Age of Enlightenment

By : Neha Dhyani
Updated : Oct 21, 2022, 18:14

The Age of Enlightenment (also known as the Age of Reason) was a philosophical and intellectual
revolution that began in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. It influenced the world with the idea
of putting human happiness and reason at the centre. The Age of Enlightenment put individual
liberty and religious tolerance at the forefront.

It encompassed a wide range of beliefs based on the importance of happiness, the pursuit of
knowledge through reason and sensory evidence, and goals such as freedom, development,
acceptance, tolerance, fraternity, constitutional government, and religious liberty. Learn more about
the ideas prevailing in the Age of Enlightenment here.

Age of Enlightenment Meaning

During the 17th and 18th centuries, Europe witnessed a movement that encouraged ideas of
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individual thinking, liberty, and freedom. This movement is known as the Age of Enlightenment.
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Originating in Europe, the movement gradually spread through different parts of the world. The early
contributors to the Enlightenment philosophy were Francis Bacon’s empiricism theory and René
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Descartes’ rationalist theory.

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Age Name Age of Enlightenment

Time Period 17th and 18th Century

Location Europe

Early Francis Bacon, René

Contributors Descartes

Timeline of Enlightenment Period

Before the Age of Enlightenment, the Scientific Revolution and the work of Francis Bacon had its
roots in a European intellectual and scholastic movement known as Renaissance humanism. Here is
the Age of Enlightenment timeline:

Historians date the Age of Enlightenment in Europe (with a focus on France) to the late 17th
and early 18th centuries or, more broadly, from the Glorious Revolution of 1688 to the French
Revolution of 1789.
It denotes a period in Europe's intellectual history as well as reform projects motivated by a
belief in the potential of a better world, which identified specific goals for criticism and action
plans.

The publishing of René Descartes' Discourse on the Method in 1637, which included his
famous aphorism, “Cogito, ergo sum (I think, therefore I am)”, is considered by some to mark
the start of the Age of Enlightenment.

Many historians currently place the closure of the Enlightenment at the turn of the nineteenth
century, with Immanuel Kant's death in 1804 as the most recent recommended year.

Others consider Isaac Newton's Principia Mathematica (1687) to be the end of the Scientific
Revolution and the start of the Enlightenment.

Year Event Relevance

The idea that Earth

and the other
Discovery of Planets
1610 planets revolve
made by Galileo.
around the Sun was
introduced.
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Three basic laws of
Isaac Newton
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motion and the law

published Mathematical
1687 of universal
Principles of Natural
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gravitation are
Philosophy.
introduced.
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John Locke
The doctrine of
completes Two
1689 natural rights is
Treatises of
discussed.
Government.

Montesquieu publishes
Introduces satirical
1721 his book, Persian
criticism.
Letters.

Speaks against
Voltaire
established political
1734 publishes Lettres
and religious
philosophiques.
institutions.

1751 Encyclopédie (first vol.) A collective work of

is published. philosophers, this
was the first
 compilation of all
human knowledge.

This was the best

Voltaire known satirical
1759
publishes Candide. novel of the 18th
century.

Jean-Jacques This book

Rousseau challenged the order
1762
publishes The Social of the society based
Contract. on church rules.

13 North American
Declaration of
British colonies are
1776 Independence is
freed from the rule
approved.
of Great Britain.

French regime tries

m
Beginning of the French to increase taxes
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1787
Revolution. and that results in a
crisis.
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Marquis de Condorcet
Advocates for the
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publishes On the
equality and
1790 Admission of Women
citizenship of
to the Rights of
women.
Citizenship.

1793- Reign of Terror in Mass executions

94 France take place in Paris
against those who
are suspected to be
against the French
Revolution

Main Ideas of
the Age of
Enlightenment
 During the Age of
Enlightenment,
scientists and
philosophers of the
time shared their
ideas at scientific
institutes, masonic
clubs, literary
salons, and
coffeehouses, and
in printed books,
periodicals, and
pamphlets. The
Enlightenment
Period's principles
weakened the
monarch and the
m
Catholic Church,
paving the ground
ee

for the revolutionary

movements of the
ad

18th and 19th

centuries. Here are
N

some of the ideas

that were prevalent
during this period:

Personal
freedom and
religious
tolerance were
the core
principles of
the
Enlightenment
thinkers in
France, as
opposed to
monarchy and
the Church's
established
dogmas.
 The focus on
the scientific
approach and
reductionism,
as well as the
growing
questioning of
religious
dogma,
characterized
the Age of
Enlightenment.

Liberal
ideology,
communism,
and
neoclassicism
are just a few
of the 19th-
m
century groups
that may trace
ee

their
philosophical
ad

roots back to
the
N

Enlightenment
Period.

Age of
Enlightenment
- Important
Figures

The
Philosophers
of France,
particularly
Voltaire and
also the
political
philosopher
Montesquieu,
were among
 the most
influential
writers of the
Enlightenment
Period.

Denis Diderot
and Jean-
Jacques
Rousseau
were among
the
Encyclopédie's
compilers.

Outside of
France,
significant
Enlightenment
intellectuals
included David
m
Hume and
Adam Smith of
ee

Scotland
ad
N

Main Ideas of
the Age of
Enlightenment

During the Age of

Enlightenment,
scientists and
philosophers of the
time shared their
ideas at scientific
institutes, masonic
clubs, literary
salons, and
coffeehouses, and
in printed books,
periodicals, and
 pamphlets. The
Enlightenment
Period's principles
weakened the
monarch and the
Catholic Church,
paving the ground
for the revolutionary
movements of the
18th and 19th
centuries. Here are
some of the ideas
that were prevalent
during this period:

Personal
freedom and
religious
m
tolerance were
the core
ee

principles of
the
ad

Enlightenment
thinkers in
N

France, as
opposed to
monarchy and
the Church's
established
dogmas.

The focus on
the scientific
approach and
reductionism,
as well as the
growing
questioning of
religious
dogma,
characterized
the Age of
Enlightenment.
 Liberal
ideology,
communism,
and
neoclassicism
are just a few
of the 19th-
century groups
that may trace
their
philosophical
roots back to
the
Enlightenment
Period.

Age of
Enlightenment
m
- Important
ee

Figures
ad

The
Philosophers
N

of France,
particularly
Voltaire and
also the
political
philosopher
Montesquieu,
were among
the most
influential
writers of the
Enlightenment
Period.

Denis Diderot
and Jean-
Jacques
Rousseau
were among
the
 Encyclopédie's
compilers.

Outside of
France,
significant
Enlightenment
intellectuals
included David
Hume and
Adam Smith of
Scotland,
Jeremy
Bentham of
England,
Immanuel
Kant of
Germany, and
Thomas
Jefferson of
m
the United
States.
ee
ad

Age of
Enlightenment
N

Summary

The Age of
Enlightenment
ignited people’s
curiosity about
putting certain
human values over
others. This age
was about exploring
the self and fighting
for freedom and
individual
expression. It was
also about
questioning the
established
 institutions and the
ideas that they
imposed on
individuals.

The Enlightenment
Period started in the
17th century and
lasted till the 18th
century in Europe.
However, the ideas
that emerged in this
period paved the
way for many other
thinkers and
theorists of the
succeeding
centuries.
m
The Enlightenment
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Period came to an
end as a result of its
ad

own indulgences.
The concept that
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human civilization is
a record of general
development that
would continue into
the future, which
characterized much
of Enlightenment
philosophy,
persisted for the
next two hundred
years as one of the
movement's most
enduring legacies.