The Age of Enlightenment was an 18th century intellectual movement that promoted reason over tradition. Philosophes like Voltaire and Diderot used salons and the massive Encyclopedie project to spread new ideas and challenge censorship. They believed knowledge and science could reform society by establishing natural rights and overturning the old hierarchical regime. Thinkers such as Locke, Montesquieu, and Rousseau influenced political ideals of liberty, separation of powers, and the social contract.

1. AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT
(AGE OF REASON)

2. AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT
OR SIMPLY
THE ENLIGHTENMENT OR
AGE OF REASON
WAS ACULTURAL
MOVEMENT OF
INTELLECTUALS IN 18TH-
CENTURY EUROPE, THAT
SOUGHT TO MOBILIZE
THE POWER OF REASON,
IN ORDER TO REFORM
SOCIETY AND ADVANCE
KNOWLEDGE

3. THE WORLD OF THE OLD REGIME
 BUILT ON TRADITION
 WORLD OF HIERARCHY, PRIVILEGE AND
INEQUALITY
 ALLIED WITH THE CHURCH

4. THE PHILOSOPHES
 18TH CENTURY FRENCH
INTELLECTUALS
 INTEREST IN
ADDRESSING A BROAD
AUDIENCE
 COMMITTED TO
REFORM
 CELEBRATED THE
SCIENTIFIC
REVOLUTION
 SCIENCE APPLIED TO
SOCIETY

5. THE PROBLEM OF CENSORSHIP
 THE ATTEMPT OF
THE OLD REGIME
TO CONTROL NEW
THINKING
 PUBLISHERS AND
WRITERS
HOUNDED BY
CENSORS
 OVER 1000
BOOKSELLERS AND
AUTHORS
IMPRISONED IN
THE BASTILLE IN
THE EARLY 1700’S

6. THE ROLE OF THE SALON
(GATHERING)
A READING IN THE SALON OF
MADAME GEOFFRIN, 1755

7. FAMOUS ENLIGHTENMENT
THINKERS

8. JOHN LOCKE
(1632 –1704)
 KNOWN AS THE “FATHER
OF LIBERALISM”
 AN ENGLISH PHILOSOPHER AND
PHYSICIAN
 “TABULA RASA”
 OPPOSED THE DIVINE RIGHT OF
KINGS
 NATURAL RIGHTS (LIFE AND
FREEDOM)
 “THE GOVERNMENT WAS BOUND
TO ITS CONSTITUENTS TO
PROTECT THEIR RIGHTS, AND ON
THE OCCASION THAT IT FAILED,
THE CITIZENS COULD REPLACE IT
WITH A NEW ONE”

9. DENIS DIDEROT
(1713 –1784)
 A FRENCH PHILOSOPHER
, ART CRITIC, AND
WRITER
 BEST KNOWN FOR
SERVING AS CO-
FOUNDER AND CHIEF
EDITOR OF AND
CONTRIBUTOR TO
THE ENCYCLOPÉDIE.

10. ENCYCLOPEDIA
 ULTIMATE STRENGTH OF
THE PHILOSOPHES LAY
IN THEIR
NUMBERS, DEDICATION
AND ORGANIZATION
 WRITTEN BETWEEN
1751-1772
 ATTEMPTED TO
ILLUSTRATE ALL HUMAN
KNOWLEDGE
 EMPHASIS ON
PRACTICAL SCIENCE

11. ENCYCLOPEDIA
 DESIRE TO CHANGE
THE “GENERAL WAY OF
THINKING”
 GREATER KNOWLEDGE
LEADS TO HUMAN
PROGRESS
 INALIENABLE RIGHTS
AND THE SOCIAL
CONTRACT
 KNOWLEDGE IMPROVES
GOODNESS
"FIGURATIVE SYSTEM OF HUMAN
KNOWLEDGE",

12. BARON DE MONTESQUIEU
(1689-1755)
 A FRENCH SOCIAL
COMMENTATOR
AND POLITICAL THINKER
 HE IS FAMOUS FOR HIS
ARTICULATION OF THE
THEORY OF SEPARATION
OF POWERS
 POWER MUST CHECK
POWER
 THE SPIRIT OF THE LAWS
(1748)

13. FRANÇOIS-MARIE AROUET
[VOLTAIRE]
(1694 –1778)
 A FRENCH ENLIGHTENMENT
WRITER, HISTORIAN
AND PHILOSOPHER
 FAMOUS FOR HIS ADVOCACY OF
CIVIL LIBERTIES,
INCLUDING FREEDOM OF
RELIGION, FREEDOM OF
EXPRESSION, FREE
TRADE AND SEPARATION OF
CHURCH AND STATE.

14. JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU
(1712-1778)
 A GENEVAN PHILOSOPHE
R, WRITER, AND
COMPOSER OF 18TH-
CENTURY ROMANTICISM
OF FRENCH EXPRESSION.
 “THE SOCIAL CONTRACT”
(1762) AND THE
“GENERAL WILL”

15. “THE NOBLEST WORK IN EDUCATION IS TO MAKE A
REASONING MAN, AND WE EXPECT TO TRAIN A YOUNG
CHILD BY MAKING HIM REASON! THIS IS BEGINNING AT
THE END; THIS IS MAKING AN INSTRUMENT OF A RESULT.
IF CHILDREN UNDERSTOOD HOW TO REASON THEY
WOULD NOT NEED TO BE EDUCATED.”
–ROUSSEAU, EMILE.