Neblux Knowledge Graph

The Enlightenment

The Enlightenment is the intellectual movement across Europe between roughly 1685 and 1815 that elevated reason, individual rights, and empirical evidence above tradition and religious authority.

Overview

Thinkers including Locke, Voltaire, Montesquieu, Hume, Kant, and Rousseau advanced theories of natural rights, social contracts, and checks on political power, while Enlightenment principles simultaneously promoted systematic empiricism, scientific societies, encyclopedias, and hospital reform grounded in observation rather than tradition.

Why it matters

These ideas shaped the American Declaration of Independence, the French Revolution, and modern constitutional design, and have remained a foundation for liberal political philosophy, human rights frameworks, and the separation of church and state ever since.

What it builds on

• French Revolution

Where it leads

• Age of Revolutions

Related concepts

• Immanuel KanthistoricalThe Enlightenment historically shaped the development and interpretation of Immanuel Kant across contexts.
• Social ContractconceptualThe Enlightenment offers a conceptual lens that clarifies assumptions and reasoning within Social Contract.
• PhilosophyhistoricalThe Enlightenment historically shaped the development and interpretation of Philosophy across contexts.
• Scientific MethodconceptualThe Enlightenment offers a conceptual lens that clarifies assumptions and reasoning within Scientific Method.