Age of Enlightenment

The Age of Enlightenment, also called the Age of Reason, was a time of big ideas in Europe and the world. It began in the late 1600s and grew strongest in the 1700s. People during this time believed in using reason, checking facts, and science to understand the world. They wanted freedom for individuals, fairness in government, and respect for different beliefs.

This period grew from earlier discoveries in science made by great thinkers like Galileo Galilei and Isaac Newton. New books, meetings in coffeehouses, and discussions in salons helped share these ideas. The Enlightenment challenged old ways of ruling and strict religious rules, helping to start changes that led to new governments and ideas about freedom.

Many important beliefs today, like having a government that represents the people and allowing different religions, came from the Enlightenment. It was a time when people dared to think for themselves and question old traditions, shaping the modern world.

Influential intellectuals

For a more comprehensive list, see List of intellectuals of the Enlightenment.

The Age of Enlightenment was inspired by the Scientific Revolution. Important thinkers who helped shape these ideas included Francis Bacon, Pierre Gassendi, René Descartes, Thomas Hobbes, Baruch Spinoza, John Locke, Pierre Bayle, and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. Key figures during the Enlightenment were Cesare Beccaria, George Berkeley, Denis Diderot, David Hume, Immanuel Kant, Lord Monboddo, Montesquieu, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Adam Smith, Hugo Grotius, and Voltaire.

One of the most important books from this time was the Encyclopédie (Encyclopedia). It was published between 1751 and 1772 in 35 volumes, and was created by Diderot, Jean le Rond d'Alembert, and many others. The Encyclopédie played a big role in sharing Enlightenment ideas around the world.

Topics

Philosophy

The Age of Enlightenment was a time when new ideas about thinking and learning changed Europe. Famous thinkers like Bacon and Descartes helped start this change. They believed in using reason and looking at facts to understand the world.

Many smart people talked about how governments should work and what people’s rights should be. Some wanted big changes, while others thought small steps were better. Paris became a place where these ideas grew, and books like the Encyclopédie helped share them.

Science

Science became very important during the Enlightenment. People started doing experiments to learn about chemistry, physics, and biology. Scientists like Lavoisier and the Montgolfier brothers made big discoveries.

Science clubs and groups popped up all over Europe. These groups shared ideas and helped science grow. Books and poems began to include science too, helping more people learn about it.

Sociology, economics, and law

Thinkers in Scotland studied how people lived together and developed ideas about society and economics. Adam Smith wrote about how money and trade worked, which shaped modern economics.

Legal ideas also changed. Beccaria wrote about fairer laws and against harsh punishments like torture. His work helped create better justice systems.

Politics

The Enlightenment helped shape modern politics. Ideas about freedom, fair laws, and democracy spread. Leaders like Catherine the Great and Frederick the Great tried to use these ideas in their countries.

Thinkers like Locke believed people should agree to be governed and have natural rights like life and liberty. These ideas influenced big events like the American and French Revolutions.

Religion

Religious wars had caused a lot of fighting in Europe, so Enlightenment thinkers wanted peace. They believed in being tolerant of different religions and separating religious ideas from government rules.

Some people began to question traditional religious teachings, looking instead at what made sense to them personally. Others still believed in God but wanted religion to stay out of politics.

National variations

The Enlightenment spread across many European countries and influenced nations worldwide, often with unique local focuses. In France, it was linked to radical ideas against the government and the Church. In Germany, it reached deeply into the middle classes with a more spiritual and national tone, without threatening authorities. Governments reacted in different ways. In France, leaders faced harsh opposition and censorship. In Britain, the government mostly left Enlightenment thinkers alone, though it did honor figures like Newton.

One common theme was that many countries ignored Enlightenment ideas about slavery. Even during the French Revolution—a movement inspired by Enlightenment thinking—leaders denied support to enslaved people fighting for freedom in Haiti. This showed the limits of Enlightenment ideas when it came to European colonialism, where many colonies relied on slave labor.

Great Britain

England

Whether England had its own Enlightenment has been debated. Many history books don’t mention it, though some include key thinkers like Joseph Addison, Edward Gibbon, John Locke, Isaac Newton, Alexander Pope, Joshua Reynolds, and Jonathan Swift. Freethinking, which opposed church institutions and literal beliefs in the Bible, began in England around 1713 when Anthony Collins wrote his popular essay “Discourse of Free-thinking.”

Historian Roy Porter argued that England was often overlooked because people assumed the Enlightenment was mainly French, anti-religious, and rebellious. However, Porter noted that by the 1720s, England had thinkers who matched the fame of Diderot, Voltaire, or Rousseau. Yet, leaders like Gibbon, Edmund Burke, and Samuel Johnson were conservative and supported the existing order. Porter suggested that Enlightenment ideas arrived early in England and were accepted, making it unnecessary for thinkers to fight against powerful opposition. England focused on improving individuals rather than collective change.

According to historian Derek Hirst, the 1640s and 1650s brought economic growth, new financial tools, and expanded publishing. The gentry had more leisure time for activities like horse racing. Coffee houses became places for deep discussions on these changes.

Scotland

In the Scottish Enlightenment, schools and universities taught ideas of sociability, equality, and usefulness. Scotland’s cities built a network of supporting institutions like schools, universities, reading societies, libraries, and museums. Voltaire, a French thinker, said, “We look to Scotland for all our ideas of civilization.” The Scottish Enlightenment covered intellectual, economic, and scientific topics, with figures like William Cullen, James Anderson, Joseph Black, and James Hutton making important contributions.

Anglo-American colonies

American thinkers like Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson helped spread Enlightenment ideas to the New World. Franklin was known for his political work, scientific advances, and writings in Poor Richard’s Almanack, which encouraged self-improvement. There was a strong focus on liberty, republicanism, and religious tolerance, with no respect for monarchy or inherited power. Deists like Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson mixed science and religion by rejecting miracles and biblical stories.

The Jewish diaspora

The Jewish Enlightenment, or Haskalah, was an intellectual movement among Jews in Central and Eastern Europe from the 1770s to around 1881. It encouraged Jews to adopt common clothing and reduce the power of traditional community leaders.

Netherlands

The Dutch Enlightenment began in 1640. Many books were translated into Dutch, sometimes risking the safety of translators and publishers. By the 1720s, the Dutch Republic became a center for printing and exporting banned books to France. Baruch Spinoza was a famous figure of the Dutch Enlightenment.

France

The French Enlightenment was influenced by England and later influenced other countries. It strongly challenged church leadership and teachings.

German states

Prussia led the German states in adopting political reforms suggested by Enlightenment thinkers. Smaller states like Bavaria, Saxony, Hanover, and the Palatinate also saw important changes. In each, Enlightenment values were accepted and led to reforms in government and society. In Saxony, rulers made significant changes to taxes, laws, education, and the economy.

Before 1750, German elites looked to France for culture and language. By the mid-1700s, the Aufklärung transformed German culture in music, philosophy, science, and literature. Christian Wolff helped spread Enlightenment ideas in Germany. Johann Gottfried von Herder led the Sturm und Drang movement, and Weimar Classicism brought together Romantic, classical, and Enlightenment thoughts. Figures like Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller were key. German music grew under composers like Johann Sebastian Bach, Joseph Haydn, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

In Königsberg, Kant worked to balance reason, religion, freedom, and government authority. German Enlightenment gained support from princes, aristocrats, and the middle class but faced warnings against going too far. In 1788, Prussia issued an edict limiting religious preaching that challenged belief in the Holy Trinity or the Bible to avoid disputes.

Austria

During the 1700s, Austria was ruled by the Habsburgs. Maria Theresa, the first Habsburg monarch influenced by Enlightenment ideas, mixed reform with conservatism. Her son Joseph II pushed for many Enlightenment-inspired changes in schools, monasteries, and laws. Emperor Leopold II and Francis II also ruled during this time. Enlightenment ideas appeared in literature and music, with figures like Joseph von Sonnenfels and musicians Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Greece and the Greek diaspora

The Modern Greek Enlightenment was an intellectual movement among Greeks living across the Ottoman Empire, including areas like the Ionian Islands, Venice, and Italy.

Hungary

The Hungarian Enlightenment began in the 1700s while Hungary was part of the Habsburg Empire. It was heavily influenced by French Enlightenment ideas through Vienna.

Romania

The Romanian Enlightenment developed in the 1700s in Transylvania, Wallachia, and Moldavia. Transylvania, part of the Habsburg Empire, was led by the Transylvanian School. Wallachia was represented by Dinicu Golescu, and Moldavia by prince Dimitrie Cantemir.

Switzerland

The Enlightenment reached Switzerland late, spreading from England, the Netherlands, and France in the late 1600s. It first took hold in Protestant areas, replacing strict religious views. The 1712 victory of Protestant cantons in the Second War of Villmergen marked a triumph for Enlightenment ideas. In Switzerland, the movement spread through educated pastors and cities. Thinkers like Jean-Alphonse Turrettini, Jean-Frédéric Ostervald, and Samuel Werenfels led churches toward a more thoughtful Christianity. Swiss thinkers made contributions to natural law, literature, and more. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, though born in Geneva, considered himself Swiss and developed democratic ideas. Swiss Enlightenment celebrated the country’s natural beauty and republican traditions, organizing through societies and publications like the Encyclopédie d’Yverdon.

Italy

In Italy, Naples and Milan were main centers of the Enlightenment. In Naples, intellectuals worked with the Bourbon government, while in Milan, discussions focused on practical solutions. Science advanced with discoveries by Alessandro Volta and Luigi Galvani. Pietro Verri was a leading economist in Lombardy. Cesare Beccaria, Giambattista Vico, and Francesco Mario Pagano were influential legal thinkers.

Bourbon Spain and Spanish America

When Charles II died, his successor from the French House of Bourbon brought French Enlightenment influence to Spain and its empire. Under Charles III, Spain made structural changes, reduced Church power, established a military, and promoted freer trade. Scientific expeditions explored the empire’s resources. When Napoleon invaded Spain in 1808, Ferdinand VII abdicated, and Napoleon placed his brother Joseph Bonaparte on the throne. The Bayonne Constitution included representation from Spain’s overseas regions but was rejected by most Spaniards, leading to a war of resistance. The Cortes de Cádiz created the Constitution of 1812, which established three branches of government, limited the king’s power, defined citizens, allowed universal manhood suffrage, and promoted public education and freedom of expression. After Napoleon’s defeat, Ferdinand restored absolutist rule.

Haiti

The Haitian Revolution (1791–1804) combined Enlightenment ideas with the experiences of enslaved people in Haiti. It influenced France and led to the abolition of slavery in 1794.

Portugal and Brazil

The Portuguese Enlightenment was shaped by Prime Minister Marquis of Pombal under King Joseph I. After the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, Pombal reformed economic policies, urban planning, and quality standards. His reconstruction of Lisbon’s riverside district became known as the Pombaline style. Enlightenment ideas appeared in Portuguese literature and influenced anti-colonial thinkers in Brazil. The Napoleonic invasion forced the Portuguese royal family to flee to Brazil, where they remained until the Liberal Revolution of 1820 brought them back to Portugal. Brazil declared independence in 1822.

Sweden

The existence of a Swedish Enlightenment is debated. Some argue it lacked a unified movement or coherent ideas.

Russia

In Russia, the government promoted arts and sciences in the mid-1700s. Catherine the Great played a key role, corresponding with Voltaire and hosting scientists like Leonhard Euler and Peter Simon Pallas. The Russian Enlightenment focused on modernizing society and attacking serfdom, differing from Western Enlightenment by emphasizing the individual and combining religious piety with learning. It lacked the skeptical spirit of Western Enlightenment.

Poland and Lithuania

Enlightenment ideas emerged late in Poland due to a weaker middle class and crises in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The movement peaked during King Stanisław August Poniatowski’s reign. Warsaw became a cultural center with expanded schools and arts patronage. Leaders promoted tolerance and education but faced opposition. The Third Partition of Poland in 1795 ended the movement, leading to a brief period of sentimental writing before Romanticism took over.

China

Eighteenth-century China saw a trend away from traditional beliefs, similar to Europe’s Enlightenment. Some developments resembled European Enlightenment events.

Japan

From 1641 to 1853, Japan’s Tokugawa shogunate enforced kaikin, prohibiting most foreign contact. Confucian ideas blended with Enlightenment thinking, as seen in the work of reformer Tsuda Mamichi. By the 1880s, “Civilization and Enlightenment” became a powerful slogan addressing globalization challenges.

Korea

Korea, known as the “hermit kingdom,” began adopting Enlightenment ideas in the 1890s. Intellectual Yu Kilchun popularized the term Enlightenment, responding to Korea’s specific situation.

India

In 18th-century India, Tipu Sultan was an enlightened ruler and a founding member of the French Jacobin Club. The Bengal Renaissance brought Enlightenment reforms starting in the 1820s, led by reformers like Ram Mohan Roy, who combined traditions in his social reform projects.

Egypt

Eighteenth-century Egypt experienced Islamic origins of modernization before Napoleon’s campaign, which further encouraged social changes. Rifa al-Tahtawi influenced Islamic modernism and expanded Enlightenment ideas in Egypt.

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire began adopting Enlightenment ideas in the 1830s during the Tanzimat reforms, which lasted until the First Constitutional Era in 1876. Namık Kemal, a Young Ottoman activist, drew on Enlightenment thinkers for social and political reform.

The Arab world

The Arab Enlightenment, or Nahda, was a cultural movement in Arab regions of the Ottoman Empire during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, sparked by the French invasion of Egypt and Syria in 1798 and reformist rulers like Muhammad Ali of Egypt.

Historiography

People have different views about the Age of Enlightenment. Some think it was a good time because it brought ideas about freedom, thinking for yourself, and being fair to everyone. Others worry that it was too focused on logic and didn't respect traditions or feelings.

During this time, many people believed in using science to understand the world. They thought this would help make life better for everyone. However, some ideas from this period were unfair to women and people from different parts of the world.

The word "Enlightenment" started being used in English later, to describe the French ideas of the time. Different countries had their own words for it, and historians still argue about exactly when and where it began and ended. Some say it started with a famous idea from the 1600s, while others point to important science books from the late 1600s. Most agree it was a time when new ideas spread widely, changing how people thought about the world.

Society and culture

The Enlightenment brought big changes to European society and culture. During this time, new places for discussion appeared, like coffee houses and salons, where people could share ideas openly. These places were important because they let people talk about topics that were once only for kings and religious leaders. Everyone was supposed to use reason and logic in these discussions.

The arts also grew during the Enlightenment. More people learned about music, painting, and literature. Composers like Handel, Haydn, and Mozart became famous, and their music reached wider audiences. Books about music and art helped people understand these topics better. As more people got interested, music and art became enjoyed by many, not just the rich. Women also started taking part more in music, playing and performing in social settings. This period made culture and learning more available to everyone.

Dissemination of ideas

The thinkers of the Enlightenment, known as philosophes, worked hard to share their ideas with educated people in cities. They used many different ways to spread their messages.

One important way was through the "Republic of Letters," a network of writers and thinkers who shared ideas across borders. This group believed in freedom to discuss topics like religion and government. Famous Enlightenment figures like Diderot and Voltaire were part of this group.

Women also played a big role, especially in Paris where they hosted gatherings called salons. These meetings were important places for sharing Enlightenment ideas. In France, writers became more connected with wealthy people, creating a new literary world.

The growth of books, newspapers, and other printed materials helped spread Enlightenment ideas. More people learned to read, and books became cheaper. Libraries and coffee shops became places where people could access and discuss these ideas.

Scientific literature, especially about natural history, became very popular. Journals and encyclopedias helped share scientific knowledge with a wider audience. These books explained complex ideas in simpler ways, making science accessible to everyone.

Universities and academies supported Enlightenment ideas, especially in northern Europe. These schools produced teachers who influenced many countries. Salons, coffeehouses, and debating societies were also key places where people discussed new ideas.

Freemasonry, a group with secret meetings, spread Enlightenment values like liberty and equality. Though not always political, these groups helped share ideas across Europe. Classical art from ancient Greece and Rome also regained interest during this time, inspiring new artistic discoveries.