The Effect of the Philosophers on 17th and 18th Century Society

The following quotation is one that characterizes the Philosophers of the 17th and 18th Centuries: 'Politically and socially, most propagandists of the Enlightenment like the scientists whom they popularized were conservatives. Intellectually and morally, they undermined the values of the traditional society in which they lived and prepared its collapse.' This quotation, though, is not totally correct, nor incorrect. Most 'propagandists,' or philosophes, were not politically or socially conservative, but in fact, mostly wanted change, if either by radical ways or not. Their intellectua…