Enlightenment philosophy
philosophy during the Age of Enlightenment
Enlightenment philosophy was the philosophy produced during the Age of Enlightenment (late 17th and 18th centuries), originating in France, then western Europe and spreading throughout the rest of Europe. The Enlightenment philosophers included (among others) Baruch Spinoza, David Hume, John Locke, Edward Gibbon, Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Denis Diderot, Pierre Bayle, and Isaac Newton. Enlightenment philosophy was influenced by the Scientific Revolution in southern Europe, arising directly from the Italian Renaissance with people like Galileo Galilei.
Many Enlightenment philosophers viewed themselves as part of a progressive intellectual élite and opposed religious and political persecution, criticizing what they regarded as irrationality, arbitrariness, obscurantism, and superstition in earlier periods. They redefined the study of knowledge to fit the ethics and aesthetics of their time. Their works had great influence at the end of the 18th century, in the American Declaration of Independence and the Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen.
Enlightenment philosophy saw its climax in the middle of the 18th century. In the most general terms, in science and philosophy, the Enlightenment aimed for the triumph of reason over faith and belief; in politics and economics, the increasing political influence of the bourgeoisie relative to the nobility and clergy.
Enlightenment philosophers had disrupted the old certainties, which resulted in social and political upheaval. The Enlightenment inspired a revolutionary generation, leading to the American Revolution and French Revolution.
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