomed by the vast majority of Enlightenment philosophers.

So let's make sure we have a secure understanding of what we've just heard.

Which two of the statements below are correct? You have the choice between A, the Enlightenment movement emerged from the Scientific Revolution.

B, all Enlightenment philosophers wanted as much scientific progress as possible.

And C, organisations like the Royal Society helped to accelerate scientific progress by grouping philosophers together.

Pause the video here and press Play when you're ready to see the right answers.

Welcome back.

Well done to everybody who said the correct answers were A and C.

It is true to say that the Enlightenment movement emerged from the Scientific Revolution and that organisations like the Royal Society helped to accelerate scientific progress by grouping philosophers together.

Let's try another one.

I would like you to match the Enlightenment science discoveries and developments on the left, labelled A, B and C with the relevant person who discovered or developed these, labelled one, two and three on the right.

Pause the video.

Have a think about what connects to whom and press Play for the answers when you're ready.

Welcome back, and well done if you matched Halley's comet with Edmond Halley, smallpox inoculation with Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and the steam engine with James Watt.

So now we're in a great position to put our new knowledge into practise.

Both statements one and two contain an error.

Correct the errors based on what you've learned so far this lesson.

Pause the video and come back when you're ready for the corrections.

Welcome back.

The correct statements should sound like this.

"Charles II formed the Royal Society in 1662 in order to gather together Enlightenment philosophers and accelerate scientific progress." And two, "Some philosophers, such as Rousseau, began to believe that science was separating humans from nature." Really well done if your answers look something like this.

So now it's time to move on to the second part of our lesson, where we'll be thinking about how the Enlightenment movement responded to power and control wielded by rulers and businesses.

Enlightenment thinkers believed that governments should work for the benefit of the people rather than being so intent on controlling them.

John Locke came up with the idea that there was an agreement in which people followed the laws of a government in return for protection and freedom, known as a social contract.

Because of this social contract, Locke believed that governments should be accountable for the decisions they made, and any laws should be made in the interests of those without power rather than those with power.

Enlightenment thinkers like Locke showed how rulers had responsibilities towards their people because of their power over them.

This would cause revolutions in some countries, such as France and the American colonies of the British Empire, as people saw their governments failing to uphold the social contract.

In the same way that governments should make laws that protected the interest of ordinary people, enlightened thinkers began to question monopolies, which led to high prices of goods for ordinary people.

In 1776, Scottish Enlightenment philosopher Adam Smith wrote the "Wealth of Nations," in which he criticised the British East India Company for their monopoly on trade between Britain and India, meaning they could charge high prices for popular goods such as tea, spices and textiles.

He argued that if monopolies did not exist and companies like the British East India Company had competitors, then prices would be lower for ordinary people.

He believed in free trade so that everyone could benefit from the profits of trade around the world, not just a privileged few.

So now let's make sure we have a secure understanding of what we've just learned.

True or false, Enlightenment philosophers like Adam Smith believed that monopolies were good.

Pause the video and come back for the answer when you're ready.

Welcome back, and well done to everyone who said it was false, that Enlightenment philosophers like Adam Smith believed that monopolies were good.

Now justify the answer.

Which justification is correct? Monopolies were seen as bad because they helped everyone to become wealthy, so only a few people could become rich, or B, monopolies were seen as bad because only a small number of people who controlled business and trade could become rich.

Pause the video and come back when you're ready for the answer.

Welcome back.

Well done to everyone who said B, monopolies were seen as bad because only a small number of people who controlled business and trade could become rich.

Let's check our understanding one more time.

Enlightenment philosophers such as John Locke believed in the social contract.

What was it? A, an agreement that the people should govern in a way that benefits everyone, B, an agreement that rulers should govern in a way that benefits themselves, ignoring the wellbeing of their people, or C, an agreement that rulers should govern in a way that benefits their people in exchange for having power over them.

Pause the video and come back when you're ready for the answer.

Welcome back, and well done to everyone who said C, the social contract was an agreement that rulers should govern in a way that benefits their people in exchange for having power over them.

Now it's time to put our learning into practise again.

There are two opinions below.

One belongs to Aisha and the other belongs to Izzy.

Your task is to decide whose opinion you agree with the most and justify your answer.

Aisha says, "John Locke's social contract was the most important idea during the Enlightenment because rulers had too much power and ordinary people had so little." And Izzy says, "Adam Smith's 'Wealth of Nations' was more important because monopolies were enriching a few people and keeping ordinary people poor." Pause the video and have a think about whose opinion you agree with the most, and justify your answer.

When you're ready for some feedback, press Play and restart the video.

Hello again.

I asked you to consider whose opinion you agreed with the most and justify your answer.

You might have agreed with Aisha and said, "I agree with Aisha's opinion the most because it was Enlightenment ideas like John Locke's social contract that would go on to inspire revolutions in France and America, where people fought back against rulers who were mistreating them." Or you might have agreed with Izzy's opinion and said, "I agree with Izzy's opinion the most because at the time of the Enlightenment, organisations like the British East India Company had monopolies and kept control of what was being traded and to whom, just so they could make themselves richer." Now it's time to move on to the final part of our lesson on Enlightenment ideas, where we're going to be thinking about the Enlightenment and its role in the promotion of racial discrimination.

Despite Enlightenment commitments to equality, freedom and rational thinking, some thinkers developed ideas of European superiority and African inferiority based on race.

This paradox meant that philosophers like Voltaire in France and David Hume in Britain were pushing for more human rights in Europe at the same time as justifying the exploitation of Africans through systems such as colonialism and enslavement.

Some Enlightenment philosophers like Diderot added to this paradox even more, as they still tried to separate humans into different classes of race despite opposing enslavement and colonialism.

This shows how not all Enlightenment philosophers agreed with each other.

Indeed, prior to the Enlightenment, people had been more willing to point to the Bible's teaching that everyone was created equal by God.

But a rise in atheism had happened during the Enlightenment, which saw many come to the opposite racist conclusion that white Europeans were naturally superior to Black Africans, creating the conditions for racial discrimination for hundreds of years afterwards.

So now let's do another quick check that we've secured what we've just heard.

Read the three statements and decide which two of them are true.

A, there was a rise in atheism during the Enlightenment, but this did not mean that all philosophers were atheists.

B, many Enlightenment thinkers had ideas that promoted racial discrimination.

And C, all Enlightenment thinkers had ideas that promoted racial discrimination.

Pause the video, make a decision and press Play to find out the answers.

Welcome back and well done if you said A and B.

It is indeed true to say that there was a rise in atheism during the Enlightenment, but this did not mean that all philosophers were atheists.

It is also true that many Enlightenment thinkers had ideas that promoted racial discrimination.

Let's do another check.

Which statement below is the correct definition of a paradox? A, when a statement or idea appears to contradict itself or B, when a statement or idea does not contradict itself? Pause the video, then press Play for the answer.

Hello again, and well done if you said A.

A paradox is when a statement or idea appears to contradict itself.

Now try this.

Why is the Enlightenment considered a paradox? A, because many philosophers argued for equality for white Europeans, but not for Black Africans, or B, because atheist philosophers disagreed with the Bible's teachings about equality? Pause the video and press Play for the answer.

Welcome back.

Well done if you said A.

The Enlightenment is considered to be a paradox because many philosophers argued for equality for white Europeans, but not for Black Africans.

Now it's time For the first of two final practise tasks.

Complete the sentence starters on the screen using what you've just learned.

Pause the video, and when you've completed both sentences, restart the video for some feedback.

Welcome back.

There are a number of things you might have written, but well done if what you've written looks like this.

"The Enlightenment was a paradox because Enlightenment philosophers argued that all people were equal, but at the same time, many of them did not really believe all humans were equal." "Before the Enlightenment, people believed in the Bible's teachings of equality, but then thanks to a rise in atheism, many Enlightenment philosophers believed that Black Africans were inferior to white Europeans." Well done if your answers looked anything like that.

Now it's time for our final task.

Laura's opinion is that, "The ideas that spread during the Enlightenment strengthened everyone's belief that all humans were equal." Explain why you might disagree with this view, based on what we have recently learned.

Use as many of the following words as you can: social contract, paradox and colonialism.

Pause the video and come back when you're ready for a model answer.

Hello again.

It's worth saying once more that there are many things you could have written for this answer, but well done if your answer contains any of the following.

"I disagree with Laura because during the Enlightenment, even though many people believed in the social contract, the idea that people with power should protect others, there was a paradox.

This is because many philosophers did not extend their belief in equality to Black Africans, meaning they supported things like enslavement and colonialism." And with that, we've reached the end of today's lesson.

And we're in a great position to summarise what we've learned.

We began by learning that Enlightenment ideas like observation, experience and experiment helped inspire greater scientific thought.

We learned that Enlightenment thinkers believed that governments should work for the benefits of the people.

We also saw how during this time, more people began to believe that they should be able to hold their governments to account for their actions and decisions.

We then explored the idea that some Enlightenment thinkers began to question monopolies, arguing that everyone should benefit from business and trade, not just a few.

And finally, we learned about the paradox that some Enlightenment thinkers did not extend their calls for equality beyond white Europeans to Black Africans.

Really well done for all your hard work in today's lesson.

It's been a pleasure guiding you through today's resources, and I look forward to seeing you again in the future, as we explore how Enlightenment ideas helped to inspire revolutions in America and France.