The transformation into the enlightenment in Europe can be seen through the changing views of three philosophers: Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, Thomas Hobbes, and John Locke. Bossuet's old-school views of Devine rights and absolutions, to Hobbes's progression in his views that man is by nature a selfishly individualistic animal at constant war with all other men, and finally Locke's views that the middle class and its right to freedom of conscience and right to property, in his faith in science, and in his confidence in the goodness of humanity.
Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet was a bishop who was the most eloquent and influential spokesman for the rights of the French church against papal authority. He is now chiefly remembered for his literary works, including funeral panegyrics for great personages. Doctrine in defense of monarchical absolution, which asserted that kings derived their authority from God and could not therefore be held accountable for their actions by any earthly authority such as a parliament. Originating in Europe, the divine-right theory can be traced to the medieval conception of God's award of temporal power to the political ruler.
Thomas Hobbes was an English philosopher and for many years a tutor in the Cavendish family. Hobbes took great interest in mathematics, physics, and the contemporary rationalism. In 1640, after his political writings had brought him into disfavor with the parliamentarians, he went to France where he was tutor to the exiled Prince Charles. His work, however, aroused the antagonism of the English group in France, and his thorough materialism offended the churchmen, so that in 1651 he felt impelled to return to England, where he was able to live peacefully and write his political manuscripts. In the Leviathan, Hobbes developed his political philosophy. He argued from a mechanistic view that life is simply the motions of the organism and that man is by nature a selfishly individualistic animal at constant war with all other men.
