Mary Wollstonecraft was a founding voice of Feminism in the late 1700's. Her treatise A Vindication of the Rights of Woman is her most famous work, and is an outline of the idea that women are not inferior to men, and deserve the same rights.

John Locke pushed the epistemological notion of the Tabula Rasa, meaning blank slate. He said that when humans are born they have no knowledge and are therefore ready to be taught everything about the world. Therefore, the environment we grow up in will give us a perspective of world events.

Voltaire believed in the separation of Church and State. This was in large part due to the carnage that he had seen when religion became a part of the national government. Wars fought between nations of different religions, and people forced to worship in the church of the national leader led to countless conflicts.

Thomas Hobbes believed that a monarch should be an enlightened despot, meaning that they should rule over their nations. In terms of the content of that enlightenment, Hobbes believed it was to be found in the ideals of the enlightenment, such as religious tolerance, civil liberties, and education.

John Locke said that all people, regardless of race, ethnicity, or nationality had certain rights that no government should be allowed to violate. These basic principles were life, liberty, and property. You may recognize "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness" from the Declaration of Independence, the authors of this document were definitely, and obviously from the phrasing, deeply influenced by Locke's writings, but Locke was long dead by the writing of the Declaration.

The Baron de Montesquieu rose to prominence in France as a governmental scholar and philosopher. He championed the idea that government should be broken into different divisions, each holding different powers, so that no one part of government could become too powerful, and therefore be tempted to violate the rights of its citizens.

Voltaire thought that all people should be guaranteed the right to practice their own religion, trade freely with anyone, and express themselves openly. He believed that government should not regulate people's to partake, or not take part in, any of these parts of life.

The social contract stated that monarchs who claimed they were given the right to legislate by God were wrong. Rousseau claimed only the people were sovereign, and therefore only they had the right to legislate and determine the will of the nation.

An extreme pride in ones nation or culture is known as nationalism. This trend began to sweep Europe and the world in the era between the end of the Napoleonic Wars and World War I. This Nationalism would help lead the nations of the world to seek out combat between each other.