Enlightenment

The Enlightenment, also called the Age of Reason, was an intellectual and cultural movement of the 17th and 18th centuries that emphasized reason, scientific inquiry, and criticism of tradition and authority.

The Enlightenment, also called the Age of Reason, was an intellectual and cultural movement of the 17th and 18th centuries that emphasized reason, scientific inquiry, and criticism of tradition and authority. It shaped modern ideas about liberty, tolerance, constitutional government, and human rights, and influenced major political revolutions in Europe and North America.

Origins and timeline

Historians usually place the Enlightenment in the 18th century, with intellectual roots in earlier scientific and philosophical developments. Common boundary dates are 1688 and 1789, corresponding roughly to the Glorious Revolution and the French Revolution.

Core ideas

Enlightenment thought emphasized reason, evidence, and critical inquiry as the best guides to knowledge and reform. It also promoted progress, liberty, tolerance, and the idea that laws and institutions should be judged rationally.

Political and social impact

Enlightenment ideas helped challenge absolutism, religious persecution, and inherited privilege. They influenced revolutionary and constitutional movements in Europe and North America, including the American and French Revolutions.

Philosophical significance

In philosophy, the Enlightenment shifted attention toward how knowledge is formed, especially through empiricism and the limits of human understanding. Kant’s definition of enlightenment as humanity’s emergence from self-imposed immaturity became especially influential.