The Enlightenment was one of the most significant intellectual movements in modern European history, emerging in the late seventeenth century and flourishing during the eighteenth century. Often referred to as the “Age of Reason,” it represented a profound shift in the way individuals viewed knowledge, society, politics, and human progress. Thinkers of this era emphasized the power of human reason as a tool to challenge established traditions, religious authority, and absolutist governments. It was not a single unified doctrine but rather a broad intellectual current that spread across Europe, inspiring reforms and laying the foundations of modern democratic and secular values. At its core, the Enlightenment emphasized rationality, critical inquiry, and skepticism of blind faith or superstition. Thinkers such as Voltaire, Rousseau, Montesquieu, and Diderot in France, along with Locke, Hume, and Adam Smith in Britain, were central figures of this movement. They believed that human beings were capable of improving their