How did natural law affect the french revolution

Answer 1

The Natural law is grounded on the "right reason". Ever since the Stoics, the concept of the "right reason" has been defined as living in accordance with Nature.

Such concept has influenced other thinkers in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and even after. For instance, the French thinker Descartes, who believes that body and Soul are two separate Substances functioning independently, thinks that the "right reason" is the only way to avoid negative consequences caused by confused ideas arising from bodily changes.

The appeal to the "right reason" rather than confused emotions has also been advocated by other thinkers such as Bacon, Hobbes, Spinoza, among others.

The appeal to reason has led to less reliance on Scriptures, eventually leading to the weakening of the Church power. That also results in the scientific fashion of the way of life, leading directly or indirectly to intellectual revolutions in different corners of the World.

The French Revolution is an example of that kind. Such Revolution asserts Principles such as the Republic rather then monarchy, freedom rather than tyranny, knowledge rather than illiteracy, equality and so forth.