Critically
comment on the major features of the Enlightenment in Europe.
The Enlightenment, an intellectual movement in 18th century Europe, was stimulated by the scientific revolution.
Stunning successes in understanding the physical world through processes of logic and observation encouraged the belief that similar progress might be made in the area of political economy and social
relations.
Like the scientific revolution, the Enlightenment involved an application of the natural, humanistic attitudes typical of the Renaissance.
The Enlightenment or the Age of Reason are names given to the predominant intellectual movement of the eighteenth century. It was an intellectual movement among the upper and middle class elites. It involved a new world view which explained the world and looked for answers in terms of reason rather than faith, and in terms of an optimistic, natural, humanistic approach rather than a fatalistic, supernatural one.
These are characteristics which it shared with the earlier intellectual movement known as the Renaissance. Indeed, the Enlightenment may be understood as a logical continuation of the Renaissance. There is, however, an important difference. While the Renaissance was closely related to a search for the accumulation of past knowledge, the Enlightenment clearly involved a conscious effort to break with the past.
