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Developing more or less simultaneously in Germany, France, Great Britain, The Netherlands, Italy, Spain, and Portugal, and buoyed by the North American colonists' successful rebellion against Great Britain in the American War of Independence, the culmination of the movement spread through much of Europe, including the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Russia and Scandinavia, along with Latin America and instigating the Haitian Revolution. It has been argued that the signatories of the American Declaration of Independence, the United States Bill of Rights, the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, and the Polish-Lithuanian Constitution of May 3, 1791, were motivated by "Enlightenment" principles.

Developing more or less simultaneously in Germany, France, Great Britain, The Netherlands, Italy, Spain, and Portugal, and buoyed by the North American colonists' successful rebellion against Great Britain in the American War of Independence, the culmination of the movement spread through much of Europe, including the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Russia and Scandinavia, along with Latin America and instigating the Haitian Revolution. It has been argued that the signatories of the American Declaration of Independence, the United States Bill of Rights, the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, and the Polish-Lithuanian Constitution of May 3, 1791, were motivated by "Enlightenment" principles.

==Use of the term==

==Use of the term==

The term "Enlightenment" came into use in [[English]] during the mid-nineteenth century,[2] with particular reference to French [[philosophy]], as the equivalent of a term then in use by German writers, Zeitalter der Aufklärung (Age of the clarification), signifying generally the philosophical outlook of the eighteenth century. However, the German term Aufklärung was not merely applied retrospectively; it was already the common term by 1784, when [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immanuel_Kant Immanuel Kant] published the influential essay "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_is_Enlightenment%3F Answering the Question: What is Enlightenment?]"

The term "Enlightenment" came into use in [[English]] during the mid-nineteenth century,[2] with particular reference to French [[philosophy]], as the equivalent of a term then in use by German writers, Zeitalter der Aufklärung (Age of the clarification), signifying generally the philosophical outlook of the eighteenth century. However, the German term Aufklärung was not merely applied retrospectively; it was already the common term by 1784, when [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immanuel_Kant Immanuel Kant] published the influential essay "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_is_Enlightenment%3F Answering the Question: What is Enlightenment?]"

The terminology Enlightenment or Age of Enlightenment does not represent a single [[movement]] or school of [[thought]], for these philosophies were often mutually contradictory or divergent. The Enlightenment was less a set of [[ideas]] than it was a set of [[values]]. At its core was a [[critical]] [inquiry|questioning]] of [[traditional]] institutions, customs, and morals. Thus, there was still a considerable degree of similarities between competing philosophies. Also, some philosophical schools of the period could not be considered part of the Enlightenment at all. Some classifications of this period also include the late seventeenth century, which is typically known as the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Reason Age of Reason] or Age of Rationalism.[3]

The terminology Enlightenment or Age of Enlightenment does not represent a single [[movement]] or school of [[thought]], for these philosophies were often mutually contradictory or divergent. The Enlightenment was less a set of [[ideas]] than it was a set of [[values]]. At its core was a [[critical]] [inquiry|questioning]] of [[traditional]] institutions, customs, and morals. Thus, there was still a considerable degree of similarities between competing philosophies. Also, some philosophical schools of the period could not be considered part of the Enlightenment at all. Some classifications of this period also include the late seventeenth century, which is typically known as the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Reason Age of Reason] or Age of Rationalism.[3]

==Timespan==

==Timespan==

There is no [[consensus]] on when to date the start of the age of Enlightenment, and some [[scholars]] simply use the beginning of the eighteenth century or the middle of the seventeenth century as a default date.[4] If taken back to the mid-1600s, the Enlightenment would trace its origins to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/René_Descartes Descartes]' [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discourse_on_the_Method Discourse on the Method], published in 1637. Others define the Enlightenment as beginning in Britain's Glorious Revolution of 1688 or with the publication of Isaac Newton's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophiæ_Naturalis_Principia_Mathematica Principia Mathematica]. As to its end, some scholars use the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution French Revolution] of 1789 or the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars (1804–15) as a convenient point in time with which to date the end of the Enlightenment.[5]

There is no [[consensus]] on when to date the start of the age of Enlightenment, and some [[scholars]] simply use the beginning of the eighteenth century or the middle of the seventeenth century as a default date.[4] If taken back to the mid-1600s, the Enlightenment would trace its origins to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/René_Descartes Descartes]' [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discourse_on_the_Method Discourse on the Method], published in 1637. Others define the Enlightenment as beginning in Britain's Glorious Revolution of 1688 or with the publication of Isaac Newton's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophiæ_Naturalis_Principia_Mathematica Principia Mathematica]. As to its end, some scholars use the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution French Revolution] of 1789 or the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars (1804–15) as a convenient point in time with which to date the end of the Enlightenment.[5]