Enlightenment

The Enlightenment, also known as the Age of Enlightenment or simply the Enlightenment, was an intellectual and philosophical movement that dominated the world of ideas in Europe during the 18th century, also known as the Century of Enlightenment. The Enlightenment included a range of ideas centered on reason as the primary source of legitimacy and authority. Its prominent advocates, who were often dubbed philosophes, included César Chesneau Dumarsais, Denis Diderot, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Voltaire. The Enlightenment came to influence the French Revolution and the American Revolution, and its ideas remain influential to this day. The term "Enlightenment" is translated to Hebrew as השכלה (Hashkalah). In French, it is known as Lumières, in German as Aufklärung, and in Spanish as Ilustración. The Enlightenment promoted scientific thought, skepticism, and intellectual interchange and opposed superstition, intolerance, and institutionalized religion and abuse of state power. The Enlightenment was marked by an emphasis on reason and individualism, along with ideas such as liberty, progress, toleration, fraternity, constitutional government, and separation of church and state.