What are the major themes of the French Revolution?

Some of the major topics of Enlightenment thinking include:

• Humanitarianism/toleration
• Economics
• Colonies/Imperial Policy

Humanitarianism/Toleration:

One of the most influential Enlightenment writers was Cesare Beccaria. Beccaria's famous work On Crimes and Punishmentproposed that the only legitimate rationale for punishment was to maintain social order and to prevent other crimes. Beccaria promoted respect for individual dignity and humanity. After this influential work, most European countries had abolished torture by around 1800.

Religious tolerance was also a major topic for Enlightenment thinking. Enlightenment thinkers thought of church as a religious belief, not as dogma. Thinkers such as Gotthold Lessing and Moses Mendelssohn showed religion in different lights. Lessing argued that Christianity, Islam, and Judaism were all versions of the truth. Mendelssohn argued against anti-Semitic policies.

All in all, in this category, Enlightenment thinkers looked at things through a different point of view and changed the way that the public conceived of things such as torture and religion.

Economics:

Enlightenment thinkers addressed things like liberty and rights, tax collection, and economic policy. Fiscal demands from the states and empires during the eighteenth-century made economic policy an urgent issue. Enlightenment economic thinkers argued that mercantilist policies (letting government regulate trade of manufactured goods and precious metals) were misguided. Most thinkers advocated something called "laissez-faire", which meant to let nature take its course. Such an idea is seen with Adam Smith, who argued that we should just let the economy go on its own and an "invisible hand" would guide economic activity towards the right direction. Thus, economic policy was also looked at through a different perspective.

Colonial/Imperial Policy:

Colonies/Imperial Policy follow closely behind the two topics mentioned above. The colonial world was an ideal picture of natural humanity and simplicity, as opposed to Europe and how corrupt it appeared, which led to the questioning of slave trade: was it humanitarian? Thinkers such as Adam Smith and the Abbe Guillaume Thomas Francois Raynal wondered whether colonization made humanity better. Raynal considered natural simplicity a solution to corruption of their culture. They idealized examples of this natural humanity in the New World. Yet, in looking at Europe's role in colonization, many thinkers believed that the tactics of the Spanish in Mexico and the British in North America were very corrupt and despotic. Europeans in the New World had unlimited power. There were many aspects of this category that the thinkers questioned.