Absolutism is often a response to turmoil. Just as high crime rates or civil unrest can lead people to support "law and order" candidates or repressive strongmen, so a perception of chaos and disorder led to absolute monarchies. Hobbes in his Leviathan, one of the most important works of political philosophy to arise in this period, describes the natural state of humanity as a "war of all against all" in which life is "nasty, brutish, and short." A strong central authority is needed to maintain order. Hobbes's arguments in many ways reflect a response to the medieval period in which Europe was divided into many small warring states, and then torn apart by religious wars. Even nations were often weakened by intrigues among squabbling nobles. Thus Hobbes was not alone in thinking that an absolute monarch ruling over a substantial territory would provide a safer and more secure environment that more open or local systems of government.

One can see rationalism in part as a rejection of the fanaticism and religious enthusiasm which had led to both wars and civil unrest. In response to wars of religion, many thinkers increasingly believed in the importance of finding universal truths which transcended religious sects and which could form a basis for mutual agreement and harmony. 

The baroque style was influenced by the counter-reformation, in which art was seen as having a pastoral role in the Roman Catholic Church. In southern Europe, baroque art was meant to have emotional immediacy and persuasive power, something that responded to the new need for the Roman Catholic church to compete with Protestant churches for members. In the north, baroque art also responded to the rise of the middle classes and wealthy bourgeoisie.