Instant English

  “ Enlightenment ”                 The Enlightenment was a philosophical movement that dominated Europe during the 18th century, was centered around the idea that reason is the primary source of authority and legitimacy and advocated such ideals as liberty, progress, tolerance, fraternity, constitutional government, and separation of church and state. At first, it emerged out of a European intellectual and scholarly movement known as Renaissance Humanism but later, it took over British and America into its shadow and today’s era, almost every country is influenced by the movement, or some of the movement. It is somehow the opposite of romanticism because some aspects of both philosophies are in contrast. The Enlightenment thinkers believed that human intelligence could be understood through nature and be enhanced by reasoning . They were sure that men can improve themselves through reasoning . That strongly denied the belief of puritans that man is full of sin or a sinful failure