Age of Enlightenment

E832

cultural movement historical period intellectual movement philosophical movement

The Age of Enlightenment was an 18th-century intellectual movement in Europe and the Americas that emphasized reason, science, and individual rights, profoundly shaping modern democratic and political thought.

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Observed surface forms (8)

Surface form	Occurrences
Enlightenment	79
European Enlightenment	14
Enlightenment era	3
French Enlightenment	2
the Enlightenment	2
Age of Reason	1
Enlightenment philosophy	1
Enlightenment rationalism	1

Statements (76)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	cultural movement ⓘ historical period ⓘ intellectual movement ⓘ philosophical movement ⓘ
alsoKnownAs	Age of Enlightenment ⓘ surface form: Age of Reason Age of Enlightenment ⓘ surface form: Enlightenment
associatedWith	Masonic lodges ⓘ Republic of Letters ⓘ salon culture ⓘ
coreValue	empiricism ⓘ freedom of thought ⓘ individual rights ⓘ progress ⓘ reason ⓘ secularism ⓘ tolerance ⓘ
emphasized	critique of authority ⓘ natural rights ⓘ rational inquiry ⓘ scientific method ⓘ social contract theory ⓘ
endTime	late 18th century ⓘ
field	economics ⓘ education ⓘ philosophy ⓘ political theory ⓘ science ⓘ
hasPart	American Enlightenment ⓘ Enlightened absolutism ⓘ Age of Enlightenment self-linksurface differs ⓘ surface form: French Enlightenment German Enlightenment ⓘ Scottish Enlightenment ⓘ
influenced	American Revolutionary War ⓘ surface form: American Revolution French Revolution ⓘ Latin American independence movements ⓘ constitutionalism ⓘ human rights discourse ⓘ laïcité ⓘ modern democracy ⓘ modern liberalism ⓘ modern scientific institutions ⓘ separation of powers doctrine ⓘ
influencedBy	Reformation ⓘ Renaissance humanism ⓘ Scientific Revolution ⓘ
legacy	codification of civil rights ⓘ development of modern constitutions ⓘ expansion of public education ⓘ rise of secular states ⓘ
mainRegion	Europe ⓘ North America ⓘ
majorFigure	Adam Smith ⓘ Baron d'Holbach ⓘ Benjamin Franklin ⓘ Cesare Beccaria ⓘ David Hume ⓘ Denis Diderot ⓘ Immanuel Kant ⓘ Jean-Jacques Rousseau ⓘ John Locke ⓘ Mary Wollstonecraft ⓘ Montesquieu ⓘ Thomas Jefferson ⓘ Voltaire ⓘ
majorWork	A Vindication of the Rights of Woman ⓘ An Essay Concerning Human Understanding ⓘ Critique of Pure Reason ⓘ Encyclopédie ⓘ The Social Contract ⓘ The Spirit of the Laws ⓘ The Wealth of Nations ⓘ
opposed	absolute monarchy ⓘ censorship ⓘ divine right of kings ⓘ religious dogmatism ⓘ
startTime	late 17th century ⓘ