The Period of the Enlightenment

The age of Enlightenment took Europe by storm in the 18th century. History at this time was experiencing a change that it had never seen before. People began to questioned once unquestionable beliefs about religion and society. During the Enlightenment, most theories of power and authority were based on the relationship between humans and the sad state in which they lived. This trend was intensified by the practice of absolutism which was a way of life which increased the power of the central state. The rise of modern science and the aftermath of the long religious conflict that followed the reformation, greatly influenced the enlightenment. The Enlightenment was an age of optimism, yet through it surfaced the recognition of the poor state of the human condition. Progress was the keynote of the age, new values which stressed freedoms and rights and reforms in government were to bring about these new values. …