The Age of Enlightenment was an intellectual and philosophical movement that dominated the world of ideas in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries, in which the three central concepts of reason, the scientific method, and progress were all radically reoriented. Enlightenment thinkers believed they could help create better societies and, therefore, better people.

Key enlightenment philosophers included the likes of John Locke, Charles Montesquieu, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. As well as reason and science, these thinkers valued religious tolerance, and what they called ‘natural rights’ – life, liberty, and property. Locke, Montesquieu, and Rousseau all developed theories of government in which some or even all the people would govern.

Other key thinkers of the Age of Enlightenment were America’s Thomas Jefferson, Germany’s Immanuel Kant, France’s Voltaire and England’s Jeremy Bentham, as well as Scottish philosophers and economists David Hume and Adam Smith.

As a result of the enlightenment, ideas centred on the sovereignty of reason and the evidence of the senses as the primary sources of knowledge advanced, as well as ideals like liberty, progress, toleration, fraternity, constitutional government and separation of church and state.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Enlightenment

https://quizlet.com/3936432/world-history-10-the-enlightenment-flash-cards/

https://www.britannica.com/event/Enlightenment-European-history

https://www.crf-usa.org/bill-of-rights-in-action/bria-20-2-c-hobbes-locke-montesquieu-and-rousseau-on-government.html