the world wouldn't have the internet, television, telephone,
and a host of other technological inventions.
Now we need another Age of Enlightenment
to stop the wars, bigotry, prejudice,
and a host of other ill-thoughts and ill-feelings.
~ Perman Wilson
The Enlightenment, which is also referred to as the Age of Reason (or alternately as the Age of Rationalism), was a period when European philosophers emphasized the use of reason as the best method for learning the truth.
Beginning in the 1600's and lasting through the 1700's, philosophers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), Voltaire (1694-1778), and John Locke (1632-1704) explored issues in education, law, and politics. They published their thoughts, issuing attacks on social injustice, religious superstition, and ignorance. Their ideas fanned the fires of the American and French revolutions in the late 1700s.
