The Age Of Enlightenment In A Nutshell

What is "The Age of the Enlightenment"?

In general terms, "The Age of the Enlightenment" refers to the period between c. 1600 and the French Revolution (1798), during which time Western Civilization saw an explosion in:

1)  The application of scientific reasoning to, well, everything (yes, everything)

2) The birth of Republican Democracy

3) The application of Tolerance to political systems

4) The beginnings of social equality in political systems.

The term "Enlightenment" was coined by the major proponents of the movement itself, as a part of their claim that educating people in the ways of scientific reasoning would end all of humanities ills: scientific reasoning could explain all natural phenomena, including those of mankind, and could be used to govern everything, including mankind. Reason would "light the way" toward a new golden age.

The Enlightenment is "Neo-Classical" as it builds its philosophical, political and aesthetic values from rediscovered Greek (500-146 BC) (and to a degree Republican Roman (510-31 BC)) models.

The American Declaration of Independence and Constitution are widely considered the crowning glory of The Age, and although we still live in this age, its immense optimism was tempered by the atrocities following the French Revolution (1798).