What is The Enlightenment?
The Enlightenment was an intellectual movement that was rooted in 18th Century Europe. The goal of the Enlightenment was to establish an authoritative ethics, aesthetics, and knowledge based on an "enlightened" rationality. The movement's leaders viewed themselves as a courageous, elite body of intellectuals who were leading the world toward progress, out of a long period of irrationality, superstition, and tyranny which began during a historical period they called the Dark Ages. This movement provided a framework for the American and French Revolutions, as well as the rise of capitalism and the birth of socialism. It is matched by the high baroque era in music, and the neoclassical period in the arts. This Period inspired many people around the globe to become interested in science and arts. Through this period much of the things around us were inspired by this movement.