 "The
Age of Enlightenment (or simply the Enlightenment or Age of Reason) was
a
cultural movement of intellectuals in
18th century
Europe and
America, whose purpose was to reform society and advance knowledge.
It promoted science and intellectual interchange and opposed
superstition,[1]
intolerance and abuses in church and state. Originating about 1650 to
1700, it was sparked by philosophers
Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677),
John Locke (1632–1704),
Pierre Bayle (1647–1706), physicist
Isaac Newton (1643–1727), and historian
Voltaire (1694–1778). The wide distribution of the
printing press, invented in Europe in 1440, made possible the rapid
dispersion of knowledge and ideas which precipitated the Enlightenment.
Ruling princes often endorsed and fostered figures and even attempted to
apply their ideas of government in what was known as
Enlightened Despotism. The Enlightenment flourished until about
1790–1800, after which the emphasis on reason gave way to
Romanticism's emphasis on emotion and a
Counter-Enlightenment gained force. The term 'Enlightenment' did not
come into use in English until the mid-18th century, with
particular reference to French philosophy, as the equivalent of the
French term 'Lumières' (used first by Dubos 1733 and already well
established by 1751). From
Immanuel Kant's 1784 essay "Beantwortung der Frage: Was ist
Aufklärung?" ("Answering
the Question: What Is Enlightenment?") the German term became
'Aufklärung'."
Source:
Wikipedia |
