The Enlightenment and the Role of the Philosophers

The Enlightenment is a name given by historians to an intellectual movement that was
predominant in the Western world during the 18th century. Strongly influenced by the
rise of modern science and by the aftermath of the long religious conflict that followed
the Reformation, the thinkers of the Enlightenment (called philosophes in France) were
committed to secular views based on reason or human understanding only, which they hoped
would provide a basis for beneficial changes affecting every area of life and thought.
The more extreme and radical philosophes--Denis Diderot, Claude Adrien…