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Essential Enlightenment: What was the Enlightenment?
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Essential Enlightenment: What was the Enlightenment?

Overview of the Enlightenment

Introduction to the Enlightenment

  • The Enlightenment was an intellectual and philosophical movement in Europe, spanning from the mid-1600s to the late 1700s.
  • Key thinkers included John Locke, Adam Smith, David Hume, and Emmanuel Kant.

Characteristics of the Enlightenment

  • Marked by a rise in reason and scientific methods as tools for understanding and progress.
  • Challenged religious and political absolutism, promoting new ideas about rights, freedom, liberty, justice, and government.

Impact on Society

  • Ideas from the Enlightenment laid foundations for liberal democratic institutions such as:
  • Impartial courts
  • Rule of law
  • Democratically elected governments
  • Separation of church and state
  • Equality for all people
  • Freedom of speech and religion

Economic Contributions

  • Thinkers like Adam Smith and David Hume introduced radical economic ideas that explained market economies' rise.
Video description

Broadly speaking, the Enlightenment was an intellectual and philosophical movement, largely based in Europe, that spanned about a century—from the mid-to-late 1600s to the late 1700s. It was a time of major intellectual upheaval, characterized by the rise of reason and the scientific method as tools for understanding the world and bringing about progress. In fact, many of the radical ideas that came about in the Enlightenment period would ultimately lay the foundation for the liberal democratic institutions that we take for granted today, including: impartial courts and the rule of law, democratically elected governments, separation of church and state, equality for all people, and freedom of speech and freedom of religion. Watch this video to learn more, and visit www.EssentialEnlightenment.org.