Enlightenment (oct 30, 1690 – feb 23, 1789)

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The Enlightenment was a series of debates about the world as a response to political instability about political sovereignty and a response to absolutism. It promoted a worldview based on skepticism, the scientific method and rationalism to create better societies. While many thinkers espoused radical ideas for the time, such as constitutional checks on a monarchy or rejecting absolutist religion, many were reformists, not revolutionaries. Many still believed that the Enlightenment should only be accessible to a small nobility, and others, such as Kant, believed in a racial hierarchy. Many also did not believe in the inclusion of women—believing political philosophy to be a man’s world only. Despite this, many Enlightenment thinkers set the stage for the constitutions and development of future nation-states as well as opening up the public sphere to new ideas.

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