Who were their patrons and employers ?
Who was a patron of John Locke, for example ?
Research the relationships between wealthy elites, the British East India Company, the Bank of England, international banking firms, international banking families... and the beloved “intellectuals”.
The intellectuals became famous and succeeded in their careers if and only if the financial elites of their day liked their work product. Which makes sense. Why would someone help an intellectual’s career or pay them if their writings were contrary to the sponsor’s purposes ?
Historians exclude from their writings or minimize the little nasty conflicts of interest, to make the intellectuals appear to be geniuses whose viewpoints are pure as the driven snow.
The truth is ugly on this subject, but the truth is what we should be looking for.
It is not that ALL business and trade is “bad”. It’s that criminal immoral conspiracies are bad.
And I suppose next you’ll tell me all these “banksters” just happened to be Jews, right?