1. Term

The term “enlightenment” (Fr. les lumières, siècle des lumières; Ger. Aufklärung) is used to refer to the movement originating in French rationalism and English empiricism that decisively affected intellectual life in Europe from the end of the 17th century to the end of the 18th. It criticized revelation and religion; developed new methods and new ways of thinking in philosophy, history, and science; evoked new themes, forms, and media in literature; and to a large extent sh…